David M Butler

Walking in Darkness then the Light is a true story about my addiction to drugs and how drugs tried to take my life more ways than one. I grew up in a small town in Iowa and very against drugs during my high school days. I was a shy, nerdy athlete. My second year of college, I broke down and tried pot when I was a little depressed. I was instantly addicted and wanted more and more ever since. I feel all drugs are gateway drugs. My addiction started with alcohol and then weed, cocaine, and lastly, crack cocaine.

I got addicted to crack the beginning of July of 2004. I was a teacher then and never expected to be so controlled by a drug before the start of the school year. The month of July, I don’t think I slept more than ten hours, so when the school year started the beginning of August, I was already in bad shape. The first semester was hell, and the second semester was worse, and I was on the brink of death. Before that happened, I was arrested on March 1, 2005, which was three weeks after my fortieth birthday.

After the arrest, the next five years were difficult, and I decided to commit suicide. I went home for Christmas one last time in 2010, and then I had a plan to walk into the Gulf of Mexico, never to be seen again in 2011. I went to midnight Mass on Christmas eve of 2010, and that is when I saw the light of the Holy Spirit, and that beautiful radiant light changed my life forever. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are real!