Every Story Has A Beginning

So I guess I should start with how I got here so you can get to know the carpenter behind the carpentry. Thirty years ago I lost my mother to cancer and with her my link to this world. Throughout my teen years, I continued to struggle with depression. I couldn’t find a place or a people to belong to, so I found my comfort in my own head. When I was in my early 20’s casual drinking graduates to drinking for escape. While it didn’t solve my problems, it slowed my racing thought to a point where I could get through each day. That only lasted a few years. At 25 my liver shut down, they told me 6 months was all I had left. I was blessed to have a father who never gave up on me even when I gave up on myself. He pulled me out of the shelter I was staying in and with great reluctance on my part he sent me to His Mansion Ministries, ( https://www.hismansion.com/ ). Sometimes the help we need comes from the place we least expect, and the last place we’re trying to look. Little did I know I was about to make an encounter that would change my life forever. It was there I experienced the love of Christ for the first time. In a very short time I surrendered my life to Him. It was through Him I also found freedom from the depression and alcoholism. He healed inside me, filled that void, that was giving me the desire to drink. He took me on an amazing journey as I learned more and more who He was and further understand the depth of His love. So often in todays church we don’t pray big enough prayers. Surely he doesn’t do miracles and healings like those we read about in the bible. In the back of my mind I held the memory of that diagnosis of which by now I was on borrowed time. As I went through the immigration process to join my wife here in Ontario where we now reside, doctors tell me they no longer see signs of the cirrhosis. I now sit here as I type this a month away from 42 years of ago, with a lovely wife, three incredible children and a community to serve and be part of. I’m not gonna lie my fears and doubts still get the better of me some days, but His grace is always bigger than my fear.