Hi Everyone,
I thought I would share a little about myself and how I came to know Jesus as my Savior. I'm fairly new to the forum.
Growing up, I guess you could say I was never the popular type, always got beat up on the bus going and coming home from school. I was the youngest in a home of 5. Mom remarried after I was age 5, and I recall many times I was abused by my biological father. I have one biological sister, 2 step sisters, and 2 step brothers. None of which are Christians or believed in any God for that matter. My two step sisters and brothers left home at early ages due to a home life many would call dysfunctional. One sister recently past away about 5 years ago at age 30 from Diabetes/Marijuana overdose.
Church was never mentioned at home. God was never mentioned except in the context of vain. It was forbidden to go to church.
My mom was a depressive person, severe at times. She stayed in bed throughout the majority of the day, always on the demand. Orders came from the bed left and right. (Clean the cupboards, vacuum the floor, clean my dresser, make me some tea, go cut the grass, answer the phone, throw in a load of laundry, fold the laundry, you get the point by now.) She carried a heavy hand when it came to the belt, switch, 2x4, etc...
Food was locked up in our cupboard. We had a lock on our freezer. My playground was my front yard up until age 15. I had to always be within calling distance, you know...just in case.
My step Dad, well he worked to support his family. Emotionally, he had his hands full with mom.
How I came to know Christ: I had a cousin (on my step-Dad's side) who bought me my first Bible. It was Christmas, I was only 8. She gave it to me on the side, knowing how mom and dad felt about the situation. It was a King James Version with an orange cover and rainbow stripes with a Dove across the center of it. She worked in a Christian book store and let me come to work with her and operate the cashier machine. I felt something in that store I could never explain. It was peace...something I had never felt before. It was what I looked forward to, until one day my parents found out and put a stop to it.
I slept with the Bible she gave me every night. I read it as much as I could. I always liked the New Testament much greater back then the Old Testament. That Jesus character was something else. Hmmmm... My Grandma gave me a picture of Jesus.
I still have the vision of that picture in my head till this day! It was a picture of Jesus on the Cross with the thorns and nails piercing His flesh, and the initials INRI above His head posted on the Cross. It had a blue light on it, and a reflective background. It was 3-D.
I cried many nights on my hands and knees in front of that picture. Praying for God to take my life. I spent many nights crying in my bed, thinking of how I was going to take my life, and what my folks would think after it was...well...finished.
One day after a really rough night and thoughts of suicide just kept overwhelming me, a friend asked me to come to church with him. I told him my circumstances and he said not to worry. His folks came over and lied to get me out of the house. They said we were going to go to a birthday party. When they came to the house, my parents didn't refuse, after all it was always a different story looking in from the outside.
I met Jesus in a small little wooden shack called Sunday School at Parkland Christian Church, Tacoma, Washington. It was there I was introduced to what Life had to offer me. I never looked at that picture hanging on my wall the same ever again. It had a new meaning to it than ever before.
I eventually ended up leaving home at age 16 1/2, taken in by a Christian family. I stayed there until I joined the Air force. I married my High School sweetheart, and now we have 3 precious children together.
We tried to reconcile with the family, however, things never quite worked out. Jesus said people will persecute you because you believe in me. I'm a firm believer in that. I haven't had contact with them now in over 2 years. It saddens me that my children will not know their Grandparents.
God has done amazing things in my life. I look back at how I could have taken so many different paths that could have lead to destruction. All my brothers and sisters are either in jail/prison for drug possessions, theft, or dead.
I chose to follow Christ. I learned of His promise a long time ago. He never broke His promise. He never gave up on me. He never locked me out. And when I cried on my hands and knees asking Him to take my life, he was right there by my side.
When I was deployed to Cuba and my wife Amy was 6 months pregnant and 5,000 miles away so hurt from the baby kicking her ribs out that she couldn't get to the hospital or take in a deep breath, it was God's angels that were poking me in the side making me only think to call her and eventually get her help.
It was God who stirred us to walk in the room of our 10 day old daughter who had no heartbeat and stopped breathing just in the nick of time to have a successful rescusitation.
It was God who made the defects leave our youngest child when the physicians said he would have kidney problems throughout his life.
And it was God who brought my wife and I together, when 25 years ago it could have been so different because they weren't going to let her be adopted from Korea because she was deaf and they thought she was retarded.
God makes amazing things happen. All you have to do is open your eyes to see the wonders he has done in your life.
That's my story! And I'm sticking to it!
I thought I would share a little about myself and how I came to know Jesus as my Savior. I'm fairly new to the forum.
Growing up, I guess you could say I was never the popular type, always got beat up on the bus going and coming home from school. I was the youngest in a home of 5. Mom remarried after I was age 5, and I recall many times I was abused by my biological father. I have one biological sister, 2 step sisters, and 2 step brothers. None of which are Christians or believed in any God for that matter. My two step sisters and brothers left home at early ages due to a home life many would call dysfunctional. One sister recently past away about 5 years ago at age 30 from Diabetes/Marijuana overdose.
Church was never mentioned at home. God was never mentioned except in the context of vain. It was forbidden to go to church.
My mom was a depressive person, severe at times. She stayed in bed throughout the majority of the day, always on the demand. Orders came from the bed left and right. (Clean the cupboards, vacuum the floor, clean my dresser, make me some tea, go cut the grass, answer the phone, throw in a load of laundry, fold the laundry, you get the point by now.) She carried a heavy hand when it came to the belt, switch, 2x4, etc...
Food was locked up in our cupboard. We had a lock on our freezer. My playground was my front yard up until age 15. I had to always be within calling distance, you know...just in case.
My step Dad, well he worked to support his family. Emotionally, he had his hands full with mom.
How I came to know Christ: I had a cousin (on my step-Dad's side) who bought me my first Bible. It was Christmas, I was only 8. She gave it to me on the side, knowing how mom and dad felt about the situation. It was a King James Version with an orange cover and rainbow stripes with a Dove across the center of it. She worked in a Christian book store and let me come to work with her and operate the cashier machine. I felt something in that store I could never explain. It was peace...something I had never felt before. It was what I looked forward to, until one day my parents found out and put a stop to it.
I slept with the Bible she gave me every night. I read it as much as I could. I always liked the New Testament much greater back then the Old Testament. That Jesus character was something else. Hmmmm... My Grandma gave me a picture of Jesus.
I still have the vision of that picture in my head till this day! It was a picture of Jesus on the Cross with the thorns and nails piercing His flesh, and the initials INRI above His head posted on the Cross. It had a blue light on it, and a reflective background. It was 3-D.
I cried many nights on my hands and knees in front of that picture. Praying for God to take my life. I spent many nights crying in my bed, thinking of how I was going to take my life, and what my folks would think after it was...well...finished.
One day after a really rough night and thoughts of suicide just kept overwhelming me, a friend asked me to come to church with him. I told him my circumstances and he said not to worry. His folks came over and lied to get me out of the house. They said we were going to go to a birthday party. When they came to the house, my parents didn't refuse, after all it was always a different story looking in from the outside.
I met Jesus in a small little wooden shack called Sunday School at Parkland Christian Church, Tacoma, Washington. It was there I was introduced to what Life had to offer me. I never looked at that picture hanging on my wall the same ever again. It had a new meaning to it than ever before.
I eventually ended up leaving home at age 16 1/2, taken in by a Christian family. I stayed there until I joined the Air force. I married my High School sweetheart, and now we have 3 precious children together.
We tried to reconcile with the family, however, things never quite worked out. Jesus said people will persecute you because you believe in me. I'm a firm believer in that. I haven't had contact with them now in over 2 years. It saddens me that my children will not know their Grandparents.
God has done amazing things in my life. I look back at how I could have taken so many different paths that could have lead to destruction. All my brothers and sisters are either in jail/prison for drug possessions, theft, or dead.
I chose to follow Christ. I learned of His promise a long time ago. He never broke His promise. He never gave up on me. He never locked me out. And when I cried on my hands and knees asking Him to take my life, he was right there by my side.
When I was deployed to Cuba and my wife Amy was 6 months pregnant and 5,000 miles away so hurt from the baby kicking her ribs out that she couldn't get to the hospital or take in a deep breath, it was God's angels that were poking me in the side making me only think to call her and eventually get her help.
It was God who stirred us to walk in the room of our 10 day old daughter who had no heartbeat and stopped breathing just in the nick of time to have a successful rescusitation.
It was God who made the defects leave our youngest child when the physicians said he would have kidney problems throughout his life.
And it was God who brought my wife and I together, when 25 years ago it could have been so different because they weren't going to let her be adopted from Korea because she was deaf and they thought she was retarded.
God makes amazing things happen. All you have to do is open your eyes to see the wonders he has done in your life.
That's my story! And I'm sticking to it!
thanks for sharing, thats awesome, am glad for u 
