Praying for Strength: Memoir of an Ex Suicidal, Alcoholic, Drug Addict

By Larry Michael Dredla

Praying for Strength is a memoir of a drug addict turned teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. Unlike most educators, Larry Dredla can relate to those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction through his own firsthand experiences. Having been arrested multiple times, overcoming addiction, and coming face to face with his own mortality, Praying for Strength, was the driving force that gave Larry the will to carry on.
This book envelopes the struggles of a boy coming into his own. How does a Catholic who believes in God become a drug addict? What are the mechanisms that mold and shape us as individuals, and as a society? What are the signs we, as individuals, should be watching for when questioning our possible dependency on drugs or alcohol? What extremes should parents go to for the sake of their son or daughter?
Praying for Strength is also a spiritual journey. Throughout his past experiences, it was faith that helped Larry to survive. Knowing times like these are difficult, Praying for Strength gives the reader a chance to get in touch with their spirit again and find peace of mind.
This book is largely directed to the youth of America today. Students dont want "the run around", they want the truth. Praying for Strength gives them that. These accounts are for the student who may be struggling with anything from drug and alcohol addiction to suicidal tendencies; from recognizing their own moral compass, to finding their place in their family or society.
A note to the reader: Know that the sky is the limit for you, no matter what. But remember, when you Pray for Strength, God will make you strong, not always in the way that you want Him to, but through unbelievable challenges of the mind, body and spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456747503

Larry Michael Dredla

Larry Michael Dredla grew up, and is a teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from Hastings College with degrees in Psychology and English in 2007, and earned his Masters of Arts in Teaching from the College of Saint Mary in 2010. He currently resides on an acreage outside of Omaha with his wife Kate. He is the Head Varsity Soccer Coach, and an English and Theology teacher at St. Peter Claver Cristo Rey High School. For nearly ten years, Larry has worked on overcoming drug and alcohol addiction, and hopes to reach out to the youth of America through his writing. He tackles the impact of the popular culture and uses his past experience to inform and enlighten those who may need guidance when faced with the ravages of addiction.

Book preview

Contents

Introduction

PART I

1

Let’s Be Honest, Please

2

A Moment for Teachers, Coaches, and Parents

3

Growing Up is Never Easy

4

My Worst Decision

5

Why Faith?

PART II

6

I’M ROBBIN’ HOOD!!!

7

Tip a Bottle for my Friends

8

Ecstasy Outreach Program

9

The Power of Addiction!

10

The Last Stop

11

Opening My Eyes

12

I’m Driving Me Crazy

13

Knowing What it’s Like

PART III

14

Get a Hobby, Volunteer, and Make a Change

15

The Past Comes Back to Haunt Me

16

Why Not Drinking is Such a Hard Choice

17

Getting to Today

Acknowledgements

Dear Lord,

Please, Give Me Strength for These Troubled Times Ahead.

Give me the Strength, to Overcome Any Challenges You Put Before Me.

Make me Strong enough, to Endure Any Evils that Come my Way.

For I Know that in You, Comes the Strength to Move Mountains.

If Only You will Show me How …

Introduction

I’m a teacher today. Don’t be scared or turned away by that. I didn’t care too much for teachers as a teenager. To me, they were often mean, weird, or someone to poke fun at with my friends. I was never one of those people that grew up through high school and college saying, I can’t wait to get out there and teach chiiiiildren! S-M-I-L-E. Few of my teachers were excellent. Most were average. At times, they were scary and overpowering. Some didn’t like teaching. It showed. You could tell. Others loved it, liked their students, and did the best they could. I felt I just couldn’t relate to most of them, and like so many, I didn’t take it all that seriously.

Surely it was this mind set that helped me drop out of college for eight years, and live a crazy life with no definite plan at all. I start off by telling you I’m a teacher, because I want you to know that I’ve been around high school again for just over a year now. It’s this experience that has finally gotten me to sit down and write this book. I’m presenting it in three parts.

Part I The Way I See It, is a summation of why I think the way I do today. It includes some personal background information, and it is designed to help you understand my perspective. I digress from the student-centered focus of the book in a chapter directed toward teachers, coaches and parents. This chapter is designed to help educators and coaches see just how important they are, and to give them some insight into their affects on youth today. For parents, I would like to give advice and help them understand what can work, what they should look for and do, and how they may approach these delicate matters. Most importantly; if you see this type of behavior in your child, you may look at this as a guide to help cope and manage these situations. While the specific experience of mine may differ from that of your child, the underlying routine of substance abuse is the same. This section also provides a glimpse into my current thinking, after learning from my experiences.

Part II Oh God … The Stories, is a compilation of all my misadventures and is my life’s work. Not all of my stories are there, and I alter the order in which the events occurred at times, because there is an addictive process I seek to illustrate, that will most pertain to you. These experiences, I tell as vividly as I can, so you can see what I went through, what I dealt with, and how I made it out alive. Because of my addictions and drug use, I also try to answer for you what the drugs I experimented with feel like. Many of my students today want to know that, and this honesty is something I think I can provide. Sharing this with you is not intended for you to go out and try these, but to answer those questions and curiosities without you having to go through the same shameful amount of experiences as I did.

Part III Starting My New Today’s, delves into where God has led me after I managed to get back on track. I don’t try to ramble for length. I know most high school and college students have enough to do. I just hope you enjoy the book, and that if you’re anything like me… God save you, and: I hope this helps.

My colorful and somewhat scary past has always been the topic of discussion. And in recent years, I’ve been told by more people that I should… Write that stuff down. I would have, but never had a reason, until I started teaching. My reason … is you.

I’m writing this to every high school freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior who ever had doubts or worried about how they were going to make it. I suppose if you’re starting college, this would pertain to you too. As I said before, I dropped out of college, and that experience picked up again when I was twenty-seven years young (Thank God for the baby face SKU-000456209_TEXT.pdf ).

Sincerely; I want to share my life with you. I’ve seen many suffering and confused students in my short time as a teacher. Many come to me with their deepest concerns, and I find that they really just need someone to listen to them without being on the clock. I teach freshman and sophomores. And it is their story now that is inspiring me; to tell you of my story then. I don’t think I’m special, provocative, or so significant that you might NEED to read my story. There just isn’t much I haven’t experienced or done, and that is why I want to share this history with you.

"Why Praying for Strength?" you might ask; because in the end, sometimes faith is all you have left, and praying for strength is what I did every day. I say ALL here with the utmost importance. ALL. Everything you’ve ever known, thought you knew, felt, encompassed as your being; relationships, family or lack there of. ALL. Nothing but.

Faith is why I’m alive today. Blind, pure unadulterated faith. It kept me here, because I didn’t know that, when you pray for strength … God will make you strong … and in that process comes pains you don’t anticipate. I am very careful to pray for it today.

PART I

The Way I See It …

1

Let’s Be Honest, Please

I’m a liar. You don’t get much more honest than that. Inherently though, we all are, to some extent. Our perceptions, or way we view the world, force us to sometimes misspeak, exaggerate, or out-in-out lie. I started off though, as an exaggerator, a bender of the truth, if you will. I felt I was almost a master of masking the truth, with little bits and pieces of it fused into my lie. That’s how I was able to hide a lot of the things I’m about to tell you. You need to know too, that most alcoholics and addicts have mastered this trait. It is a survival mechanism, and I started to learn how to use it at a young age.

In these memoirs, I will refrain from that. You need to know that everything from here on out is the truth. My days of hiding, lying and stealing are over. As an adult though, I find it amazing that the truth is hidden so much. To this day, I see adults– ALL adults, exaggerating the truth in one way or another. As a teacher, I try to be as honest with my students as possible. I don’t sugar coat, cover up, or beat around the bush. With me, what you see is what you get. Like I said, my days of hiding are over, and that scares adults sometimes, but it also gets you a certain level of respect, as you will see.

If I’m to be honest with you, then I should start off by telling you who I am. I’m an ex-drug addict, ex-suicidal, alcoholic thief who gave up his old ways, quit drinking and went back to school. Or should I say, went back to school and eventually quit drinking. Not something that I put on a resume, but that’s who I was, and in turn, who I am. I’ve let down everyone I ever cared about at one time or another; used to wonder how on earth I would live with myself, and in time; found out exactly how to do that. I’m thirty-three going on twenty-five, and love my life today. That wasn’t always so.

I’m five feet, eight inches tall; ten feet on a good day and three feet six inches on a bad one. I’m bald by choice; shave my head to hide my receding hair line, and traded the expenses of the salon with an investment in The Mach 3 Turbo Razor. I have a diploma from Mary Our Queen in Omaha, Nebraska; a