In the post below, my Sister in Christ Jana Smith recalls the testimony that a recovered alcoholic, David, gave. Having battled alcoholism from twelve years, it was a titanic battle for him to surrender to Christ. Now he is over the clouds in joy that Christ caught him like He did Jonah. Happy reading. Larry
I started drinking when I was 12 and immediately like the way it made me feel. I wasn't comfortable with who I was and often felt as though I didn't measure up in the world around me. Alcohol made me feel like I fit in.
Since childhood my biggest desire had been to be an actor. I did manage to break into the industry and filmed 32 shows of a popular children's program. But even though my ego was inflated, I found that alcohol and drugs fit hand in glove with this new lifestyle.
By the age of 19, I was already in the middle stages of alcoholism. Some disturbing blackouts motivated me to seek help through recovery programs. I liked what I saw, but my drinking didn't yet motivate me to surrender my addiction or myself to God. In retrospect, I can see that God had been moving in my life. I just hadn't recognized it. I did, however, decide to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.
I did well with my new spiritual foundation for several months, but I wasn't ready to let go of my drinking. In fact, a short time later I drifted away from God and drank more than ever. I had lost the ability to choose not to drink, and I felt utterly defeated as a Christian. I decided that I would play no more games and went on to drink solidly over the next five years. During this period I met and married my wife, Debbie.
Finally, in 1994, after numerous attempts at sobriety, my addiction landed me in prison, where I served four-and-a-half years of a ten-year sentence. At the beginning of my prison term I left my wife, who was eight months pregnant, alone with three small children. After all those years of dodging bullets, I had finally taken a direct hit. And I paid real consequences for my actions.
Of all the Biblical characters, I can identify most with Jonah. He ran hard from God, refusing to go to Nineveh and do God's will. Likewise, I fled in the opposite direction when God called, thinking for years I couldn't be happy doing what he intended me to do for his glory (1:1-3).
My prison time was for me the equivalent of Jonah's "incarceration" in the belly of the great fish (2:2-9). When all hope was lost and Jonah thought there was no way out, god restored him to do his work. God humbled me as well, so that I could, with his help, humble myself in repentance and gratitude (1:8-10). I had the knowledge of recovery and of God's Word, yet I had never before put either into the practice. God taught me what it means to live by faith, one day at a time. Once I stopped resisting his direction for my life, I too was able to fulfill his heart's desire - now mine as well - by ministering to others.
I gave my addiction over to God, and he has allowed my wife and me to minister, through Celebrate Recovery, to others who suffer from the same hurts, hang-ups and habits that had plagued our lives. We now have the privilege of watching God work the same miracles in the lives of others.
David
I started drinking when I was 12 and immediately like the way it made me feel. I wasn't comfortable with who I was and often felt as though I didn't measure up in the world around me. Alcohol made me feel like I fit in.
Since childhood my biggest desire had been to be an actor. I did manage to break into the industry and filmed 32 shows of a popular children's program. But even though my ego was inflated, I found that alcohol and drugs fit hand in glove with this new lifestyle.
By the age of 19, I was already in the middle stages of alcoholism. Some disturbing blackouts motivated me to seek help through recovery programs. I liked what I saw, but my drinking didn't yet motivate me to surrender my addiction or myself to God. In retrospect, I can see that God had been moving in my life. I just hadn't recognized it. I did, however, decide to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.
I did well with my new spiritual foundation for several months, but I wasn't ready to let go of my drinking. In fact, a short time later I drifted away from God and drank more than ever. I had lost the ability to choose not to drink, and I felt utterly defeated as a Christian. I decided that I would play no more games and went on to drink solidly over the next five years. During this period I met and married my wife, Debbie.
Finally, in 1994, after numerous attempts at sobriety, my addiction landed me in prison, where I served four-and-a-half years of a ten-year sentence. At the beginning of my prison term I left my wife, who was eight months pregnant, alone with three small children. After all those years of dodging bullets, I had finally taken a direct hit. And I paid real consequences for my actions.
Of all the Biblical characters, I can identify most with Jonah. He ran hard from God, refusing to go to Nineveh and do God's will. Likewise, I fled in the opposite direction when God called, thinking for years I couldn't be happy doing what he intended me to do for his glory (1:1-3).
My prison time was for me the equivalent of Jonah's "incarceration" in the belly of the great fish (2:2-9). When all hope was lost and Jonah thought there was no way out, god restored him to do his work. God humbled me as well, so that I could, with his help, humble myself in repentance and gratitude (1:8-10). I had the knowledge of recovery and of God's Word, yet I had never before put either into the practice. God taught me what it means to live by faith, one day at a time. Once I stopped resisting his direction for my life, I too was able to fulfill his heart's desire - now mine as well - by ministering to others.
I gave my addiction over to God, and he has allowed my wife and me to minister, through Celebrate Recovery, to others who suffer from the same hurts, hang-ups and habits that had plagued our lives. We now have the privilege of watching God work the same miracles in the lives of others.
David
