Faith seems a mystery to those who claim not to possess it. It seems foolish and a waste to believe in what can’t be seen. All though we could say the same about the air we breath, we believe its there based on evidence and the fact that we are still breathing. This is the story of how I found faith..hope it encourages any who read it.
There was no stage, no grand entrance into the Kingdom of God. Just a quiet downstairs room in a church and a prayer with a pastor. I was a tennager caught up in a world of drugs. I used the excuse of my 13 years in fostercare to justify my drug taking. For years I was escaping reality on the week ends by getting high, my 40 hours working week helped me to feed the social addiction. The friends I had were not the best influence and I felt trapped.
It was an unusual journey that led to that prayer room. A knock at the door of the fosterhome I lived in caused my foster mum to go to church, it was free food that got me to go at first. The world had a strong pull on my heart, but something about this ‘Jesus’ caught my attention. I thought I knew love, but I had never known someone die for me, especially on a cross. So I became for a while what could be termed “a Sunday christian”. I was living in the world 6 days days a week then asking for forgiveness on Sunday. Drugs took its toll on my body, I didn’t look very approachable. This didn’t stop the church loving me and welcoming me with hugs, and back then I hated hugs! Those 6 days seemed to be different, all though I was still doing the same things. Something stirring in my heart was telling me that I shouldn’t be doing this.
The church took some of the old and young to a huge Christian Festival with thousands of other believers. I had never had a mountain top experience with God before, but this was it. Worship, ministry and prayer along with the study of he Bible opened my eyes to a God bigger than my problems. This was the turning point in my faith. I knew from this moment my commitment to the Lord needed to be more serious. So all though it was challenging to commit more to God, I decided to volunteer on Friday nights to help with the youth work. This meant that I had to say no to those I usually hung around with to take drugs and go partying, they didn’t like this new commitment. God was faithful, he provided new friends as I moved forward in faith. I volunteered to help with studies on Sunday morning, began reading the bible in groups and on my own, prayed more and worshipped. The journey with God was shaping me into a man I never thought I could be, a man who could make a difference for something good.
There is more to say, but in conclusion, my journey of faith has had a fair share of mountain tops and valleys. I have known friends to loose there lives, lost a loved one through cancer and known others suffer with it, struggled with depression and have faced rejection some times. Its not easy, and sometimes I asked questions. Despite this, when I consider the life of Jesus, I see that he understands suffering, even on a deeper level than we do. I see that he was willing to give his all, even for a sinner like me. I see a hope in the resurrection that tells me that this life’s struggles is nothing compared to that.
There was a time I enjoyed getting high and escaping reality, now I enjoy the presence of the most high and living with a sober mind. After 10 years of my journey of faith, I now serve the Lord in another country, and pray that the eyes of the blind will be opened. I was once blind to the truth of the gospel but now I see. I pray that others will see too. We are never too messed up to come to Jesus, even the sinner who hung on a cross next to him believed in him. We are never too far gone for grace to intervene in our lives. Christ can soften even the hardest heart. This is my faith story so far, many more blank pages are yet to be filled. Our testimonies are powerful, our God is mighty to save.
Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Thank God for grace.
Lavish
DEEMERZION 