- The first time that I shot up heroin

and the rush came over me,

it was like going back towhen I was 13 years old

and for the first time I felt

the alcohol euphoria fill over me.

It was new, it was exciting

and it was something thatonce again made me feel great.

- [Narrator] From an early age,

Josh Torbich's large sizeand trouble with school

affected his self image.

- I oftentimes felt weak and inferior.

Sometimes that translated intoan identity complex for me,

that had me feeling like I was less than

most people that I was around.

- [Narrator] So Josh learnedto put on appearances.

For his parents, hepretended to enjoy church.

At school, he acted out,

seeking acceptance from the popular kids.

- It didn't take any time at all

until my rebellious or my bad behavior

started to come to the surface.

- [Narrator] When Josh was 13,

a group of friendsintroduced him to alcohol.

- You know, that inferioritycomplex seemed to slip away,

I started to feel confident,

I set myself up to see the drink

as the solution to fix the way that I felt

because it happened,

man, it was like the mostimmediate and effective solution

that I ever had seen to fixthat feeling that I had.

- [Narrator] Soon, Joshgained a new identity,

as the party guy.

By age 16 his size hadbecome an advantage,

because he could buyalcohol with a fake ID.

- My life circled around,where's the party at?

Like I started to becomethe go-to guy for alcohol.

And I felt like that that was somebody

that everyone was attracted to

that could quickly move inand out of popularity circles.

- [Narrator] By then,Josh was done with God,

lying to his parentsthat he went with friends

to their church.

- If you really got to knowme and how two-faced I was

and how fake I was,

and how quickly I wouldchange the person I was.

you wouldn't like me.

- [Narrator] Eventually alcohol

could no longer ease his insecurities.

So his junior year of high school,

Josh turned to prescription painkillers.

- And I remember that I feltthat same euphoric feeling,

like it did something insideto me to where I went,

you know like I just felt the relief

that came attached to it.

- [Narrator] A year later, Josh, a senior,

was a full blown heroin addict,

with no purpose and noplans for the future.

He lived at home and delivered pizzas

to support his drug habit.

- I felt so miserable,I felt so worthless,

all of those feelings that I had felt

my entire life about me werenow just like reinforced.

And I remember sittingthere looking at my life

and what it had become,

and that thought and thatfeeling came over me that said,

this is the way your life is.

This is the way thatyour life is gonna be.

- [Narrator] Over the next four years,

he got two DWIs and overdosed once.

His family tried to help him,

but Josh was convinced hehad no purpose in life.

Watching his graduate from college,

start careers and marryonly made it worse.

- And here I am stuck inside of this same,

just really sinister cycle,

haven't accomplished anything

,or done anything with meaning or purpose

and had just becomeokay with being a loser.

- [Narrator] Finally,his family said enough,

and held an intervention, telling Josh,

if he didn't go into detox,they were kicking him out.

- I was pretty bitter.

I had become pretty good atlying my way out of situations

and there was always an excuse,

and then my attitude transitionedinto just worthlessness.

- [Narrator] At 23 with no other options,

Josh went through six days of detox.

Afterward, he enrolled in asmall Christian recovery center.

- When I arrived there,

I remember going through

and meeting some of thepeople who were there

and thinking to myself, man,these people are all crazy.

Like I'm sitting there

and I'm looking around saying to myself,

they're telling me thatI can't live like this,

and I can't do this and that I can't,

how in the world am I gonna be happy?

- [Narrator] As part of the program,

Josh began attending churchand reading the Bible.

He also began examining his life choices,

and started takingresponsibility for his actions.

- Slowly my perspectivestarted to shift that

maybe there is a place out there for me

to where I can find somethingthat has purpose and meaning,

something that I would beable to wrap my arms around,

and maybe Jesus is the way to get to that.

- [Narrator] Josh realizedhe needed to fully surrender

his life to Jesus.

So after church one Sunday morning,

he made his way to the altar.

- And I asked Jesus Christ toforgive me of my sins again

and I told him that I wantedhim to be Lord of my life,

and lead me in the directionthat he would have me to go.

I got to experience the freedom

for the first time in my life

of what it is like to be a genuine person,

to be the same person inside of every room

that you walk into.

- [Narrator] After rehab, Joshlost all desire for drugs.

He also found his purpose,staying on at the facility

to help other addicts.

Today he's the CEO and underhis leadership and vision

the one small recovery center

has grown into a multi-campus facility.

He's also married and plansto start a family soon.

Josh still loves to share

how God takes broken lives like his

and uses them for his glory.

- I believe that he didn't want me

to go through all of thosethings that I went through,

but since I did, and Iturned my life over to him

that he's perfectly capable of using

every single thing that I went through

and that happened to me for his purpose.

I get the prosperity and the abundant life

that he's promised to give to me today.

You can find purpose

and you can find that purpose

through the process of a surrender to him.