|
I
was not raised in a Christian home. My parents divorced when I was very
young and I grew up under some very adverse circumstances. My mom and
I ended up living with her sister and brother-in-law where I was both
mentally and physically abused. I did not find out until years later
that although my mother loved me dearly, she had no clue as to what
my aunt and uncle were doing to me.
 As
a result of the physical and emotional abuse I found it very hard to
make friends in school due to low-self esteem. I grew up in a very isolated
environment. I would still get to see my father a few times during the
year in my youth. It was during one of those visits where I saw my first
pornographic magazine. My dad had collected Playboy Magazines and during
my early teenage years would let me look through them. It was that one
event that would trigger a lifetime’s worth of addiction. As I
grew older I found that I couldn’t get enough pornographic material...be
it movies, magazines, or over the computer.
Finally,
God allowed an event to happen in my life during my junior year in college
in which I had to spend a year in prison. Although I was not a Christian,
I had grown up hearing about God and believed in Him, because I felt
He was the only one I could talk to during those very scary and alone
times I was being abused. I had made the decision to go to Carson-Newman
College, not because it was a Christian College, but because my grandfather
had gone there and I was going to use it as a launching point where
I could go to UT and get into the party scene. However, God had other
things in store for me, as I made some close friendships for the first
time in my life while at C-N. Some of those friends happened to be Christians.
During my freshman and sophomore years at Carson-Newman I had been invited
by them to go to church, as they would tell me about Jesus. I believed
in God, but didn’t really understand what Jesus had to do with
anything other than just being God’s Son.
In
the events leading up to my year in prison, I began to get involved
in church and with the youth group where my best friend was the youth-intern.
At the end of the summer of 1995 we had attended a 4 Him Concert in
Knoxville at World’s Fair Park where I accepted Jesus as my Lord
and Savior.
I
began to get things right in my life and I was fortunate to get some
very in-depth counseling while in prison and after my release where
healing and recovery began to take place. Shortly after, I was employed
at a job-placement service where I worked for about two and a half years.
I found that I really enjoyed helping people. But something was still
missing. After a layoff for more than a year, and by finding out my
purpose in life through Rick Warren’s 40 Days of Purpose and Purpose
Driven Life, God told me that my greatest weakness would become my greatest
ministry and I felt the call to full-time ministry in Christian Counseling
and Recovery. It is because of God’s never-ending grace that I
can stand before you today and share His message of faith, hope, and
love.
|
