Introduction
Don was a self-proclaimed "user" most of his life. He used people to get what he wanted. He used drugs to find happiness. And finally he used up all of his chances. Don found himself in big trouble, winding up in jail. Lost and at his lowest point, that's when Don encountered God.Read Don's true story, another one of our featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by Christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it. Submit your testimony by filling out this Submission Form.
Don's Deliverance - From Lost to Found
I lived a very hard life before I met Jesus. I was not a very good person. I had no friends. I ran with the devil and was a very evil person. Life was "all about me" and nobody else. If you couldn't do anything for me, or you couldn't give me something, then you were nothing to me. But, if I saw a chance to get something from you - look out! I would con you, steal from you, cheat you, hurt you, or do whatever it took to get what I wanted. No matter what, your feelings didn't matter to me at all. Nothing mattered except me.Heading Toward Disaster
This sounds pretty dismal, doesn't it? But it is true, and as I think back on the way I was, it makes me sick. I was heading toward disaster. I had my spot marked in hell. I had prime real estate in the hottest place there is.I was in and out of trouble most of my life. As a juvenile I was arrested for breaking into houses and doing drugs. But it didn't stop there. I did many things throughout my adult life, including things I was never caught for. I sold drugs. I was a thief and a pervert. I never liked myself, no matter what I did or how much money I had. I was always missing something. I searched and searched, but could never find what I was missing. I was miserable.
I Tried Everything
I smoked pot every day for twenty five years. I smoked pot longer than I smoked cigarettes, trying to make myself happy, trying to fill the void that was inside of me. I tried everything from drugs, to crime, to sex, and nothing ever helped. I got so deep into drugs, I was smoking glass - that is "methamphetamine," and I got addicted. I had been smoking this for almost a year. At that time I had my own business, but I smoked so much glass, and was spending so much money on it, I was running my business into the ground.At one point I was spending over $300 every two or three days. I started spending my bill money on methamphetamine. Somehow, probably because I ran out of money, I got myself to stop. I say "myself" here, but I know it wasn't "by myself." I was very depressed and lost, nothing was going right in my life.
The Lowest Point
This is when I did something very, very bad and ended up in jail. I was thirty nine years old, and at this point, I completely destroyed everything in my life, and I mean everything. I was at the lowest point I had ever been. I even contemplated suicide.As I sat in my little six by nine cell, away from the drugs, away from the money, away from all my evil desires, I heard something. Someone was telling me, "It's time to read the Bible." At first I didn't listen. I was too caught up in my self pity and selfishness, but I kept hearing this little voice inside telling me over and over, "It's time to read the Bible."
After about two weeks of hearing this, I thought, "Maybe I do need to read the Bible." So, I put in a request for a Bible and then returned to wallowing in my sorrow. By this time I considered myself pond scum - that's what I thought I was. I had given up all hope of ever seeing my family again. I saw no hope of ever getting out of jail. I assumed I would spend the rest of my life there, and I felt I deserved to be there.
Continue reading page 2 of Don's Deliverance.
