The story of how I came to know Christ begins when I was 12 years old. My mother and father had been separated since I could remember, and my parents were not originally believers. My father having joint custody of my sister and I, would visit us on the weekends and give us to our mother for the weekdays. But one Friday afternoon he didn't call, and he didn't pick us up. My father whom I loved, had abandoned us. This wrecked my view on the world as well as my views of God. I plunged into deep depression, with hate for everything and everyone. I hated experiencing my reality and I turned to drug use. Ultimately I became addicted to methamphetamines and my life began to crumble. In the darkness I screamed for help, but no one came. Finally when it seemed all hope had been lost, I saw a light in the darkness. I heard a voice like a whisper saying "I love you". The voice of a father who would never leave me, and never forsake me.

  A day after my 16 birthday I was sitting in a drug and alcohol rehab facility in Denver. Earlier that year while in rehab a man had told me about the "good news" His name was Mike Spivey. He had played for the Oakland Raiders as a line backer, so needless to say he was huge.If love and the holy spirit were like water this man would have been soaking wet. He walked into the room every other week or so, to tell us of the love that Jesus had for us. After a while of being around this man, I began to get wet! This is when God really started to speak into my life and shake my foundations. It had shook me to know that God had come down in human form. To know that He had laid down his life for someone as wretched as myself. And that if I only chose to believe it, the penalty for my sin would be erased and I would have new life. That night I prayed to my Father whom I love, and He gave me new life through His Spirit. From that moment on, for sin He gave me faith,  for despair He gave me hope, and for hatred he gave me love. I've been clean ever since.    

 

  As of whats happening right now, I've been a Christian for 4 years, and God keeps changing me into the likeness of his son. Shortly after I had been succesfully released from the rehab, I determined to know more about my faith. I sent an application to a bible school called Ravencrest to begin my walk through God's word. It was amazing the things I learned about how God calls us to live. It further changed my perspective on why I was saved. In John 17:18 as Jesus prayed a final prayer he said "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.". With this understanding Ive been givin a passion to make the world a better place. To be the light and the salt to others as Mike was to me. I hope to do more of this lighting and salting on the trip. Praise The Lord for He is Good, His love endures forever.

In Him, DP