Redeeming a Life Fractured by Rejection

Shane says, “I was actually trying to come off the pain pills and the Xanax by myself. I couldn’t do it. It actually wound up costing me everything. After I took a couple of them, I got in my truck and had a car wreck. I remember waking up in jail, wondering how I got there.”

Growing up in a small town of Buford, Georgia, there were two things Shane Hawkins wanted more than anything – to be a firefighter, and his dad’s love. By the time Shane got out of high school, it seemed neither of those dreams would come true.

Shane recalls, “He seemed to take all his anger and rage out on me in a lot of areas. I never understood why. I always thought it was my fault. I didn’t even value myself. There was a lot of confusion, there was a lot of fear, there was a lot of rejection that I felt from this.”

By 13, he was smoking pot, by 17, he was using cocaine and other hard drugs.

Shane explains, “The more I did it, I realized the more that I had to have in order to fill that void.”

Life after high school continued to get worse. First, Shane’s dream of becoming a firefighter was shot after he failed the written test. Then, a year later, he found out the girl he’d been dating and planned to marry was cheating on him and pregnant with another man’s baby.

Shane says, “I’ve never felt so much pain like that before in my life. It was absolutely devastating.”

It wasn’t long before Shane turned to pain pills, and eventually heroin that would lead him into a five-year drug addiction that included at least ten overdoses.

Shane shares, “When I would wake up in the hospitals or when I would wake up in the back of the ambulance it was a terrible feeling. I knew deep down that one of those days I might do this but not wake up or not have someone find me and be able to save me.”

In 2013, at 25 years old, Shane was driving high on pain pills and Xanax when he crashed head on with an SUV carrying a mother and her young daughter. Thankfully, the two walked away with relatively minor injuries. Shane, who was not injured, had blacked out and woke up in jail facing serious charges and many years in prison.

Shane says, “I caused harm to other people, that added to the burden. I didn’t have any hope. I didn’t know which way to turn.”

Released on bond, Shane would continue abusing drugs for another year. By then, he was broke, behind on his mortgage, and had few friends left.

Shane recalls, “Suicide would pass through my mind all the time to where I would just tell myself if I was gone things would be better.”

One day in 2014, he called his dad for help. He’d become a Christian and brought Shane into his home where he later introduced him to the evangelist who led him to Christ. Shane told him he also wanted to ask Jesus into his heart.

Shane shares, “He says, ‘Talk to the Lord. Tell him what’s on your heart. Tell him what you need.’ That’s what I did. I cried out to God to save me from myself. I said, ‘Lord, please, I need rescue, I need a Savior, and I need you to save me.’”

Pressured by the victims of the crash, the courts had revoked Shane’s bond. Deputy sheriffs took him into custody for the DUI and he was sent to the county jail to await trial. In his 3 ½ years there Shane got off drugs and began pursuing God, finding hope as he prayed and read the bible his mother sent him.

Shane recalls, “I started wanting to know and develop a relationship with God and find out who He was.”

He also began to heal. He says a big part of that healing was forgiving his dad.

Shane says, “He would come to me and apologize, and say, ‘Shane, I’m sorry I did this to you, will you forgive me?’ I started to try to practice forgiving my dad because that’s what the Bible says to do.”

In February 2018, at 30 years old, Shane was tried and found guilty of a DUI with serious injury by a vehicle. Although sentenced to 15 years, he held onto God’s promise he’d found reading his bible.

Shane shares, “I remember one scripture,

In the coming years, Shane also learned about God’s love for him.

Shane recalls, “All that pain that I had, all that rejection, all that acceptance that I was looking for when I was younger, God filled all those voids.”

Then another childhood wish came true. Having a record for outstanding behavior, Shane was chosen to be an inmate firefighter.

Shane, “Here I am getting to fight fire, getting to rescue people, getting to save lives. It was an amazing experience that I got to do.”

In December of 2020, Shane was released after serving a total of 6 ½ years with time served. Still drug free he has a successful dog training business and spends lots of time with his dad. Shane ministers to men in prison and tells them that God has a great purpose for their life too.

Shane says, “I’m more free and alive than I’ve ever been and so thankful to God because of what He has done for me in my life. He has set me up and put me on a place in my life that I never thought possible. The freedom that I have, the peace that I have, the joy that I have, the relationship that I have with my father is truly amazing and thanks be to God, to the one who saved me and set me here. If you're going through rejection, if you're going through hurt, just know that you can turn to God and He will help you.”

To find more information regarding the work Shane does with troubled canines, please visit his website: https://troubledtotrained.com/

To personally email Shane, plese use the following email: shanehawkins122@gmail.com

To purchase Shane's book, "Troubled to Trained: All Dogs Need a Leader They Can Trust," please visit: https://www.amazon.com/Troubled-Trained-dogs-leader-trust/dp/1981102469/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QUVLL9M02ZZT&keywords=shane+hawkins&qid=1658254464&sprefix=shane+hawkins%2Caps%2C44&sr=8-1