The Family in Action!--#8 DFO
What the Family Has Done for Me! (Part One)
Copyrighted April, 1995 by Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland
This magazine may be reproduced in full or in part for friends of The Family
Young Delinquent Discovers Real Love!
By Davi, from Brazil
My many problems began in my early years. By the time I was 13, I was involved in robbery and vandalism--defacing buildings with graffiti, using homemade bombs to destroy other people's property, etc. I had a serious problem with alcohol, and at 14 I started smoking marijuana and using barbiturates. At the same time I was becoming anti-social, not getting along with members of my family, neighbors or friends.
I got involved with Heavy Metal gangs, and we experimented with various ways to terrorize society. At 18 I started using hallucinogenic drugs like LSD. I left home when I was 19, a teen without any goals, embittered with life in general. I thought many times about committing suicide.
Then one day when I was wandering down the street, I was approached by a couple who asked me if I believed in Jesus. This led to a deep conversation, and before we finished talking I had received Jesus into my heart. These two young people, members of the Family, showed me something I had never seen before--that there is a reason for living and that real love does exist. They showed genuine interest in me, and I was touched by their concern.
After a few months I visited them at home. There I met other Family members and saw that it was possible for people to live lovingly together. They not only had love for one another, but they also helped others with that love, even kids like me who had no love to give in return. I quit using drugs and stopped being so anti-social. In time, I overcame my bitterness and eventually joined the Family.
Now I have the opportunity to help others who have problems like I did to find hope and a reason to live. I owe this change in my life to the Family, who showed me that God exists and that He loves me, so much so that He gave His Son Jesus to die for my sins and make me a new man!
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After a Childhood of Abuse, a Real Family!
By Christie, from Australia
My childhood was not a happy one. Behind closed doors, and even behind my father's back, my sister and I were kept in silent perpetual fear by our emotionally unstable, extremely temperamental, and insanely jealous mother. Through the years she received psychiatric treatment and religious counseling, but to no avail. At one-and-a-half, I was ordered to keep quiet, while being threatened with a butcher's knife! At four our mother almost abandoned us to a social welfare home--for not drying dishes fast enough! During my childhood and teen years, she constantly threatened to hurt me, burn the house down, or kill my dad, if I showed any fondness to him, or even so much as talked to him.
Once she purposely overdosed on pills in front of us. Three times my sister and I ran away from her murderous threats. Once we dodged smashing plates. Other times she threatened to drive us into the cliff or over an embankment. With her record of mental instability, the possibility that she would carry out one of her threats was real and ever present. I was petrified.
She was an incessant complainer, belittler and nagger, even in front of others. We sometimes came home to see mom's arms black and blue with bruises, as my father's patience and pride had reached its limit. Other times we witnessed his anger firsthand--a drink thrown in her face, a tray smashed over her head, a hot iron held close to her face. With her screaming to call the police, we were torn between seeing our mother abused or our dad jailed. If he weren't there, we feared things would be even worse.
Despite all of this, we survived. At 17 I graduated from high school, saved some money and traveled abroad to escape the horrors of home. However, my deep hidden heartache was only worsened through false friendships and haunting nightmares. Alcohol and sleeping pills appeared increasingly tempting. My teen ideals were dying.
Then everything changed! I met some people who sincerely sacrificed to take me in. They gave me the love I had longed for all my life, gently allayed my fears with faith from God's Word. They prayed for me that God would help me overcome my past, and He did. Then they trained me to help others, as they had helped me. The Family was better than even my most idealistic dreams, and Jesus, through the Family, rescued me!
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"Fun" Turned into a Nightmare, Until the Lord Delivered Me!
By Priscilla, from the U.S.A.
Growing up in a Christian family, I went to a little church every Sunday with my parents, grandparents and relatives. But when I started high school I discovered a part of the world I'd never known. I began experimenting with drugs, shoplifting and sex. When my father died of a sudden heart attack when I was 15, I became bitter and rebellious. Unfortunately I found no help, comfort or counsel in my church.
I threw myself into drugs, literally living on "speed" for the next three years. I also used a variety of other drugs regularly, including LSD, PCP, cocaine and "downers." I began dealing drugs to support my habit and my lifestyle. I spent most of my time at nightclubs, bars, rock concerts and the beach, because that's where the customers were.
I shoplifted or stole everything from food and records to cars. I broke into houses, looking for money or other things I wanted. I thought I was so smart because I never got caught.
Then suddenly the "fun" turned to fear. My cousin lost his mind smoking PCP and ended up in an insane asylum. A friend of mine turned in another dealer to get himself out of trouble with the police, but soon ended up in the hospital when the dealer retaliated.
Gang wars broke out between dealers and bikers (motorcycle gangs); people were being shot and knifed; parties turned to deadly fights. Friends' homes were sprayed with bullets. My friends began carrying guns with them everywhere they went. The police began making random arrests to get people off the street and cool things down. What I thought was "fun and games" had turned ugly and dangerous.
I left home hoping it would be different elsewhere.... It wasn't. I desperately wanted to get out of the world of drugs, but it was everywhere.
I traveled to Florida, where I met the Family. They spent several hours answering my many questions. Every answer came from the Bible. They understood my fears and they consoled me. They knew I was lost and they offered me a home and a new life reaching out to others. They didn't have much materially, but they offered me what they had--Jesus--and that was all I needed. Immediately I traded my drugs, drinking, smoking and crime for their heaven on earth, and I've never gone back to my former life, thank the Lord!
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Out of My Emptiness!
By Cherish, from Canada
My family is Chinese, but I was born and raised in Canada. As a university student from a middle-class family, I had everything I needed materially. However, complicated college courses and tedious textbooks left me bored, empty and searching for the answers to life's most basic questions. I looked at those around me who had everything I was studying so hard to attain and realized they were no happier than I was. I saw I would never find the answers I was seeking in the normal run of things--marriage, family, career and financial success. I tried other things, like alcohol and drugs, but none of those things could satisfy my longing for real happiness.
My parents were not Christians, but rather revered their ancestors, Chinese traditions, and wealth. However, they allowed me to attend a Christian Sunday School, and there I received Jesus. Soon I wanted to find some way to totally dedicate my life as a missionary, but I didn't know how.
When I first met the Family, their shining happy faces and their knowledge of the Bible impressed me profoundly. I knew they were living the Words of Jesus and being a spiritual help to others, and I wanted to do the same.
As I gave my life in service to the Lord in the Family, Jesus filled my emptiness with overflowing love and happiness! I found that His Spirit could help me forget myself, and overcome barriers separating me from people. I now have a purpose in reaching out to others and can relate to almost everyone I meet, as I share with them the real meaning to life. I tell them, "You won't find it in money or a career! What everybody needs is love! Jesus will give you lasting happiness! God wants you to feel loved and to be happy, and then He wants to use you to help others to find that same happiness." God bless you!
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Deliverance from Alcoholism and Sexual Perversions!
By Daniel, from the U.S.A.
I started drinking heavily and smoking marijuana in college. My involvement with alcohol and drugs was so consuming that I quit school rather than wait to be thrown out for poor grades. I joined the Air Force, where I continued drinking heavily and taking drugs. After leaving the Air Force I married and regularly stayed up all night on drinking or drug binges. Sadly, I often became violent with my wife.
Around this time, my best friend met and joined the Family. A little while later he visited me, and after listening to his patient explanations for three days, I accepted Jesus and became filled with a new reason for living. My wife and I joined the Family ourselves. We both were miraculously freed from drugs and alcohol, and I was delivered from my tendencies to violence.
Sad to say, after two years I stopped serving the Lord, and plunged headlong into alcohol and drug abuse, violence, pornography and transvestism. One thing that the Family had instilled in me, however, was a desire to be a father. I wanted a family of my own. Faced with the serious consequences that my depraved way of life would have on our children, the Lord woke me up to the error of my ways, and I told the Lord that I wanted to return to His service. Others prayed for me, and after reading a Family publication about alcohol abuse, I was instantly delivered! I stopped drinking and taking drugs and lost 30 pounds of alcohol-induced overweight. As my faith increased by reading more Family publications, I was also delivered of my sexual problems.
It has now been twelve years since I came back to the Family. My wife, five children and I are happily serving the Lord and others as Family missionaries in Latin America. I thank God every day for the wonderful new life He's given me and my children because of the Family!
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Despairing Israeli Finds Peace in Jesus!
By Faith, from Israel
My parents were Russian Jews who immigrated to Israel around 1940, so I was born and raised there. When I was about six years old we moved to a kibbutz where there was no crime, no police, everyone got plenty to eat and there were lots of activities for us kids. But even though we had everything physically, from my early teen years I felt that there was something missing inside.
Most people in the kibbutz were quite materialistic. We were taught in school that there was no God, no spiritual world, no life after this one--only what we can see and feel. I hardly ever heard about Jesus or even God. The Bible (Old Testament) was taught simply as a history book.
I felt quite lonely and wondered what was the reason for my existence. My parents died while I was still quite young, and when I was a teenager, one of my best friends and some others from our kibbutz died in the Arab-Israeli war. There I was, face to face with death at an early age.
During my teen years, I wrote poems that were published, and later worked for one of Israel's major magazines. But because we were pro-Palestinian, our magazine got quite a bit of opposition. Our offices were burned down twice.
When I turned 17, I was drafted into the army for two years. I had to comply in spite of my disagreement, because the alternative was five years in jail.
After leaving the army, I got more involved with Arab friends. I felt more and more that I couldn't stay in a society full of hate, where we were taught to be proud, unloving, unemotional, and where those who were different were looked down on. There was even a lot of discrimination between Jews from Arab or Eastern countries, and Jews from Western countries.
When I was 20, I decided to leave Israel and travel around the world. I traveled and worked in Europe for a few months, met new friends and saw different ways of life, but I still felt empty. I felt I had nothing to live for. One day while I was sitting beside a river in Lucerne, Switzerland, wondering if it was worth going on, a young girl struck up a conversation. She was full of life, smiling, and warm. She spoke to me in broken English and told me how Jesus could set me free, that He loved me and could answer all my questions about life. I didn't really understand what she was talking about, as I didn't even know who Jesus was, except that He was someone important to church people. But her love and concern for me touched a responsive chord inside.
When I visited the Family, I knew I had arrived home. It didn't matter where I was from, what I looked like, what I wore, even what language I spoke, I was accepted with open arms. It was the first time in my life that I really felt loved. I realized then that it was the Lord's love and His Spirit that I was experiencing! It was also the first time in my life that I felt at peace. I was very happy and I decided to dedicate my life to helping others and telling them about Jesus. I joined the Family; that was 21 years ago.
A little miracle happened at that time I'd like to tell you about. I didn't read English well enough to understand the Bible, so I prayed for a Bible in Hebrew. I had moved to a Family center in Sweden, a large house in the woods. One evening one of the brothers brought a strange book to the evening class and passed it around. He said that he found it in the fuse box while cleaning the house. Well, when the book got to me I was amazed to see a full Bible (Old and New Testament) in Hebrew! No one knew how it got there, but for me it was another sure sign of the Lord's special love and care for me!
* * *
All in One Package!
By Joseph, from the U.S.A.
I was raised in a nice middle-class home in New York State, so the anti-establishment mood that prevailed on campus during my first year in college in the late sixties came as quite a shock to me. It was also contagious. Drugs and psychedelic music led to disillusionment with my country for its materialism, nationalism and soullessness. It was more than I could bear. I left the U.S. rather than be drafted and be sent to fight in the Vietnam War. I then became estranged from my family, and developed a serious dependency on hallucinogenic drugs.
Two years later, I was wandering aimlessly on the west coast of Canada. The hippie movement's idealism had degenerated into hard drugs, crime and confusion. My despair was overwhelming. I was out of money, and worst of all, without any direction in my life.
It was at this time that I met the Family. They embodied the unity, purpose and love that I had sought so long in vain. It was like reaching an oasis in the midst of a huge, endless desert! Everything I had been looking for was present in one package!--And it was all thanks to Jesus. His love soothed my aching heart. The Family provided the missing piece--a place to serve Him, live my ideals, and do something to help make this world a better place. It's been over 21 years since that wonderful day, and I can honestly say that He has never failed me. I have served the Lord as a missionary in seven different countries, which has been very fulfilling. Seeing lives changed by God's love before my very eyes is the greatest reward yet!
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A Way Out of Witchcraft!
By Clara, from Brazil
My supposedly "Catholic" family were in reality spiritualists. Various relatives began by attending spiritualistic meetings and studying the gospel according to spiritualism, but later they got into Umbanda, which they say is "lighter" but is actually a witchcraft cult.
As a small child I went through many terrible things, such as seeing my own mother tied up under a table because "she had a bad spirit." I went to different witchcraft meetings where spirits were worshipped. The spirits supposedly were people's guardian angels, but their help had to be bought with money, rum, and cigars. The spiritualists told my mother that my father had a bad spirit and she should leave him, so she did. I was three at the time.
I grew up in a climate of fear and superstition, unable to sleep well. I could only fall asleep if I slept in the same bed with my mother and if I kept a light on all night. Even then, I'd often wake up scared to death in the middle of the night. My hands trembled so much that I could hardly hold anything.
When I was of dating age I began to cast little spells to get boyfriends. At that time I didn't think that was being diabolical. By the time I was 16 or 17, I was being prepared to be a fetishistic sorceress and was already beginning to do such things as receive spirits into my body. I was required to perform rituals and make pacts with these "saints," as they were called.
On the outside, everything seemed quite normal. I studied, made good grades and my family really loved me. But I started to question this strange religion and look for truth elsewhere. I was quite dissatisfied and unhappy. I felt like something was wrong, but I just didn't know what.
I started praying that if God existed and He didn't have anything to do with all these spiritualistic experiences, that He would set me free from that macabre world. Two days later I met the Family. I prayed with them to receive Jesus into my heart and to be freed from those evil spirits. For the first time in years I was able to sleep peacefully all night long! My hands stopped trembling and the fear which had gripped me disappeared, giving way to great faith, joy and happiness. Jesus truly snatched me from the clutches of the Devil.--And my deliverance was permanent. This happened 16 years ago. Jesus exists, and His power is greater than the forces of darkness!
* * *
How God Prevented a Suicide!
By Clare, from Australia
I was raised in a very small country town in Australia, where my father grew grapes for wine, and many other types of fruit. My childhood was idyllic in many ways--comfortable living conditions, a nice climate, plenty of leisure time to swim, and ride my bicycle and horses all around the countryside. However, as I approached my teen years, I felt the need for more than these near-perfect surroundings could offer. I started to question what life was all about: "What am I here for?" "Where does life begin and end?" The questions were endless!
At age 13, I started experimenting with drugs and became quite rebellious against my parents and any other authority. I got involved in a relationship and at 15 became pregnant. At first I was happy to think that I was going to have my own baby, but others persuaded me that I would ruin my life if I had a baby at such a young age. So I had an abortion.
A couple of months after the abortion, I was casually glancing at a fetal growth chart for the first time. I was shocked to learn of the stage of the fetus that had been within me. I had killed my own baby! This thought led to deep depression and I decided to take my life.
While walking down a crowded street late one Saturday night, dodging all the theater queues and party-goers, weeping and planning how to write my last note to my parents admitting my failure in life, I met the Family. The love and understanding they showed me that night literally saved my life!
After I received Jesus, He gave me something worth living for--service for Him! That was 19 years ago and I have been a missionary in the Family ever since. As a special blessing, the Lord has given me six beautiful children.
* * *
Gang Member Transformed!
By Timoteo, from Brazil
All through my youth, from the time I was 15 until I was 22, I was involved in a street gang. In the neighborhood I grew up in, this was the only way to have friends and be protected from the other gangs. In this environment I was introduced to all types of crime and violence, which reaches almost unbelievable proportions in these gangs. There's violence not only between rival gangs, but also against outsiders. It was common to attack people who were alone. I once saw a boy being knifed repeatedly by a group of punks. We carried all kinds of weapons, and used alcohol and drugs.
During this time I was a drummer in one of the best rock bands in the country, but at 19 years I was an extremely nervous person, easily provoked and with a short temper. I was full of fear and worry, and smoked almost continuously.
When I was 22 years old I met the Family and with them I received Jesus into my heart and life. In a few short months I was a completely different person! I was at peace, happy and I wanted to help others. What amazed me even more was seeing the wrecked lives of my friends also being transformed by the message of God's love that the Family brought to them. People that had problems with demonic fits or trauma caused by abortion, etc., were now finally free from their former vices, and instead were full of life and happiness.
After a while I decided that I wanted to become a missionary with the Family in order to be able to bring that transforming power to as many others as possible. I have been in the Family for five years now, thank the Lord, and have since been blessed with a wife and two children.
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Crippling Phobias Overcome!
By John, from Canada
I grew up on a farm in a secure home with parents who wanted to give us kids the best start in life possible. But as I entered my teen years, I had problems relating to my peers and found it very difficult to enter into friendships with them. These difficulties developed in different forms later--like fear of crowds, and fear of people in general. Fears such as these had a devastating effect on me as an individual, hindering my emotional growth and making it extremely difficult to cope with life. After failures like dropping out of university and quitting different jobs, I went to see a well-known psychiatrist, hoping that he would be able to help me. He talked with me for a few minutes, then said there was nothing wrong with me.
So I went away without any solution to my problems. Later I moved to another part of the country, thinking that would help me make a change. I visited a church, hoping that the people there could be a help to me in my search for peace of mind and fulfillment in life. I found these young people mostly involved in their social cliques, which did not interest me enough to return.
One evening while having dinner at a restaurant, I was approached by two young people from the Family. These people were different from anyone I had ever met before in my life, as it became evident to me they were modern disciples of Jesus. Three months later, being inspired by their example, I also made the decision to receive Jesus and dedicate my life to Him. For twenty years I have lived a fulfilling life, having overcome my phobias with the Lord's help. I have now actually made it my life's work to communicate with others, sharing all the love and truth that I have received in the Family!
* * *
The Family Saw Me Through!
By Peace, from Australia
I was always a loner and never seemed to fit in anywhere. Although a top student, I quit school after becoming involved in the occult. I traveled up and down the east coast of Australia in search of spiritual truth and a goal in life. I hitchhiked alone and prostituted myself freely for food and a place to sleep. I suffered unceasing mental torment and felt I was driven by spiritual beings who had stripped me of any will of my own. I was in anguish, but had no one to turn to.
One night, alone on a highway I cried out to God in desperation, "Please lead me to the truth and send help for my life!" When I arrived at the next town, I met the Family. They found me literally lying in the gutter! One of them told me, "Jesus never turns away anyone who comes to Him." I prayed with them to ask Jesus to come into my heart and help me. They took me home with them, cleaned me up, gave me new clothes and treated me as part of their family. I was 17. God had answered my prayer!
I had met other Christians before, and they had tried to counsel me a little, but the Family saw me through all the way to becoming a new creature in Christ. I have continued to serve God in the Family for the past 15 years.
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Once "Socially Unfit," Now Helping Others!
By Ela, from Poland
When I was 15, I entered the subculture of drink and drugs. Being a hard-to-handle teen and a bad influence on others, I was moved from one high school to another. Finally I was sent to a psychiatrist. The weekly meetings with him didn't help me straighten out at all; instead I felt more and more discouraged and defeated. I saw no way to change my life for the better, or the big world that surrounded me. At times my friend and I both talked about committing suicide. Finally I was sent to a therapeutic center for socially unfit youth.
Many people tried to help me. They told me that the path I was taking was wrong, but no one could answer my questions about the purpose of life; no one could show me solutions to the problems which troubled me. Thank God He sent the Family at that time, to help me in a way that no one else could!
I met a Family couple who I invited to stay at my little apartment. During their two-week stay, they showed me answers in the Bible and read tracts by David Brandt Berg with me. With each day that passed, I could see more clearly what this life is all about. One thing that impressed me very deeply was the way they related to their little child. Never before had I seen such a beautiful relationship between a child and her parents.
Their loving example and all they shared with me from God's Word started to change everything in my life--I became a Christian! Alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and the so-called free life I lived didn't matter to me any more. I was so happy to leave it all behind, join the Family and start living a life with meaning!
The answers the Family shared with me, I shared with all my friends, and many of them prayed to receive Jesus too! Those who did were also delivered from lives of alcohol and drugs, and some of them are even now serving the Lord as missionaries in the Family also.
I feel very privileged and blessed to be a member of the Family, and to be able to help change other sad lives by giving them new meaning and joy from the Lord.
(Editor's note: Ela met the Family in Poland when it was still under the Communist military rule. She has been in the Family for nine years.)
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Freed from Paralyzing Fear!
By Ester, from Italy
My first ten years growing up in the Italian countryside were quite happy. I spent a lot of time with my parents, who taught me many things. Everything changed, though, when we moved to the city and my mother began to work. Every day my younger brother and I stayed at home alone after school, and during those years men repeatedly tried to molest me. I was almost raped when I was twelve. The good communication with my parents which I'd had earlier ended. Both came home quite tired at night, and they just took it for granted that my brother and I were fine.
Dissatisfied with life, I ran away from home to join some hippies, among whom was Samuele, who became my husband. Although I had never taken drugs before, I began to experiment with them while living at that hippie commune. Almost as soon as I started experimenting with drugs, I was overcome by strong fears, which tormented me for the next two years.
Those were the worst years of my life. The only way I could eat or sleep was to take pills. I was afraid to talk or even look at people, afraid of leaving the house, afraid of being with others, afraid of being alone, afraid of dying. These fears were multiplied when I had my first baby and began having problems in my marriage. In despair, I reached out to God in prayer.
At that point, I met the Family, received Jesus and was freed from this oppressing fear! A couple of months later I went to live in a Family Home with Samuele and Joana, our two-year-old daughter. We have been serving Jesus in Latin America for ten years now, and have just had our seventh child. We are so happy and thankful to be in His service with a new life and a real family.
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From the Confines of Hinduism to the Caring Love of Jesus!
By Abi, from Fiji
I was born in Fiji, into a Hindu family, and was taught to worship the deity Saibaba, who advocates love. As I grew older, I began to question our religion, and the hypocritical way in which it was practiced. For example, although my mother talked about Saibaba's love, if my friends were not of the same caste as my family, she would not allow me to bring them to our house. My college girlfriends and I talked about how we wanted to live in true love and harmony. Once we were married, we decided, we would all live happily together in the same house and take care of each other's children.
When I was 23, my parents arranged for me to go to India to marry a man of their choice, a Hindu from the United States. For some reason, however, his trip to India to meet and marry me was delayed. In the meantime, I met the Family.
I began reading the Bible, and there I found the true God of love, a God who loves impartially and helps us to do the same. I also went to meetings which the Family held for new Christians. When I saw how the Family lives together communally and members help one another, and when I met their children, it was like seeing the fulfillment of the dreams I had shared with my girlfriends at college!
Several times I went with the Family on their outings to tell people about Jesus, and saw Him change unhappy lives right before my eyes. Jesus and His Word continued to change me too, and before long I decided to become part of the Family!
Now most of my family back in Fiji are also Christians, and they are glad that I am serving the Lord. I married the man of my choice, and we have five beautiful children!
* * *
I've Learned to Love!
By Leland, from the U.S.A.
I am a 51-year-old African American, and I've been in the Family for 24 years. I grew up in Dallas, Texas, where I was very active in the civil rights organization, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). I joined in marches and demonstrations against racism. I attended Arlington State University, where I majored in psychology, because I felt it would help me understand myself and get my problems sorted out. However, after a year of psychology, I was quite confused. I was very bitter against white people because of their mistreatment of the blacks, but when I asked my psychology professor for advice, he looked startled and said, "I'm sorry. I just don't know what to tell you. I'm confused myself." That was the day I decided that university wasn't the place for me! Instead I opted to leave school to look for the meaning and purpose of life.
For two years I traveled the East coast, from Philadelphia to New York, getting involved with black radical groups and individuals such as Malcolm X. They left me disillusioned; there was no love, no real direction, no real solutions, no answers. I decided to go back home to Dallas and I got married, but my wife and I broke up after two years.
One night I agreed to go to church with my little brother, to please him. My mother had brought me up in a Christian way, but I didn't see any future in being a Christian; it all seemed quite dull. But that night I opened my heart to Jesus Christ, and He changed my life! I also asked God to show me what to do with my life. About a year later I met the Family in a Dallas park. I decided to visit their ranch in Mingus, Texas, where I was really impressed by everyone's love, dedication and sincerity.
I was 27 years old. Most of the Family in Mingus were under 21. But there were no age barriers, there was no color difference, there was no ethnic difference, or any type of differences. I saw love, God's love, pouring out of each person there, out of their love for Jesus.--And when I saw this, it won me! I knew I had found my place!
In joining the Family, I had to relearn many things--especially how to love. Coming out of a black ghetto society, I had a complex which caused me to mistrust others. But God's love changed me. Since I've been in the Family, I've been serving the Lord in over 20 countries. I have learned to trust and follow God, and to look at people's hearts and not at the color of their skin. But the greatest lesson I've been learning since I've been in the Family is to love!
* * *
The End of My Search!
By David, from the Philippines
After being fed up and disillusioned with different counter-culture "trips" such as drugs, Oriental mysticism, Maoism, etc., I gave up on my youthful, idealistic dreams of changing the world for the better. In defeat and compromise, I gradually accepted the status quo and set my sights on the niche I wanted to have in society. I went to college, studied very hard and got high grades. I was granted a scholarship, yet deep inside I felt hypocritical for living the kind of lie that I had bitterly fought against during my turbulent teenage years.
When the Family came along, I saw that they had the alternative I was searching for! The ideals that I longed for were really being practiced, not just talked about. Most of all, they had joy and the love for Jesus and each other to make it work. I joined and am still happily serving Jesus after 18 years!
* * *
A Successful Career in Art, But...
By Michael, from Canada
I am fifty years old, the father of nine children and have been a Family missionary for 21 years in nine different countries. The son of a successful corporate lawyer, growing up was pleasant for me. Many comforts and opportunities were mine from childhood. In my early teen years my parents sent me to one of the most elite private boarding schools in Canada. Due to my great interest in art, I was then sent to a new high school specializing in art and academic studies.
After achieving honors in my studies, I attended the Ontario College of Art, the most prestigious art college in Canada. My art work and academic achievements won me an entrance scholarship and free tuition. When I entered college, I was placed in the third year of the four-year art course. I was the second student in the history of the college to receive this placement. At the end of my fourth year I was given another scholarship, and a large sum of money to travel anywhere in the world.
Soon after returning from extensive travels in Europe, I was given a job with the government-sponsored Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). For four years I was a graphic designer for CBC. I also did free-lance illustration work for a top agency in New York and major newspapers, magazines and book publishers, as well as TV work and animation. It was during that time that I became aware of a change taking place in my life.
I had climbed the ladder of success in my field, but from that height I saw life from a different perspective. I began to understand that "one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses" (Luke 12:15). My money, sports cars, and trips to Europe were not enough; something important was missing; my heart was not satisfied. I began to see that the things I owned, owned me. I decided that I wanted to find the true meaning of life, and I was determined to pay any price to get it. I knew that what really counts is to have love, joy and true happiness in one's heart.
One cold winter night on the downtown streets of Toronto, Canada, I met a total stranger who, in less than an hour, explained passages to me from the Bible that changed my life in the most profound way. That night I asked Jesus into my heart and found the greatest of all riches, the most valuable things in the world--Jesus and the Word of God. My treasure is greater than any material wealth, the Word of God in my heart, and it can never be taken away from me. The Family has given me a life of living for Jesus and others, which is truly and eternally satisfying.
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family