Testimonies of Hope: God Fulfills Every Promise

I was happily married until I wasn't. I felt like I was completely falling apart. I sought acceptance and love in the streets. So, at about the age of 13 years old, I was introduced to drugs. I was really trying to find out where I was with God. I mean, I grew up in the church and um but I always felt like something was missing. None of the problems were getting solved. Issues were going unressed and I could see the pain that I was causing Maria. I was always afraid that God was angry with me. I was so heavy weighted with all of this guilt and baggage and was just very hard to live. When I went to prison, um, I felt my life was over. My life has been tainted now. Everyone is going to look at me differently. I got to a point where enough was enough. And so, I left. — And I was just like so frustrated. So, it was just in my mind that I'm going to end my life when I get home. — When I got out of prison, I went back to using drugs again. And um I overdosed. I had no pulse. The apartment shared a driveway and I was turning in and my neighbor, he was coming out with a bag of trash. He struck a conversation with me and he saw me holding a Bible and he asked me, "Was I saved? " And I said, "That's what I've been trying to find out. " When my wife went to the hospital and uh I woke up, I realized that this wasn't just causing pain for me, but it caused pain for my family, my wife, my mother, my sister. And it was at that moment that I realized I can't do this on my own. I left the home, but God was still holding me. I found that I needed space, but God was still gripping me. I felt like I needed to escape, and I walked away, but God still was holding my heart and my hands. Even when I couldn't see it, he took the time to listen. He shared the gospel with me. We knelt and we prayed. But before I could finish that prayer, you know, God just like he just poured out this I call it liquid love. It was just like over me into me out and it was bubbling up. I didn't understand it, but I knew that I had what I had been searching for. — My wife introduced me to Willow Creek and I joined a uh recovery group who has um showed me I am worth something that you know God does love me. Maria had a car accident, totaled the car, and everything in me was compelling me, "Go take care of your wife. " In my spirit, God said to me these words, "You're trying to leave her for things you don't like, and I have never forsaken you, and you do things I hate. " It was a reminder and a chastisement. It changed me forever. That neighbor that helped me became my husband. — Right now, I'm about 6 months that I'm sober now. — Maria and I are fully reconciled. We will celebrate 18 19 years of marriage. — To me, hope is living. Hope is Jesus. hope is God's unrevocable grip on whatever remaining confidence you have that he is capable and faithful to fulfill every promise he made. There is a God who does hear you. love you. No matter how many mistakes you've done in your life, he is there and he will be there to pick up the pieces with you.