So many great testimonies, I wish there were more.
My spiritual journey began as a child, going to church and spending time studying scripture with my Grandmother.
I was a neglected kid who ended up getting molested a couple of times. Never fit in anywhere, I'm 57 and still don't fit in anywhere, and I've gotten used to it.
I spent much of my teenage years afraid that I was gay because of the sexual abuse. Started smoking pot at 10 years old, was a full fledged alcoholic by 15, the year I left home.
I moved back in with my mom briefly at 18, she lived behind a gay nightclub. You had to walk by it to get to the main road, the gays would always approach me and offer me drinks, eventually I gave in. I was an alcoholic. For the next three years I lived the life of a male prostitute. Yeah, pretty gross huh?
At 21 I met and quickly married the woman who would become the mother of my five children and got married.
I was taught the truth, I knew right from wrong. I wanted to be a good husband and father, but I was just a drunken confused kid who couldn't get it together no matter how hard I tried.
I'm pretty sure my mom was a narcissist, and she passed some of that on to me, along with depression and anxiety etc, it runs in the family. So here I am, 22 year old kid, with a child and a child on the way, drinking and doing drugs and still hitting the bars. I would stay gone for days sometimes. I had panic attacks, suicidal ideation, and constant fear of death. Shooting dope with queers in the middle of an AIDS epidemic will do that to you.
Just before Christmas in 1989 I went to a party and didn't come home till New Years day. My wife didn't say a word to me. I went into my bedroom and spent much of that day and evening crying out to the Universe, not Christ, I had been reading the bible since I got married, off and on when I wasn't getting drunk. But it didn't seem to be doing much good. How wrong I was. So I just cried out, "If there's anyone out there please help me, I'm dying. Whoever's out there, if you fix me I will serve you the rest of my life."
Upon awaking the next morning, I was a completely different person.
Zero desire for alcohol, drugs, or even cigarettes. My fear of death was so far gone I didn't even realize it until months later.
I didn't know what or Who had happened to me, but I knew I was changed. So I sat down in my favorite chair and grabbed my bible. The words were leaping off the page and into my heart. I had been reading the bible my whole life and never really understood it.
And now I did. And realized that it was Christ who had saved me.
From the moment of my conversion I began to share what Christ had done for me with any and everyone who would listen. And quite a few who were gonna hear it whether they wanted to or not. Youthful Zeal, lol.
And that's how my spiritual journey began.
Much has transpired since that time. Many ups and downs, many trials, many failures. But Christ has been faithful through it all.