A whole family is being restored thanks to a father's newfound personal relationship with Jesus, helping him overcome addiction and anxiety.
Peter McMullen has graduated from the one-year program at Adult and Teen Challenge in Winnipeg and is now in the SURGE leadership program they offer.
However, before McMullen stepped foot in ATC he struggled with years of alcoholism, leaving him hopeless.
"About ten years ago I got involved in a situation where it looked like my health might be bringing me a very serious illness. At the time I was working as the sole bread-winner with two young kids at home."
Hearing that his health was failing, McMullen didn't handle the news well.
"During that time I was losing sleep due to stress and anxiety. I turned to alcohol at first just to get to sleep. Then it was to get back to sleep and after that, it got me around the clock," he says.
He spent a number of years fighting this addiction and even tried a few government programs. Nothing seemed to stick or work for McCullen.
"In 2018 my wife and two daughters moved out. At that point in time, I was pretty distraught."
Losing his family because of the addiction was almost more than McMullen could take.
"I thought there wasn't much left for me in the world and I tried to take my own life," he says.
Over the years as McMullen battled his addiction, he faced homelessness at one point and even incarceration.
"I always had hope and thought something would be okay, that I would be able to turn it around, until August of 2018 when I found myself standing at the edge of an abyss," he says, right after his wife and daughters left.
A long-time friend reached out to McMullen, recognizing him at this low point and helped him get on the phone with ATC.
"That's when everything in my life changed," he says.
One issue that was combined with McMullen's alcoholism was severe anxiety. He only realized he struggle with this after he received help at ATC.
"I thought the anxiety I carried was just normal life. When I started my relationship with Jesus and found the peace that could be had with full surrender, I was able to give the wheel over to Jesus. God showed me that He could take care of me and for the first time in my life I was anxiety-free."
Previously, McMullen's anxiety attacks would last for about 30 hours alongside 12-14 hours of throwing up.
"I almost had one anxiety attack when I was at ATC, something that triggered a memory. I just went through Scripture, Philippians 4:6-8 and had two guys in the work truck pray for me. This attack was dealt with in a matter of minutes."
McMullen says he realized at that moment that he was previously trying to fill the God-shaped hole in his life with alcohol. This was the difference-maker.
A Family Restored
When he started the year-long program at ATC, living at the centre, his wife and daughters moved back into their home.
"My wife told me she was crying for a month and she was relieved that I was finally getting help. Six months into that program she realized that she was going to come home to the known, not worrying about what condition or shape I would be in."
McMullen's wife decided that she would end the marriage and ask for a divorce once he graduated from the program.
"She didn't want to jeopardize my stay in the program because I am still the father of our girls. She said that come October when I would be completed my one-year, we'll talk about what the next step would be, which was likely divorce."
While this news was hard for him to hear, McMullen practised what he was learning and handed everything over to God.
"I let God do his thing and I didn't try to get involved," says McMullen.
A miracle took place in the family that McMullen doesn't take any credit for.
"When October came around, instead of us talking divorce, we ended up celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary," he says.
The change that took place in his life has spilled over into his wife's life also. She has joined the community group that ATC offers, and together they are healing individually and as a couple in reconciliation.
Another miracle that is still unfolding is the relationship with his daughters.
"That's the really cool thing. My oldest daughter is now 16. A month before they left the house, she wouldn't even sit in the same room as me," says McMullen.
Just as with his wife, he didn't push a relationship with his daughter while in the program, but a way was slowly made.
"We went out to the outlet mall, the four of us walking through and my older daughter went off to a store. I asked if I could come with her and she said she didn't care. I ended up going shopping with her, something I never thought I'd be doing."
Following that, McMullen and his daughter have continued to build a bridge of trust once more.
"Now she phones me out of the blue and asked me for help with her school work or advice. There is still a lot of healing that needs to be done but that is the most amazing thing that God has done in my life, reconciliation with my family," he says.
McMullen has given his life to Jesus and to working with Adult & Teen Challenge. After he graduates from the SURGE program, he'll be helping give men the hope he was so desperate to receive just two years ago.
"I implore anyone who is thinking of Adult and Teen Challenge, don't worry about it being a year-long program. It's probably the most important year of your life," McMullen says.