Family Thanksgiving at Joy Junction; Addicted to Money and Alcohol, He Found Freedom at a Homeless Shelter
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A once successful IT professional, Jonathan Matheny never thought that he and his family would be eating their Thanksgiving meal at and living in a homeless shelter.
However, Jonathan said that life could be much worse.
"With Joy Junction providing for our needs in this time of transition, we have found more than just what we are missing during the holiday season," he said.
Jonathan added, "We have found that friends and family can be developed no matter what the circumstances. We have found that though we are separated from the family that raised us, there is always one consistent 'family' that is always there."
Jonathan said he, his wife and children have made many friends, developed many relationships, and have some close relationships that can be described in no other term than "familial."
He asked rhetorically what Joy Junction has provided for his family during this holiday season. Jonathan said, "Joy Junction has given us the ability to cultivate a home away from home. We have family in Christ, and we have friends in Christ. The one unifying bond we have found is that faith unites us."
Jonathan said that he and his wife Bethany were both raised in Christian environments.
He said, "We were both taught scriptures, and in some cases, did some in depth studies. Yet, all the rote memorization and constant bombardment never gave us 'faith.' That is something we have come to find at Joy Junction. We feel united, and in-sync. We feel at home. We feel blessed."
Life before Joy Junction
In an earlier interview, Jonathan told me the circumstances that led to the Matheny family coming to stay at Joy Junction.
Married to Betheny with four children (now including a beautiful new baby), Jonathan had the world by the tail, so to speak, but a mild heart attack coupled with an addiction to alcohol and money put his career on hold. He ended up waiting tables and tending bar.
However, some unexplained seizures resulted in him no longer being able to work those jobs and things started to go steadily downhill from there.
For a while even when Jonathan was still working, the family lived in a $45 a night motel on the west side of Albuquerque.
But as Jonathan explained, "At $45 a night, we could barely save (any) money."
Even though both he and his wife's families were assisting the struggling couple and their children as much as they could, they still needed more help.
Jonathan said, "The stress in our life (was) formidable. We ... (stayed) together ... but it sometimes (felt) like we (were) just re-organizing chairs on the Titanic."
One day with no money to pay the rent, the family was informed by motel management that they had 90 minutes to move.
At that point they contacted Joy Junction, and we sent a van out to bring them to safety. As Jonathan put it, at that point the family "began yet another chapter in our ever more interesting lives."
Jonathan explained that the day he and his family moved into Joy Junction, something unique happened to him.
He said, "That was the day that I had to fully embrace the situation, swallow my pride, and deal with the issues at hand. Those issues brought my wife and I to the brink of divorce due to both seen and unseen stress in our life. Given our past, and my prior career, we had gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. From high-powered executive positions to homeless."
Jonathan said, "To embrace that type of change, and to see the cascade failure that led us to Joy Junction's door, required quite a bit of reflection. As we did not have the time prior to our move, we have since been reflecting on the many things that brought us here."
He said, "Imagine a family of five (with one on the way) being suddenly thrust into the world of the homeless. It came as quite a shock, and those who helped us that day could see the fear and apprehension in our eyes. For once in a very long while, we were in unfamiliar territory."
Jonathan said he and Betheny asked themselves where to go from there, and how would their new living situation impact their children?
He said, "Most of the tears shed over the first few nights were about the fear that this move could traumatize our children, and that it was ultimately our fault. The rest of the tears came after Betheny and I agreed that if we could make this work, then our marriage could survive anything."
As Jonathan and Betheny thought through everything that had happened in their lives they came to understand some important things, and as a result joined Joy Junction's recovery program - though with a unique perspective. They realized that while many CIPP participants had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction issues, they had a different root addiction - money.
Jonathan said there was a direct connection between money and the issues his family was facing.
He said, "The quest for money had brought on other addictive habits (such as) alcohol after a 16 hour day for the third week, compulsive spending to mask depression (and so on). It all surrounded money. We firmly believe things happen for a reason, and our move to Joy Junction is helping us realize what the REAL priority is: our family."
Since coming to Joy Junction, Jonathan said that the some of the issues with which they struggled have been decreasing, and his level of happiness and contentment increasing.
Jonathan said that through its supportive staff and other residents, Joy Junction has helped the family to maintain a positive attitude while he and his wife work through some of the more difficult issues they have faced.
Joy Junction, Jonathan said, "has assisted us in times of need: emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. We fear what might have happened to us had we NOT been blessed to join this family. 'JJ' has become an extended family to us, with all the things indigenous to a family architecture. Not everyone gets along. Not everyone shares the same opinion. Everyone, however, is supportive. There is unity in the cacophony that surrounds the different struggles each person is enduring."
Jonathan said that unity defined by faith can overcome anything. "That is the key," he added. "No matter what the history or issues, we are all bound by faith. As soon as that realization can occur, and you can deliver up to God with FULL trust, then you will truly be free."
Jonathan admitted that is not an easy thing to do, because human nature is to mistrust what you are unable to see right in front of you.
He said, "Joy Junction provides a tangible example of faith, forgiveness, and love. There is not a day that goes by where we do not thank God for Joy Junction. We also pray for everyone here, whether they feel they need it or not."
My Thoughts
Our prayers are with Jonathan, Betheny and their beautiful children. We are blessed to see the Lord's continued working in their lives, and excited at the wonderful plans He has in store for them. Even after more than 22 years, it is still exciting to work at Joy Junction, because we see daily the Lord intervening in the direst of circumstances faced by our guests. We see furrowed brows of desperation turned into smiles of hope as, like Jonathan, people begin to see the plan of God unfold for their lives.
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