A New Identity

Bill Davis

Have you ever woken up and realized that the path you are on is leading you nowhere? That was me at thirty, lost in addiction, with nothing to show for my life but broken promises and pain.

I’ve always believed in God, but I never had a true relationship with Him. I grew up knowing the right things to do, but I got caught up in the wrong things along the way. I started drinking and using drugs as a teenager. The drugs and alcohol made me feel like I was grown up and able to make my own choices. What started out as a fun, social activity quickly spiraled into insanity.

When I was in high school, I was still accountable to my parents, but when I went to college, my newfound freedom quickly overtook my life. I began to experiment with the drugs I told myself I would never do. Alcohol and marijuana turned into cocaine and ketamine. It didn’t take long before school took a backseat to my life of pure debauchery.

My addiction was ruling my life. I had been arrested several times, but the consequences weren’t enough to make me change my ways. Even after being released from jail, I immediately went back to my old ways. I used to joke that I lived the life of a rock star (drugs, alcohol, and women), without the fame and money. After five years of partying in college, I dropped out, still a freshman.

As if my life wasn’t already out of control, in my mid-twenties, I started using pain pills. Unlike alcoholism, an opioid addiction felt easier to conceal. At first, I thought I had control, but before long I was so hooked that I couldn’t even get out of bed in the mornings without that fix. The spiral was quiet, but suffocating. I felt chained to something I couldn’t break free from. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I had it together, deep down, I was losing everything—my freedom, my dignity, and my hope.

I remember at one point feeling completely alone, yet deep down, I knew I wasn’t. There was this subtle pull, this whisper in my heart, telling me I wasn’t meant to live this way.

That’s when I realized that what I thought was my freedom to make choices and being a grownup, was taken away by a pill. I discovered that my opioid addiction was controlling my life and making decisions for me. The path I was on was leading to nowhere. I could not continue to live like this. I was thirty years old with no credit, no career, and no direction. I had nothing to show for my life.

It was a slow realization. I wish I could say it was one moment of clarity, but in truth, it took years of waking up in shame, repeating the same mistakes, before I finally acknowledged the truth: I wasn’t free. I was a slave to my addiction. I had hit rock bottom, but the hardest part was realizing that I didn’t have the strength to climb out on my own.

That’s when I decided I needed to make real changes in my life. I was searching and lost. I grew up in church but had long since turned my back on my faith. I had lived only for this world. I spent the next year sober as I tried on my own, white-knuckled and lonely each day. I realized that there were still changes that needed to be made in my life. I needed help so I made the decision to go back to church and started exploring churches in the area. After attending a few different local churches, I found one where I felt welcomed. During my first Sunday service at Victory Family Church, the pastor mentioned they had an addiction small group called Victory Group.

I wish I could say that God transformed me instantly but I had gotten in so deep and was coming from such a dark, sin-filled world, that I did not feel worthy.

At first, church was hard. I walked in with the weight of shame. I thought people would judge me or see right through me. But week by week, something changed. The love I found there wasn’t just from the people—it was from God Himself. Slowly, I stopped seeing myself as an addict and started seeing myself as God saw me: His child, worthy of love and redemption. It wasn’t until I finally surrendered every area of my life over to Him that I felt a peace that I hadn’t known in years. God wasn’t just offering me forgiveness; He was offering me a new identity.

I began serving in multiple areas of the church, including Victory Group. My faith and healing grew through serving others and walking with them while they overcame their addictions. By God’s grace, I have been set free from addiction and after more than fifteen years, continue to serve others walking through addiction. Over the years, I have attended both Christian and secular recovery groups. I have found that true freedom only comes from a personal relationship with God through salvation in the blood of Jesus.

I am so thankful to no longer identify as an alcoholic or an addict but to know I am a beloved son of God my Father. I am grateful and amazed every day at the person God has led me to become. Looking back, I can see that God was with me every step of the way. I may have turned my back on Him, but He never left me. Even during my worst decisions, He was beside me. Even after all my bad choices and turning away, He has blessed me. Now I have a wonderful wife, an amazing church family, complete restoration and more blessings than I can count.

No matter where you are, no matter how far you’ve fallen, God is there with open arms. Your identity isn’t in your mistakes; it’s in who God says you are. If He could turn my life around—taking me from addiction to purpose—He can do the same for you. Don’t wait for rock bottom. Call out to Him today and watch as He transforms your pain into purpose.  If you have never invited Him into your heart to be your personal Savior and friend, do it today by praying this salvation prayer from your heart.  He will come into your life and transform you from the inside out.

Pray: God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior.  I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me.  Please forgive my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new today.  I know Your Son, Jesus died for me.  I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead.  At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward.  I now have a right relationship with God my Father through this salvation in the blood of Jesus. I thank You for giving me Your Holy Spirit to guide me and to empower me to accomplish the things You have planned for the rest my life here in this world. In Jesus’ name, Amen

October 2024

An Unexpected Turn

Renee Peterson

In 2023, my husband, Blair, and I went on a group tour to Egypt with an organization called the Warrior Poet Society. This organization, known for its focus on self-defense training and family values, attracted Blair due to his interests. Little did we know, this journey would change our lives in ways we could never have imagined.

While on the Egyptian tour, an exciting announcement was made: The Warrior Poet Society would be leading a trip to Greece in 2024. The trip sounded spectacular, so we eagerly signed up for the following spring. We had no idea that the tour would follow the Apostle Paul’s travels as he set up the New Testament church.

When I reviewed the itinerary, I became thrilled about all the locations we would visit. However, I didn’t quite grasp how these places were connected to the Apostle Paul or even really know who he was.  I couldn’t understand that we would be walking the very paths where Paul’s words brought countless people to faith. Blair and I were clueless to the fact that we would literally be walking the path where Paul’s preaching resulted in the conversion of so many people, which we were about to become a part of.

On the first day of the trip, we visited the remnants of the Philippian prison where Paul was detained. At that point, it didn’t mean much to us. Intrigued by the history, Blair and I decided to watch a movie about Paul that night. We learned about his life, his mission, and the profound impact of his ministry. It was eye-opening and simply amazing to learn about the impact his ministry had in spreading the good news of the gospel.

As the tour continued, we visited various sites where Paul had ministered. At many of the stops, scriptures were read and Paul’s missions were discussed. With every story and biblical reference, my curiosity grew. I even asked Blair if he could get me a Bible so I could learn more about following Jesus.

By the end of the trip, our hearts were transformed. The conversations we had and the experiences we shared led us to a powerful decision. We accepted Jesus as the Lord of our lives, a decision that has proven to be the best one we've ever made. Our journey, which started as an adventure inspired by historical curiosity, took an unexpected turn that put us into a personal relationship with our heavenly Father through Jesus our Lord.

If you have never invited Jesus into your life to be your Lord and Savior, you can do that today. Simply pray the salvation prayer below from your heart and ask Him to save you too.

Pray:  "Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a sinner in need of Your saving grace. I believe that You died for my sins and rose again, conquering death. I invite You into my heart and into my life to be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins, and guide me as I follow You. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that goes with me in this world and Your love and mercy. In Jesus name, Amen."

Embrace this journey of faith and experience the transformative power of knowing Jesus personally. It’s the best decision you’ll ever make.

July 2024

The Peace that Transcends

Meg Gibson

It was January 1, 2021, when I unexpectedly lost a close friend to cancer. The very next day my brother, sister and I discovered our 90-year-old dad had been hiding his beginning stages of dementia. We quickly stepped in and started providing more care for our parents. Our mom had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease several years earlier. So, they both now needed our help more than ever. To make matters worse my husband and I along with our two kids suddenly lost our beloved goldendoodle. Loss felt like it was all around us.

It soon became evident my parents needed care 24 hours a day. Caregiving was constant and emotionally draining. My sister and I kept telling each other, “It has to get better.” It was only a few short months later that my sister was diagnosed with advanced stage 4 breast cancer.

To say I felt completely devastated doesn’t begin to express the despair that weighed on me. It was at this time that going to church felt like my only lifeline. Worship took on a much deeper meaning. Each song I sang became a passionate prayer directed right to God’s ears.

I could not have survived that season without my faith. I held tight to His promises and started repeating them to myself over and over again every day. Philippians 4:7 was my favorite. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It was amazing how His peace would hold me up through each new challenge.

Through all this my parents and sister also held tight to their faith. When my dad passed in September 2022 it was heartbreaking. At the same time, through our faith, we were able to celebrate the gift he had been given. For we instantly knew he was received in heaven with open arms by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, finally free from his broken body.

Through this excruciating time my relationship with God has only grown stronger and more personal. Something happens when we turn the things we have no control over to God’s care. He also promises to be close to the broken hearted. I felt the closest to Him through the darkest days.

I am still holding onto God’s promises for my sister and mom especially Mathew 19:26 ~ With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Thank God I know He remains by my side every day.

If you are facing an impossible situation or diagnosis, you can commit these into God’s hands today. He is waiting there to carry you through to your Victory. He can turn your every struggle around for good instead of the evil that is trying to take you out. The first step is to turn your life over to His care and provision. You can do this by inviting Him into your life and heart by praying the prayer below. He will come in and bring His peace with Him. You never have to stress or worry again. You can trust His promises just as His peace has comforted me through all the cares of life.

Pray: God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me. Please forgive my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new today. I know Your Son, Jesus died for me. I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward. I now have a right relationship with God my Father through this salvation in the blood of Jesus. I thank You for giving me Your Holy Spirit to guide me and to empower me to accomplish the things You have planned for my life in Jesus’ name, Amen

 April 2024

A Day that Changed My Life Forever

Peter Button

I was cleaning the gutters on my house one winter day last year.  I had been working on the 2nd story and started coming down the ladder when it slipped out from underneath me as I took the first step down.  The fall was about 25 feet.  I landed on the first floor roof and proceeded to get tangled up in the ladder with my legs, which caused me to fall the rest of the way down onto the concrete walk in front of my house.  I hit the ground on my head, shoulder and back and was knocked unconscious while severely bleeding from a huge cut on my head. 

When I woke up, I couldn’t move. Inside my head I cried out to my Lord.  “If this is my time to come home, please make it easy for my wife and children.”  At that moment, God spoke so clearly and said: “You will live and be healed.”  I immediately felt His overwhelming peace.  I cried out to my wife, Lisa, as loud as I could, but there was no answer.  I called out as loud as I possibly could a second time.  That is when my neighbors across the street came.  They were the first ones I remember seeing.  After that, Lisa came running out of the house to be with me while the squad was called, and I was taken to AGH. 

At the hospital it was determined that I had a lacerated head, severe gashes along both legs, 7 broken ribs, three cracked vertebrae, shoulder blade broken into 14 pieces, three processes broken off my vertebrae and a severe concussion.  In short, it was a miracle that I had survived. 

I was lucky to be alive and God’s peace persisted as the healing processes began.  It was only a few days later when I got the news that my mom had passed away.  I had just come out of surgery, so I didn’t get a chance to talk with her prior to her passing, yet God’s peace continued. I  preached His gospel to anyone who would come into my room and shared God’s message of love with all.  I was so thankful to be alive!  

I was in the ICU for 7 days; the pain was more than I had ever felt.  Had it not been for the Lord, prayers of the saints, Lisa and my kids, it would have been impossible. 

Fast forward through 11 months of rehab, tears, laughter and outstanding moments of life. I am here.  I am healing. God promised me life and healing. I am holding Him to that.  He is my rock.  Has it been easy? NOPE!  Has it been worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!  Jacob wrestled with God and walked with a limp the rest of his life.  I am good with the pain and the scars. These remind me of His promise.

When you have a fall, seek God! If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, ask Him to be real and show up!  He will.  He will be your everything and be the “I am” in your life.  This was the hardest thing in my life that I have had to overcome and now I truly understand what Paul was saying in   Philippians 1:21:

That day changed my life forever and solidified my faith in God!  He is my song and my testimony and the love of my life.  Praise you Jesus! Thank you for saving me. 

You can ask Him into your life, to be your Lord and Savior right now by praying this prayer from your heart:

Pray: God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior.  I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me.  Please forgive my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new today.  I know Your Son, Jesus died for me.  I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead.  At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward.  I now have a right relationship with God my Father through this salvation in the blood of Jesus. I thank You for giving me Your Holy Spirit to guide me and to empower me to accomplish the things You have planned for my life in Jesus’ name, Amen

  January 2024

Blessed Beyond Broken

Michelle Fortini

As I sat on the porch curled up in my favorite comfy chair, all I could think about was that it was almost time. As the rain dripped down one drop after another hitting the edge of my balcony, I found myself comforted by the sound. It was at this same time in the early afternoon that I would take laps around the pond by my home and sing to my unborn daughter. At nine months pregnant I was eager to soon be meeting my baby girl for the very first time, face to face.  I was in my early twenties and with my whole life ahead of me, all I could do was anticipate the day that my daughter would enter into the world, and I would forever be her mother.

 Just after I graduated college, I fell in love. I truly thought this was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. Truthfully, I look back and realize I had fallen in love with just an illusion of love itself. I chose only to see what I wanted to see and absolutely neglected to see what I really needed to. When we found out that I was pregnant we were both overjoyed. However, it wasn’t long after that when things of this world came to steal, kill and destroy our joy. I had taken leave from my job very soon into my pregnancy. As I was taking time off, He was moving into a promotion and into a new job. With this new opportunity and my pregnancy, things seemed to all be coming together. It wasn’t long before everything I thought was coming together had completely fallen apart. 

 Through the duration of my pregnancy, the man I knew and loved had gone. In his place was a stranger that became addicted to alcohol. He allowed it to consume him. He became very abusive, reckless and a man I was completely terrified of. Throughout my pregnancy I had endured the pain of physical and emotional abuse. I had become a prisoner to it with no way out. This was surely not what I planned my future to be like.

 It wasn’t until my daughter was 10 months old, I would finally have the courage to set my escape plan into motion. I had been preparing for this for months. I was careful in keeping up my daily routine so he would not suspect anything. The day he walked out the door for work, I too walked out the door to my life and stepped into the world as a single mother. I felt truly broken inside. 

 I find it to be true that sometimes we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes it's in the middle of nowhere we find ourselves. That's exactly how I felt. I don’t think we ever imagine that life can change so dramatically; nor do we expect it to happen so suddenly, but the truth is that it so often does. Inevitably it was in finding myself in the middle of nowhere I also found myself at rock bottom with nowhere to turn.  I was forced to look up and look to God for help. One of my favorite verses is:

 This is where God found me. 

Through my eight years walking with Christ, it’s through the trials of life as a single mom that allowed God to refine me the most in order to prepare me for His promise. As I read the word and meditate on it throughout the day, I am able to bask in God's presence and grow into an even more intimate relationship with Him. As single moms we sacrifice so much and we long to just hear a thank you or any type of praise from our children. However, we all know that those are often far and few between. God wants that to. 

I encourage you not to focus so much on the season you're in, but how you remain steadfast and faithful in it, embracing all that God is teaching you through it. There was a season in my life that things could have turned out much differently, but God reached down and lifted me up out of the very darkness I was keeping myself in. He loves us that much.

He has given me more than I ever could have imagined. 

If you are ready to receive His gift of salvation to rescue you, you can do it today.  By simply calling on Him, He will answer, and He will rescue you.  Pray this prayer today from your heart and He will come into your life, and you will never be the same again:

God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior.  I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me.  Please forgive my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new today.  I know Your Son, Jesus died for me.  I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead.  At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward.  I now have a right relationship with God my Father through this salvation in the blood of Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen

 October 2023

Back to Life

Lila Rager

Nowadays, I'm on fire for God and a very active church member. I go to every service that I can and I'm currently helping in the Children's Ministry. I am even planning to go to bible school when I graduate from high school. At fifteen years old I know the calling that God has given me to fulfill.

Even though I'm on fire now, it was only a few months ago that I wasn't even a believer. I would deny God and I did everything to pull myself away from Him. From the age of twelve till right before my 15th birthday, I thought that I was made to be a boy, even though God  created me as a girl. So, I cut my long blond hair off, bought boys clothes, and had people call me a boy name. Most of my family tried to stop me but the school system let me do whatever I wanted. I believed that I was in the right and that my family had no clue. The "friends" I had at the time had the same way of thinking. I thought that doing all of that would make me happy but all it did was make things worse.

 From there I started getting depressed and cutting. Then, I started getting high. This destroyed my relationship with my mom. I couldn't talk to her for more than 10 minutes without starting an argument. I did all of this to try to fill that hole that only the Lord can fill. Throughout all of it my mom and stepdad kept praying for me. Then they started taking me to Revival Today Church. Even Though I hated every second of it, they kept on taking me. As I kept going to church, I started to enjoy the services and I was getting more and more open to the idea of the love of God. Then, one day before service, my stepdad and I were talking to one of the pastors that worked there. He knew I was young, so he introduced me to one of the youth pastors and that week I went to my first ever Revival Today Youth service. The third week that I went to the youth service, I got saved and ever since then I have been on fire for the Lord!

I turned away from all of the things of the world and I started letting the Lord guide my life. He not only restored me but also my relationship with my mom, and now it’s better than it has ever been. I stopped talking to all of the people that would pull me away from the Lord. I met other Christian teens and I have made many great friendships with them.

Now I am free from the lies that were keeping me bound to sin and I'm walking in the way that the Lord has planned for me. 

If you would like to receive this freedom, invite Jesus into your life by praying this simple prayer today.  He will come in and give you His Spirit to guide you in the truth of His love and good plan for your life.

Pray: God in heaven, I know I am a sinner and need a Savior.  I believe that You sent Your Son, Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin.  Jesus, I invite You into my heart and life today to be my Lord and Savior from this day on.  Thank You for sending Your Spirit to live in me to guide and protect in the days ahead.  I now am a child of God and will start today to learn all of Your good plan for my life.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!

July 2023

A New Friend

I never understood what it was like to wake up in the morning and be happy or excited. Each time I woke up I was filled with dread to have to face another day of being alone. Whether I had someone to be with or not, I was always mentally alone.

When I was 19 years old and in college, most of my mornings started with adding alcohol to my coffee and my nights ended the same way, but without the coffee. A lot of my time was spent trying to find a new way to distract myself from my head and escape reality. I usually found that in a party, alcohol, drugs, and other people. Those activities only prolonged the end of the day, being stuck back with my thoughts and alone. I had friends in my life, but I could never talk to them, they wouldn't understand what I had to deal with. They never seemed to struggle the way I was, they couldn’t relate. I always kept the bad thoughts and self-destructive actions hidden from everyone, no matter how close they were to me.

By the time I was 21, I had a roommate who had some guns, he was excited to bring one of them into our apartment and show it off. I had no understanding of guns; I knew they had a trigger and a slot for ammo and that was the extent of my knowledge.

One night we were both out but my thoughts, which I now know to be Satan, got the better of me and I decided to head back to our apartment without him. For some reason he kept his gun on display in our living room, so it was pretty easy to get to. It was all I thought about as I walked home, with the same old record playing in my head torturing me. As soon as I walked in, I headed straight for it. I went into my room with it and stared down the barrel of this gun for what felt like an hour. I didn’t have a reason to, I had a great girlfriend with a promising future, a family at home, a few hours ago I was surrounded by friends. But none of them really knew, none of them understood. At least, those were the lies I was fed, and I believed them. I spent the rest of the night crying with this gun next to my mouth.

When I graduated college at 22 and moved back home with my parents, I was forced to join my family when they went to church. I hated it, but I had no choice in the matter because I could not afford to move out and as long as my dad was paying for the roof I was under, I had to follow his rules. I do not remember anything that was ever preached during that time, but I remember hearing over and over again the pastor say:

 He must’ve said it five times at every service for a month, and one day I found myself saying it. There was no change at first, I would say it to myself to mock the pastor and what was taught, but there was weight behind the words even if I didn’t say them with intention. The first time I said it with meaning was on a regular morning of being alone and faced with my thoughts, I spoke it out before I got out of bed and repeated it throughout the day. That was the day everything shifted. I started paying a little more attention to what the pastor was saying and soon found out there was a way I never had to be alone again. I learned there was another way to get free of my thoughts that didn’t include alcohol or drugs.

On February 5, 2022, I asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life and I got baptized. I have never been alone since then and I get to wake up every day happy and excited for life. I know I have a future now; I have a close friend who understands me better than I understand me. I can tell Him things I could never tell my other friends, and He understands! He walks me through the tough times, He coaches me on how to grow, He comforts me every time I’m feeling low.

For some reason my roommate decided to remove the ammo from that gun and lock it in his car the same day I took it to my room. He knew nothing of my head or thoughts or could have possibly had any inkling that would be a good idea. I believe, without a doubt, that God prompted him to do that because He knew where I would be later that same night. God saved me before I ever asked Jesus to save me.

He can save you too, and He wants to. All you have to do is invite Him into your heart and make Him the Lord of your life. If you want something you’ve never had, then you have to do something you’ve never done. Let's invite Him in together.

“Heavenly Father, I want to go a different way. I want Your promises to be true for my future. I invite Jesus into my heart and life. Jesus, I choose to make you the Lord of my life. Thank you for coming, thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! I am now a child of God, and my sin debt is cancelled. Heaven is my home. Amen”

April 2023

My New Direction

Seth Snyder

The Lord saved me through so much grace so many times.  One of those times was when I was in a serious accident in 2016 with my 3rd Gen Cummins truck while racing a friend.  I rolled my truck about 6 times and the roof came down on my left shoulder and actually hit my head. Amazingly I only ended up with a few bumps and bruises. I should have died but God had a different plan.  The rescue team even said they had seen many less severe accidents that people did not make it out of alive.  Even my friend, said he didn’t believe in God, but felt there was a higher power involved in bringing me through, what should have been a fatal crash.

I have also committed many crimes in my life such as shoplifting, using cocaine and marijuana.  I had dui’s and even stabbed someone once with a limited jail time as a sentence thanks to God’s intervention. 

God has saved my life from all these things.  It has been such a blessing to see Him move since I turned my life over to Him.  I have a great job, new car and basically a new life.  I found out that God had a purpose for my life, and He does for your life too.  If you have ever struggled or gotten into trouble, God wants to turn that all around and help you to excel in life.  Your part is to accept His love into your heart and then give your life to Him.  Ask Him to forgive your sin and receive the gift of salvation that He provided for you through the blood of Jesus on the cross.  Tell Him you want to repent and turn around and head your life in His direction.

If you want a new beginning today, invite Jesus into your life by praying this salvation prayer from your heart.  He will save you from your destructive life and help you to walk out the rest of your days in His blessing and purpose.

God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me. Please forgive my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new today. I know Your Son, Jesus died for me. I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward. I now have a right relationship with God my Father through this salvation in Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen

January 2023

Train up a Child

Proverbs 22:6 ~ “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

This verse runs true in my life. As a child my mother made sure my brother and I were in church at least 3 times a week. Twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday at least until I came of age and realized I didn’t have to go to church if I didn’t want to. I would always hear stories about the “BC” days or before Christ days from members of the church. They would always talk about a great transformation in their lives when they came to Christ. I couldn’t understand this because I was always in the church. I never had that “great moment” of transforming salvation. As a teenager I wanted to hang out with my friends and do what teenagers did. So that’s what ended up happening. I started listening to bad music I started swearing and before I knew it, I was smack dab in the middle of worldly living. Little did I know all those Sunday school lessons, and kid praise songs would be held up in my spirit locked away waiting to be used at just the right moment.

I wanted to see what the world had to offer so I went for it. Through my late teen years partying and hanging out was my main goal in life. School was a joke I barely passed any of my classes, but through the grace of God and a strong praying mother I graduated. I can remember a day when I was a junior in high school the phone rang, the phone that hung in our kitchen with the cord and everything, this was 1998. My dad answered the phone and looked at me with a sinister grin. He handed me the phone and then I hear a voice. It was Sgt Rivera from the United State Marine Corp. To make a long story short I told him I was interested, and he came right over.

After a few weeks of pondering the idea, I decided I would give it a try. Somehow, I knew staying in the neighborhood hanging out with my friends wasn’t going to end well for me, so I joined the Marines. I did 4 years active duty right out of high school 1999-2003. I had a busy 4 years. 911 happened and I found myself an active-duty Marine in a time of war. I ended up going overseas with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. We went all over the world including Iraq. Through the grace of God and a strong praying mother I made it through without a scratch. I remember being in Iraq driving through bombed out cities looking for a fight. I knew my mother had an army of prayer warriors praying for us. We didn’t lose a single person. The peace that surpasses all understanding was well evident to me. I wasn’t afraid and just knew nothing could happen to us.

When I got back from war, I only had a few months left on my contract, so I got the heck out of there. Now many veterans can attest to the struggles of separating from active duty. Little did I know life outside of the Marines and most importantly outside of the will of God was about to get hard. I fell back into my old ways of partying and having a good time. This time I wasn’t a teenager I had responsibilities. I opened the door for the devil and invited him right on in. I was a functioning alcoholic aimlessly walking through life expecting some great breakthrough. I let alcohol consume me. I was married when I got out of the Marines and that didn’t last. I started going to work hungover and that affected my performance. I eventually lost my job due to a DUI. My life was becoming a series of bad decisions manifesting into tragedy after tragedy.

This went on for years. Every time I thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. I started to get angry at everyone around me. My friends started keeping their distance and eventually Satan turned the party into my worst nightmare. After the second DUIs I found myself on house arrest for 6 months. The only place I was allowed to go was work or church. I hadn’t been to church in over a decade besides holidays or weddings. I started going back to church on house arrest. That’s when things started to change. God used what was meant for evil and turned it for good. My spirit slowly started to come alive. Looking back on it now I can see exactly when God started moving in my life. I could hear God calling me back to him. I remembered all those Sunday school lessons and the little songs we used to sing as children. Everything came back to me, and I started reading my bible. God’s grace had been with me through everything. Looking back now I can see miracles I never noticed then. Even though I never stopped believing I did stop obeying. This let Satan have his way in my life. We all make a concise decision to obey or disobey God. But make no mistake, it is our choice to make.

Today I have a wonderful God-fearing wife. Good Godly friends and a whole new outlook on life. I couldn’t have made it without a strong praying mother and church family. In our household we live by:

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your way acknowledge him and he will direct your path.

Receive your salvation today by praying this prayer or one like it from your heart. Jesus will come into your life and direct your path:

God in heaven, I know I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me. Please forgive my sins, cleanse me from my past, and make me new today. I know Your Son, Jesus died for me. I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior . . . to be Lord of my life from this day forward. I now have a right relationship with God my Father through this salvation in Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen

October 2022

A Close Call

I was deployed in 2010 and went to Bagram Afghanistan where my spiritual journey started. I had heard about God, I went to a Catholic Church on occasion, but I never experienced what some people call “A God Encounter”. I was cocky, arrogant and completely focused on me and me alone. I was young and put on an image to seem “hard” or “cool”, but I was desperately hurting on the inside. There was something missing in my life but at the time, I had no idea what or Who. My military duty was convoy security including running gun trucks to deliver materials to bases all around the Afghanistan providence. We had about a month left until we all went home, and I obsessed over it. I had tunnel vision, all I could think about was coming home and seeing the people that I loved again. On one of our last missions, after spending 13 hours on the road pulling security, we were all exhausted and just trying to get to where we were going to rest. The gunner for our truck had spent all night in the gun turret and it was my turn to cover, so we traded places. We were the lead vehicle for the entire convoy of 30 trucks and we mistakenly traveled too far ahead causing us to stop and wait for the rest of the convoy to catch up. As a gunner, standard procedure is for gunners to maintain a low profile while in the gunner’s turret. I was so exhausted, I was so unfocused, that I didn’t realize what I was doing, or I just didn’t care. We waited still for nearly 10 minutes in this mountain draw for the rest of the convoy while I was completely exposed. When the convoy came in sight again, I instructed the driver to continue driving as we drove around the mountain draw. As soon as we were in the clear, the gun truck behind us started receiving heavy arms fire including multiple sniper’s fire. 

Getting back to the base that night without a scratch, my mind focused on me exposing myself for nearly 10 minutes fully silhouetted in the gun turret. I kept asking the myself “Why didn’t the snipers take a shot at me? I was right there fully exposed for a free kill. Were they not ready? Surely not.” God only knows but that night, I had my first God Encounter. I was given a second chance and I was fully persuaded that God had more for me in my life. I didn’t know what a relationship with God looked like, but after that night, I confessed, “God, I don’t know you, but I’m willing to put the time in to find out”. I could never have imagined the blessings God had for me ahead. 

7 years ago, I was the first person in my family to graduate college. 4 years ago, I was blessed with my dream job to move to Pennsylvania. 3 years ago, I was so on fire for God and expanding his kingdom, that I joined a ministry school in Cranberry PA. Finally, 1 year ago I married the godly woman I had prayed for my entire life. I am blessed beyond measure of what God has taught me so far and it is simple: Religion is rules, God is relationship. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all will be given to you.” (Matthew 6:33).  My heart is full, and I am eternally grateful. 

You can step into a personal relationship with Him too, right where you are now.  All it takes is to breathe these simple words: “God, I don’t know you, but I’m willing to put the time in to find out Who you are personally!”  Then take time to talk to Him each day.  He will show up and you will know Him and trust your life in His hands.

July 2022