It has been about fourteen months since I rededicated my life to serving my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I wish I would have known when I accepted Christ at the age of nineteen how close I could get to him and how great his presence can be, how good God is, and how much he wants us to have everything we need in this life and more. God does answer prayers and he has answered many these last fourteen months. I can not praise him enough for changing my life and the joy he has added to it. He has not only restored what I had lost but has given me things that I never before had. A few months after getting right with Christ I was riding my motorcycle through the country on the way home from RU. I smelt the smoke from a camp fire and heard the voices of children playing and it took me back to a time when I was young and camping on the river bank with my family in West Virginia. I had a brief remembrance of how I use to feel before I ever drank alcohol or done drugs. I was content with how I felt then, and with whom I was, well as much as one could be at such a young age. I was distraught and thought I would never be able to feel that way again. It was too late, I had already tasted and felt the feelings that alcohol and drugs could produce. It was hopeless and I could never go back. This voice in my head, this person on my shoulder whispering in my ear could never be silenced.
But I was wrong and praise God for opening my eyes, my heart, and my ears to the voice of truth. It is the greatest miracle in my life. Not only has the voice of my addictions been silenced, but it has been replaced with such a wonderful feeling of hope and peace. The words in this testimony could never explain or give God enough praise for what he has done for me. Words fall so short.
At first the Lord gave me the strength to help me deal with and manage the desires. I found that the more I read, studied, and meditated on God’s word, the more the desires faded away. I always enjoyed the singing the most at church, but now I so much look forward to the preaching. God has revealed so much to me through his word being preached and I am excited to hear and learn more. Good stuff, you know.
God knows our true feelings and what is truly in our hearts. I believe that if you sincerely pray about something you are struggling with, and can not overcome it on our own, that God will use the people around you, put you into a situation, or will send someone to your door or into your life that will help you to overcome what ever it is. One example of this, which is just one of many, is the support, advice, direction, and fellowship I have received in the RU’s second talk’s group. Listening to other’s issues has helped me in dealing with my own. Many things that were said in my group have helped me in so many ways. One realization, awakening, or enlightenment I had was in my group when we were talking about prayer and if it was possible to have insincere prayers? I thought it was possible because before, when I prayed that God would help me to overcome my addiction. But deep down in the back of my heart I did not want to give it up and was holding on to it. I loved it and it was my best friend. I had forgotten how to live without it. Then someone pointed out that I was not holding on to it, “IT” was holding on to me. How wonderful the feeling was and how great it felt to have like this weight lifted off of my shoulders, to realize that the way I had felt, believed, and thought for so many years was wrong. The Lord had finally allowed me to hear his voice of truth.
I have found that after spending some time with God and in his word daily that the sky is a little bluer and the air is a little fresher, music sounds a little better and family and friends are a little dearer, and life is so much better. Jesus Christ has performed a miracle in my life that I had never thought possible. I praise him for the work he did on the cross for me and what he is doing for me today, and for the RU program. I know it is because of him that I live today, and because of him, not RU that I am renewed. But RU is a wonderful program that has helped me to build a solid foundation upon Jesus Christ. It has provides direction and guidance, and has helped me to develop good habits that will keep me on the right path to serving the Lord. Through this program God allowed me to see the light.
The Lord answered my prayers by sending that youth pastor to my door, and giving me the strength to be honest with him, and letting me learn of RU. That pastor was the Lord’s massager, a godsend, with the message of hope and of the truth which is Jesus Christ.
-Jeff
