My estranged daughter called from the hospital. I arrived drunk.

I missed some of the most important events that teenagers go through. Either because I wasn’t there or because I actually may have just lived down the road and I was too drunk to go to their functions. I was at a new job. I had been on the job about three or four weeks. One day my oldest daughter called me. She was pregnant. My grandson was born with his organs transverse, on the opposite sides of his body. That alone can cause a lot of complications at birth along with being premature. So I immediately took off on about a three hour drive to see my daughter and new grandson and try to be there for them for the first time in several years. While I was on my trip to Johnson city I needed something to calm my nerves. I stopped and bought a bottle of vodka. So I make the trip to Johnson city. I get to the hospital to see my daughter and grandson. Of course, my daughter knew immediately that I had been drinking. I saw her for just a very few minutes. Saw my grandson and she asked me to leave. That was one of the most painful moments of my life. Because, as I have said, I had already put both of my daughters through so much hurt. Now the one opportunity I had to try to rekindle and repair those relationships I had completely destroyed. She asked me to leave and promised me to come back tomorrow, the next day, sober. I told her I would do that. To make a long story short, I never made it back the next day. When I left the hospital, I was having that pity party all over again and stopped and grabbed another bottle of alcohol. I found myself just driving around. The next thing I remember was a knock on my windshield and blue lights when I woke up in my rear view mirror. It was a police officer that was there to arrest me for my fourth DUI. The next eight months of my life was spent in jail between Sullivan county and Hamilton county. All of that was without knowing if my daughter was okay. And, if my grandson had even lived, or not. I don’t believe I actually started having a true relationship with Jesus Christ until I hit that rock bottom in jail. I prayed to God, one morning when I woke up in jail, in my bunk. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit let me know that it was going to be okay. Because I felt a healing power come over me that I can’t explain. I still was battling with the hurt that I had caused my children. I still didn’t know if it was going to be possible to repair or not. But almost immediately, within a few days, we were talking on the phone again. Within weeks, we visited with each other. For the first time, in several years. But it shows the miraculous grace of God if you will only surrender to Him.