I narrowly missed a prison sentence for assault - a woman on the jury hugged me and said God had given me a second chance

An anonymous contributor shares the story of how God pulled her back from the brink of prison to give her a second chance and show her new life away from addiction and trauma.

I was brought up in Clydebank, Scotland and had a happy childhood. I went to the Good News Club with a lovely lady in my street and heard all the Bible stories and gave my heart to the Lord as a young child. When I was seven years old my mum met my stepdad. I remember a lot of fighting, arguing and violence as my stepdad controlled my mum, she had to leave her job and he would follow her to the shop. He made the sitting room into a living room for my mum, me and my sister were not allowed in. During this time, we all experienced a lot of trauma.

I remember as I grew older, I started going to raves and taking ecstasy, amphetamines and taking downers like jellies and Valium. I went to a dark place as I got addicted to all of the benzodiazepine family and prescription drugs. My sister left the house at 16. Her partner was a drug dealer so I would deal cannabis for him. He was also involved in gangland warfare, and when his brother and best friends were murdered, I was constantly looking over my shoulder. I lived in fear, leading to OCD, paranoia, and deep depression.