Restoration Faith Centre

I am come that they might have life, and that they might

have it more abundantly. John 10:10 KVJ

 

Dan

 

Well I was the average teenage boy, with an unfortunate upbringing. I grew up with one parent which is all too common these days. My upbringing is not something I talk about much, mainly because it wasn’t a very happy time for me. My mother was an addict, of many kinds. She never had a proper childhood and therefore did not know how to provide a proper childhood for her own children. As a result of her addiction problems I left home at the age of 14, which was the best thing I could of done in the situation that I was in. So at the age of 14, Social Welfare put me in a foster home which just happened to be a Christian family. I stayed with them for the following couple of years. All I ever really wanted was just a normal family that loved me, that was really my family, not someone else’s.

At the age of 17 I had finished high school and completed an outdoor recreation course and was saving to travel. My mother abandoned my younger brother that was 11 at the time and I had no choice but to move into the family home and look after him. Eventually our mother returned home after a couple of months and kicked us out of the house. Because I saw my mother destroy her mind, life and family as a result of drugs, I vowed never to touch the stuff. Well my older brother arrived on the scene and was a heavy drug user, and he introduced me to drugs for the first time.

I travelled to Canada to work at summer camps, but when I travelled I used it as an excuse to leave all my problems behind.  I was a hurt, sad young man that smiled but on the inside I had built a wall around my heart and feelings.  I sought love and acceptance from anyone, I slept with people, worked hard, tried to be the best person I could be, then I started on the slippery slid of drug abuse.  When I used drugs with people it gave me an opportunity to have someone to relate to and feel accepted by them.  I soon found out that when I really needed someone, not one person that I ever used drugs with were around when I needed them, not even my own brother.

 When I used drugs, deep down I knew they were bad. I had experienced first hand what they can do to a person.  But I justified it any and every way possible.  I was turning into some kind of modern hippy, smoking up, a vegetarian, supported the Green Party, I even lived in a van for a while.  Inside I was slowly falling to pieces. After a while one of the dealers that I associated with suggested that I do some dealing myself.  I thought “why not, I’m an ambitious young man, fast cash.”  Also I thought to myself “drugs aren’t that bad, are they?  I’ll only do it a couple of times”.

 About this time one of my long-time friends invited me along to his church. Growing up I had been to church in the past. Sing a few songs, the guy at the front says a few bible verses, go for coffee and that’s it, right?  What happened for me was that people started singing songs like I was used to, but something was different at this church.  I could feel something different.  It was like I was on a huge drug high, but I hadn’t used anything.  It lasted for 3 days, it was amazing, and yet it scared me.  I later found out that it was the Holy Spirit and it was God’s way of telling me “that I am meant to be your supply of highs”. 

God had made Himself real to me, and was calling out to me.  But there was one slight problem, I still wanted to do my own thing, I had some deals I wanted to do.  I had some cash to make.  I actually decided not to go to that church again, because I knew God was real and I had turned my back on Him.           

Well a couple of weeks after that I got busted for drugs, big big time!  I never realised what I was doing was so serious.  For the first time, control of my life had been taken off me, I got arrested and told that I will probably be spending the next 2 - 4 years of my life in jail.  I was released to get my affairs in order and prepare to go away.  I called my younger brother and sister and told them what I had done, it was the most ashamed thing I had ever done.  My younger siblings had always looked up to me as the one in the family that had it all together, they were devastated to hear about what I had done. 

 After talking with them on the phone I cried for the first time in a long time, I was scared and didn’t know what to do.  In my lounge room I cried out to God and asked Him to take away my addictions and I dedicated my life to Jesus. This is the day I committed my life to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  What I realised on that day is that I had sinned against God, I had broken His 10 Commandments, His divine law which He set out for us to follow, and I came to the realisation that without Jesus I was destined to Eternal Punishment, and without Jesus in this life I would continue to destroy my own life, just like my mother had. 

Whatever situation you are facing in life as you read my testimony, let me tell you this.  God can make a way when there is no way.  He has done it for me, He had done it for others and He can do it for you, if you trust Him.

 Over the following year I was on bail, I spent it going to that church that I didn’t want to go back to, growing and learning in what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  And thanks to God and His mercies I only spent 3 months out of a possible 4 years in jail.  Not only that, I was able to spend it in a new Christian Faith Unit that was set up just before I went in to jail, and I was able to grow and learn while I was there as well.

 For me, over this 2 year period, God has taken me from a hurt, broken boy and shown me what it means to be a man with a purpose.  My friend, as you are reading this, God has a purpose for your life, so great, and so exciting you probably would never be able to comprehend or understand it.

 This is quite an extreme scenario and you may be thinking to yourself that you are not a drug dealer, or perhaps you are a normal law abiding citizen.  Who’s Law?  You may follow the law of the land, but have you followed God’s law? What no one ever told me was that God’s law was the Ten Commandments and when I broke these, it was sin. 

 Every time I looked with lust, I committed adultery with my heart.  Every time I stole something, I was a thief, no matter what the value.  And every time I lied, I was a liar. In the eyes of God I was guilty!  My friend, as you read this can you say you have never broken just these 3 out of the Ten Commandments?

 If you are honest with yourself you will say ‘Yes I have broken God’s divine law’.  Don’t wait till something extreme happens in your life before you call out to Jesus and ask Him to be your Lord and Saviour.  You can make a commitment to Him right now in front of your computer, in the comfort of your own home.  If you are truly seeking Jesus, He will reveal Himself to you.

 Thank you for the time you took to read my humble testimony, I pray that it will be a blessing to you.