Testimony #15

I’ve known Paul for about a year.  He has been a faithful participant in my recovery classes and living clean and sober.  He showed up at this week’s Knowing Jesus gathering and shared a testimony.  I’ll let him tell you.

“I’d been following Jesus, reading the Bible, staying sober and everything was going great up to the end of October when I relapsed.  I gave myself the excuse that it didn’t matter since I’m doing a life sentence.  I kept using and stopped praying, reading the Bible, and coming here to the Chapel.  That was right up until the day before Christmas when the truth hit me that I was just making an excuse and I needed to come back to Jesus.  When it hit me I got real emotional.

For a long time I’d been talking to a friend of mine who doesn’t believe.  He’s in the bunk next to mine, so we talked a lot but he never seemed to be interested in Jesus.  For a long time, I had prayed for Him to be saved -- but nothing.  He saw the change in me when I relapsed and then came back to the Lord and he started asking questions and coming to Chapel a few times.

I thank God that He is using my relapse and recommitment to answer my prayers for that man.”

After Paul shared, Rodney who was sitting in front of him responded.

“I’m new to this camp, and when I arrived about a month ago the Lord gave me a passage of scripture.  It was when Israel was being taken into captivity and a prophet told them to just go with it all trusting God.  Build houses and plant gardens grow your families in the place you are taken and the Lord will be with you.  I’ve been taking on that attitude about my time.  This is it.  The Lord is with me even if I never get out of here.  He has a purpose for each of us right here and right now.”

The sixty-five men gathered broke out in applause and shouts of praise.