Addicted and Angry—Now Fighting for Christ!

“The number one driving force when I was a kid was to make my dad proud, absolutely. How I got my dad's approval was through fighting and drinking 100%. One thing that he told me was put the fear of God in people if you want to get what you want out of them.” For most of his life, Adam Vigil fought to be loved. It started when he was two and his mom left for rehab, leaving Adam to be raised by his drug-addicted father. Their bond was built on alcohol and drugs. Adam recalls, “My relationship with my dad was a little bit more of a friendship than a father, you know, father to son, I had a friend that I could drink with and party with versus a parent that would correct me.” That lack of parental supervision allowed 12-year-old Adam to suffer sexual abuse twice, destroying his self-worth. Adam found drugs and alcohol helped him deal with his anger and self-loathing – at least temporarily. He says, “I didn't wanna live, you know what I mean? I felt like I was a failure, I felt I deserved those things, you know, the sexual and physical abuse. I was angry all the time 'cause I was mad at myself, and I was also empty and trying to fill the void and the hole of the trauma that had happened to me.”

His teen years were a blur of fights, drugs, and juvenile detention. After high school, Adam channeled his rage into MMA fighting, which motivated him to get clean… but the drugs always pulled him back. Adam recalls, “They’d schedule a fight three weeks out I'd get sober, and I'd go fight. And then right after the fight, I'd get high. MMA definitely helped me feel better. I got some recognition for doing something good for once. And I felt better as an individual, and I knew my heart wanted to be better. So, MMA gave me that recognition and that platform and the approval.” By 27 Adam was a 4-and-0 undefeated division champion, still grappling with feelings of unworthiness. Then in 2017, while planning a trip to the ‘ultimate fighter competition’ in Las Vegas, Adam was confronted with a choice. He recalls, “I pulled up to a stop sign and I remember God saying, ‘your way or my way’. And I'd never heard the Lord before in my life. I got chills everywhere. I pull off and I'm thinking like, ‘your way or my way’. And I knew what that meant, ‘get sober and follow me.” And I was like, no, I'm gonna get sober on Monday.  Before the end of the night, I was facing a life sentence.” That night, a DUI stop turned violent as Adam – high on cocaine - fought eight police officers before they subdued him. Waking up the next morning in a padded cell, Adam - bloodied and broken - realized the cost of choosing his own path. He says, “I never felt so empty or like a failure in my entire life because not only had I let down everybody in my entire life. I lost everything.”

That realization only fueled his anger and self-loathing. He was put in solitary confinement for more fighting in jail.  When he asked for something to read, the guard handed him a Bible. Adam says,  “I opened that book and I was hooked, you know what I mean? I couldn't, I couldn't set that book down.” One scripture in particular got Adam’s attention. It was in Romans. “Romans 8:38 and 39 from convinced neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor past, nor present, nor any powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything in all creation will separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Nothing I have done or nothing I will do will separate that separate me from God. For a person that never felt like he deserved love, could not receive love, that opened my eyes. I don't have to earn this. I just gotta receive Him and let Him in, and then I can have eternal life with Him and love and receive love for the first time. I was like, all right, God, I'm ready. You know what I mean? It's your way or my way. And now by default, it's your way. A hundred percent. But I give you my heart now.”

Just before the trial, Adam took a seven-year plea deal. While in prison, he started a Bible study and prayer group, growing in his love of God.  Adam was paroled after three and a half years. Yet with no support system, he relapsed into addiction. He recalls,  “I was playing with my sobriety, you know what I mean? I'll just have one shot. But for me, I'm a severe addict.  It snowballed into shooting drugs and getting high for days on end and abandoning everything that I've ever said I was gonna do as well as God.” About a year after his parole, Adam had had enough. One night, after shooting up fentanyl-laced meth, he was ready to end it all. Adam recalls, “I just felt this tug to keep getting high, keep going, and just kill myself. And I remember I went to put the other needle in my arm, and it wouldn't go in my arm. So, the lady next to me, and I remember I saw like all black, like a demonic presence in her, she’s like, ‘I’ll do it’. And she finally got it in, and she went to squeeze it, to squeeze the syringe, and it exploded. The chamber of it exploded. And I knew that was divine, right? And I got up and got all my stuff. I got everything. And I got on my truck and drove down the road I went into a ditch. I overdosed behind the wheel from the first shot.” He woke up behind the wheel, bleeding and exhausted, finally ready to surrender his life completely to God. He says, “And it wasn't Your way or my way this time it was death or life. I remember I gave everything to him. I didn't wanna fight. I didn't wanna do anything else. I just wanted to live. I wanted to be sober. I wanted to make God proud. I felt the weight lifted, but I knew that there was work to do.”

Over the next several months, Adam rebuilt his life, finding freedom from addiction through hard work and an appreciation for God’s unfailing love. He recalls, “As I drew closer to Him, I understood His power and His love, and I got addicted to that love piece by piece. But I had to let Him in, bring down those walls too, to let Him in.” He resumed MMA fighting, now using it as a platform to glorify God.  Adam also reconciled with his dad.  “He called me one day he's like, ‘Adam, I just wanna tell you something. I've been watching your videos and see what you're doing and I'm proud of you. The man that I was supposed to be to you, the leader, the role model I was supposed to be to you are now to me’. All we can do, just like a believer, is walk in it so vibrantly that they see it and they want that.  The same with the relationship with Jesus Christ. Same with sobriety.” Today Adam helps others escape addiction, through his ‘unbreakable ministries’. His desire is for everyone to experience the hope and love that surrendering to Jesus brings. Adam says,  “I want them to have freedom. I want them to have peace. I want them to have success and to feel this love. Never give up. And you're not alone. God is always there, and I promise you the best. It's not the easiest decision, but it's the best decision. And I promise you, you can do it. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”

For more information on Unbreakable Ministries click the LINK!