An Edinburgh man whose recovery from addiction led him to work at the very place that helped him has spoken of a ‘turning point’ in his journey.
Dave Biddulph spoke with BBC One’s Songs of Praise for an episode set to air on Sunday, January 12. He told host Claire McCollum of how his addiction grew, and what led up to him finding solace in his faith.
After seeking service from Bethany Christian Trust, Dave now manages the charity and helps others facing homelessness and addiction. He said he could immediately ‘feel the love’ when he arrived.
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Speaking in a preview for the Songs of Praise episode posted to X, Dave said: “Teenage years were teenage years.
“You investigate, you experiment. You do things you shouldn’t do, things you never tell your parents about.
“Going out on the weekends, and that’s all it was really.”
He says ‘bit by bit’, his addiction grew. Dave continued: “After a while it becomes something you do when you’re feeling a bit low, or something bad has happened.
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“You start to become more emotionally dependent.”
He then speaks of being invited to a church weekend away, where he felt ‘the profound experience of God’s love’.
Dave added: “I sat out one night under the stars and all of a sudden I couldn’t stop myself from weeping.
“I couldn’t stop. It wasn’t because I was worried about where my life was at, it wasn’t anything like that at all.
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“I suddenly became aware that God was real. And I needed forgiven for all this stuff that I’d been doing in my life.”
While he is now the manager at Bethany Christian Trust, Dave arrived ‘in need of service’. Speaking of the experience, he said: “When I first arrived, I could feel family.
“I could feel love. I could feel that people were actually genuinely caring for you.
“I was quite blown away by the place.”
Songs of Praise: Edinburgh’s Faith in Action airs on Sunday, January 12 at 1.15pm.