There are stories we tell because they happened.
Then there are stories we tell because, years later, we finally understand what happened.
Out of the Eater, Something to Eat is that kind of story.
When I was eighteen years old, a photograph was taken during booking. At the time, it was nothing more than another moment in what I believed was the end of my life. I had no idea that one day it would become the cover of a memoir.
This isn't simply a story about prison. It isn't simply a story about mistakes, consequences, or survival. It's a story about hindsight—about looking back and recognizing what I couldn't see while I was living it.
The title comes from Samson's riddle:
"Out of the eater came something to eat."
Sometimes the very things that seem determined to consume us become the place from which life, wisdom, and hope emerge.
But something unexpected happened while I was writing this book.
I thought I was writing a memoir.
Instead, I found myself retracing the path God had been walking with me all along.
Writing forced me to slow down. To revisit moments I had buried. To ask different questions. Instead of asking, "Why did this happen?" I began asking, "Where was God?" And little by little, I began to recognize that He had been present in places where I had once believed I was completely alone.
I've often written about God making a highway in the wilderness. While writing this book, I realized I wasn't just writing about that highway—I was walking it.
While writing this book, I realized that the highway wasn't merely leading me out of prison—it was leading me out of depression.
Every chapter became another step.
Every remembered moment became another stone laid in that highway.
Every page reminded me that my story was never simply a collection of painful moments. It was a testimony being written long before I knew I was living one.
I didn't set out to write a book to heal myself. I set out to tell the truth. Yet somewhere along the way, telling myself my own story became part of God's grace toward me. He showed me that the wilderness wasn't empty after all. He had been there the whole time, leading me, sustaining me, and revealing Himself one memory at a time.
Looking back now, I can honestly say that writing Out of the Eater, Something to Eat became part of my own testimony.
Not just because of what happened to me.
But because of what happened in me.
The same God who brought water from a rock, made rivers in the desert, and prepared a table in the wilderness was quietly doing the same thing in my own life. He brought nourishment from what had once devoured me. He brought hope from memories I had spent years avoiding. He brought life out of places I thought only held death.
For years, I thought I knew my story.
I didn't.
What I discovered was that God had been present long before I recognized Him.
If you've ever looked back on your own life and realized that what once looked like an ending became the beginning of something entirely different, I hope this memoir encourages you to look again. You may discover that God has been writing a better story than you knew.
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me, prayed for me, and supported this journey. I'm grateful to finally share it with you.
Out of the Eater, Something to Eat is available now.
May it encourage you not only to read my story—but to recognize His faithfulness in your own.
Because that's what this memoir ultimately became for me—not simply the story of my life, but the testimony of God's faithfulness.
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