Testimonials: Brad 2009
Brad
I grew up on a farm outside of
I was married right after college and taught school for 3 years. After that, I went into production agriculture for 18 years.
My wife and I raised 2 children during this time. We took them to Sunday School and church; and attended the school activities and sporting events they participated in. During the summer we would go camping and do other things as a family. Everything always seemed to be great.
I had one problem. I drank. I started as a social drinker. As the years went by and I felt more pressure from day to day living I started to drink more. Eventually I became alcohol dependent, then totally addicted to it. Drinking was my way to cope with problems, but it became a need all its own.
I tried all kinds of ways to control or stop drinking. I used will power, counseling, and support groups, but all of those eventually failed. I had absolute support from my family, but they had to say that’s enough. There is nothing more we can do for you and you have to find a solution to your problem.
That’s when I came to the Columbus Rescue Mission. It’s the best thing that could have happened to me. I had time to think and an opportunity to learn the Gospel. I was 55 years old and had never read the Bible for myself. I went to church on Sundays and thought of myself as a Christian, but I was mistaken. James 2:19 pointed that out to me. “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.”
I needed to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior to understand what being a Christian means.
After accepting Jesus into my life my perception of things changed. I started to find answers to things that I had let bother me. I found them in the Bible and what I was being taught at the
I always wanted to be in control of my life and worried about things I had no control over. Worrying never helped anything. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
Trying to be self-sufficient and work my way out of things was not working out very well either. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5
Admitting to myself that I couldn’t do it on my own was very difficult. When I finally did, I also found who to turn to for help. “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
Those are just a few of the things I have learned to help turn my life around. The most important thing was to put my trust in the Lord. He knows what is better for me than I do. “For I know the plans I have for you.” declares the Lord,” plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
The worrying and wondering about what's next in life, is this all there is, is gone. I have things to look forward to again.
Who Am I
Brad
Whenever I was asked who are you? I would give the standard answers. I would tell them my name and something about myself. If I had been asked, who are you in Christ? I would have told them I go to church on Sunday’s and I believe in Jesus. That is a very simple answer and about all I knew.
Now, if asked that question I can tell them I am a saint. The Bible tells us that a “saint” is anyone who believes that Jesus Christ is Lord. That means that I am a saint. The term saint is not reserved for just “special people”. It does mean to be obedient and conform to the will of Jesus.
As a believer in Jesus a lot of things have changed in my life. I look at things differently and try to do things differently than I used to. It’s not always easy. I still have my sinful nature that I was born with. “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” Romans 7:19.That does not mean that I am a hopeless case. It does mean that I don’t have to live the way I used to or be a slave to things that I had let control me. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Being a new creation doesn’t mean that I will be perfect or lead a sinless life. That is not possible. It does mean that I have been reconciled with God. By believing in Jesus Christ I do have the promise of eternal life. “And this is the testimony; God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” 1 John 5:11
By believing in Jesus I have become part of His church. The church is not a building or a place like we tend to think of it. The church is the body of Christ and all believers are part of that body. “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27 Each member has a role and a function in the church. We have different gifts and abilities, but all of them are important to the church. No part is more important than any other part. All of them must work together. “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same
function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” Romans 12:4-6a
I am not sure of what my role is in the church. It may be to encourage others or be an example of how a person can change by following Christ. It is important that I keep attending so that we can help each other grow. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
My role in the church also may change over time. As I read and study more, I learn more about the grace God has given me. The more I learn the more mature I become in my faith. With more maturity I am better able to function as a member of the body of Christ.
What is very important for me to remember, is that my salvation is a free gift from God. There is absolutely nothing I can do to earn it. “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9