The Family in Action!--#11
DFO
What the Family Has Done for Me! (Part 2)
October 1995, by The Family, Zurich, Switzerland
This magazine may be reproduced in full or in part for friends of the Family.
Healed of AIDS and Epilepsy!
By Jeanne, from the U.S.
Hi! My name is Jeanne. A few years ago, prior to the meeting the Family, I thought my life was over. Twice I had been tested positive for HIV, the virus which leads to AIDS. I had just been released from a drug rehabilitation center, after my second stint for substance abuse. I was penniless and homeless. To say I was down was an understatement.
My two children were in foster care, and I expected that when my case went to court in a few weeks, the state would take them away permanently. I also had epilepsy and suffered from as many as five seizures in a week. I was taking medication for my seizures, as well as medication to help keep me off hard drugs. I was a mess.
As I walked along Main Street the night of July 26, 1990, tears flowed down my face as I prayed for God to take my life and do with it as He wanted. His loving answer, I soon learned, was to fill my heart with Jesus, His Son. A member of the Family, Henry, saw me crying and knew I was in desperate need of help. He asked if he could talk with me, and in the course of our conversation told me about Jesus and what He could do in my life. I prayed with him to receive Jesus as my Savior. With that tiny seed of faith planted in my heart, my life began to change.
Within days I set all my medication aside and substituted it with faith. When I appeared in court as scheduled, the judge and attorneys were so dumbfounded at the change that was taking place in my life that they postponed my hearing. I was getting another chance! Each day I saw new light dawning for me. My happiness grew, and my love for the Lord kept increasing! His presence was everywhere!
The state social services department still had control of my children, and I knew that I had little chance of having them returned because I was infected with HIV. Social Services demanded that I tell Henry, whom I was falling in love with, that I was HIV positive. I was depressed when I approached Henry, and he sensed it right away. I told him that I had to tell him something, but couldn't find the words. He saw how terribly frightened I was, and guessed my secret. When I confirmed I was HIV positive, he too was shaken, but only for a moment. "All things are possible with God," he told me, "and all things are possible to anyone who believes!" (See Luke 1:37 and Mark 9:23.) We prayed, and my fears disappeared.
By a miracle, my HIV also disappeared! Since then, I have been tested three times for HIV, and all three times the results have come back negative! Praise the Lord! Medical reports detailing these findings were submitted to the courts during the hearings to determine the custody of my children. They were returned to me in March of 1991. Henry and I were married in September of that year. Jesus has brought joy into our hearts, and each morning we wake to love and serve Him another day. I have felt the miracle-working power of prayer, and I am a witness to it! May His Love also reach out to you!
Love,
Jeanne.
P.S. Thanks to Jesus healing me, I have also not had an epileptic seizure in two years!
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Sports Hooligan Finds a Better Way!
By Paul, from Poland
I was born to a poor family. As I didn't know what to do with my life, I started thinking that being rough and hard was the way to live. To me that meant not only being completely disrespectful and disobedient to my mother, but fighting and stealing. As a result I wound up in a correctional institution by the age of 14.
After this, I became a sports hooligan for more than five years--meaning I went to sporting events with a gang of friends, not to see the game, but to fight with fans from the opposing team. I was so carried away that I enjoyed nothing better than a bloody brawl.
But from the moment I met the Family, the Lord changed me. He showed me how to love others! I've been serving the Lord in the Family for six years now, and know what it means to have a really happy life. Real love is what everybody needs.
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Love that Bridges Racial Gaps!
By Spring, from the U.S.
Nigger!" How I hated that name! Growing up as an African-American in a predominantly white neighborhood in the U.S. northwest wasn't easy. "If other kids call you a nigger, call them a white paddy!" my parents advised me. These conflicts only reinforced my feeling of being alone and unloved in a hostile world. As time went on, I withdrew into a shell, fearing further hurtful contact with others.
When I was ten years old, we moved to a larger city and I started having more contact with other blacks. Most of those that I met seemed to have lower standards than I had been taught, and the immorality, cursing and lack of cleanliness I saw bothered me. Eventually, I concluded that a bigoted white society was to blame, by depriving blacks of good jobs and equal opportunities.
I became very hurt and angry when I was denied career opportunities due to the color of my skin; despite my qualifications, I had to settle for a low-salaried secretarial position in the civil service. I set out to right this wrong, and joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the Urban League.
At college for two years, my anger over racial inequality grew. I joined a black militant group, and worked as a secretary for the most radical black spokesman in the area. Later I lived in a black militant commune. Our goal was to set up our own society, with our own schools for our children. We also built up an arsenal of guns in the attic, and made plans to sabotage bridges, etc. A hatred for all whites grew in my heart.
We bonded together with the goal of making a better world for blacks, but jealousy over the leadership of our group began to divide us. Soon, some members were trying to kill others to gain their position! When I saw my best friend thrown down two flights of stairs by a jealous black rival, I realized the brotherly love I longed to see would not come through blacks uniting against whites.
The next day I was on the beach in San Francisco, contemplating suicide, when a black member of the Family approached me. In a few minutes of conversation he showed more understanding and loving concern than I had ever experienced before! He told me about Jesus' Love for me, and that He is coming soon to establish a better world where Love will rule.
I prayed with him to receive Jesus as my Savior, and when I did, I suddenly realized how unhappy my former friends and I were, and how hopeless we all are without Jesus' Love. I wanted to tell the whole world about Jesus!
I went with him to meet other Family members at their bus, which was parked nearby. I was surprised to see that they were all whites! Hatred welled up in me, but when a sweet girl threw her arms around me and gave me a welcoming hug, all the hatred in my heart vanished. My thirsty soul drank long and deep of their Heavenly Love. Looking around at the different members, I felt they were just like me--my brothers and sisters in the Lord--and I felt closer to them than I had ever felt to anyone. That same day, 22 years ago, I joined the Family!
(Editor's note: At present the Family is made up of people from over 75 nationalities, speaking scores of languages, and ministering in nearly 50 countries--truly a multiracial movement bringing God's Love to anyone, regardless of creed, color, or culture.)
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Becoming a Real Christian
By Tiago, from the U.S.
I was born and raised in the affluent suburbs of a large city on the East Coast of the U.S. My father was a successful business executive, and my mother a graduate from teachers' college. My parents raised me in the Episcopal Church, but by my teen years I had declared myself an atheist. The erroneous teachings of science "falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20) in the American public school system had destroyed what little faith in God I had gained from Sunday school when I was younger.
For four years I smoked marijuana daily and took LSD occasionally. All the while, deep down inside I felt that there must be some greater meaning to life. After a drug buddy showed me a Bible verse, I read the New Testament for the first time in my life and asked Jesus into my life.
Shortly thereafter I hitchhiked across the U.S., coast to coast. It was on this trip that I met the Family. I had always shunned what I considered do-nothing religious people, but I could see that these people were different. After weak and unsuccessful attempts to serve the Lord on my own, I decided to join them in their missionary work. Now, 19 years later, married and the father of five children, I'm still serving Jesus as a full-time missionary in South America, where I've lived for 18 years.
Between the time I met Jesus and the time I met the Family, I wanted to serve the Lord in some way, but I didn't know how. I couldn't even stop smoking pot while on my own. Before studying the Bible with the Family, although I knew the Lord somewhat, I didn't really understand what Salvation was, or how to explain it to others. After joining the Family, sharing Jesus and the Bible with people became the most satisfying part of my life. The Family taught me what it means to truly give my life to the Lord in Christian service.
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In Prison, God Heard My Prayer!
By Eman, from France
As a teenager, I was dissatisfied with my studies. I wanted more exciting things to do, and so I became involved in drugs, stealing, and breaking into houses. One day I met a couple from the Family. Because their approach wasn't stiff and formal like that of the churches I had attended, they interested me in finding out more about God. I later received Jesus, and my life started to change.
However, I lost contact with them after a while and went back to my old ways. I was caught smuggling drugs, and sentenced to prison. After many traumatic experiences--the worst of which was when a friend of mine committed suicide in jail--my mother secured an early release for me. I promised God I would use my life for Him.
Together with a friend, I traveled to a Family Home to join their work. I wondered how I would ever manage to give up drugs, but found when I prayed with the Family that the Lord instantly delivered me from any desire for drugs or cigarettes! For the past 17 years, instead of a life of crime, God has blessed me with a beautiful life of usefulness as a missionary.
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Theater, Feminism and Drugs Led to Anguish
--The Family Led to Light!
By Maria, from Brazil
I was born into a family that had no religion or belief in anything they couldn't see or feel. As a small child, this confused me, and I, as if by instinct, began to seek for God. I tried church, but found only hypocrisy. At the age of ten, I completely lost hope of ever finding God, and went back to being an empty atheist. At 14, I became interested in theater and got involved with homosexuals of both sexes. My father got fed up with me, and threw me out of the house.
I continued with theater, and at 17 moved to a bigger city with hopes of becoming a professional actress. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Unable to find a job, I was often hungry and cold. I took all kinds of temporary work merely to survive. I also found the city filthy and big-city life repulsive. What disillusion and disappointment! One day I met a man who acted compassionate and said he wanted to help me. Actually he was lying and tried to kill me! I went through such tension and fear after that encounter that I couldn't even leave my house.
Finally I moved to another city, gave up my dreams of theater and studying, and got deeper and deeper into drugs, until I became a dealer to support my habit. I also got very involved with women's causes and became a feminist. I also sought the truth in various Oriental religions.
At this time my health was very poor; I became very depressed and was on the verge of suicide. Then I met a couple who pointed me to the true light--Jesus! Their approach was simple, not draped with the hypocrisy of religion as I knew it, or colored by lies and deceit. My life changed that very day! I quit using drugs right away, and when I went to visit the Family Home, I saw that they had what I'd been looking for all my life. I've been doing missionary work with the Family for five years now. I have a very loving husband who is a dedicated father to our three beautiful children, and an eternal Love who truly cares for me--Jesus!
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Drugs and Shock Treatment Didn't Help--But Jesus Did!
By Timothy, from the U.S.
I was born into a Catholic family, the son of a distinguished U.S. Army officer. In the mid `60s, I became involved in the civil rights movement, and tutored poor African-American children in the large midwestern city where I lived. Then race riots swept through America's major cities. This time of turmoil shattered my ideals and hopes of remedying society's injustices.
I began my university studies, but soon joined the hippie drug culture. The hippie ideals of inner peace and communal harmony greatly appealed to me. Within three years, however, my life became a nightmare! My two closest friends drowned, and subsequently, after extremely heavy doses of psychedelic drugs, I completely lost touch with reality. My parents were obliged to commit me to the psychiatric ward of a private hospital.
After drug therapy failed to bring me down, the psychiatrist prescribed a series of electric shock treatments. Finally I was able to leave the hospital. I had weekly appointments with the psychiatrist, who administered strong tranquilizers. The results were short-lived; six months later I started taking illegal drugs again.
Lost, lonely and desperate, the day came when I admitted to myself that I was failing miserably in life. I cried out to God, "If You're there, please help me, because only You can!" Within hours, my prayer was answered when I met the Family for the first time. They showed me that Jesus was there to help me. When I prayed with them to receive Jesus, and as God's Holy Spirit filled me, I was completely delivered and healed from all the damaging influences of my drug addiction!
I joined my new missionary friends and began a happy new drug-free life as a full-time missionary. That life continues to this day, more than 20 years later.
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A Soldier Joins the Lord's Army!
By Lawrence, from the U.S.
I was born in a small city in Virginia, in the southern U.S. Being black, I faced numerous encounters with racism and discrimination as I grew up. My town was divided by the river--blacks on one side of the bridge, whites on the other. As blacks, our housing and school system were inferior, and we were restricted in our access to restaurants, movies and even public toilets. I was brought up by my parents to respect whites, but I was left with many questions as to why we had to suffer discrimination.
After spending one year at college, I found myself becoming disheartened with the social atmosphere there, so I decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. After undergoing a thorough investigation, the army decided that I would be suitable for military intelligence, and I was given top security clearance. I went to serve in Thailand.
While in America, I had been living like the poor, but when I was stationed in Thailand, I lived like the rich, with every comfort. The more material goods I acquired, though, the less happy I became. The general attitude of my army co-workers towards the Thai people also disgusted me. We were told to lie to the local people and take advantage of them; we gave them next to nothing for their information and services. We treated them like animals, really--worse than I had been treated at home. Disillusioned, I began searching for meaning in life.
Shortly after I completed my military service, I met the Family and received Jesus into my heart. I asked to join them in full-time service for Jesus, and they accepted me. In the 17 years that have passed since then, we have shared an exciting life.--But more than that, I have found the satisfaction and fulfillment I searched for.
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Thief and Drug Dealer Finds Peace!
By Matthew, from England.
How I've changed since I met the Family about three years ago! Let me describe my life up until that time. Due to school and family problems, I had developed a severe inferiority complex which grew into rebelliousness and hatred of life. I stole cars, got into fights, and on several occasions broke into houses. Then I began taking drugs and dealing in marijuana, speed and LSD. Through drugs I acquired many serious phobias and nearly committed suicide.
I got quite shook up when, after living in the same house for 18 years and feeling quite secure with the locks on the doors, my room was broken into twice within two months. The first time I had 200 pounds ($300) stolen, and the second time a very expensive guitar. The crushing blow was when I found out that the robber was my best friend!
I never thought for one minute that "religion" was the answer. Although I had been interested in people with psychic powers, like Uri Geller, as well as science fiction movies, the Ouija board, etc., those things left me fearful. One time, while taking LSD, I had a bad trip, and caught a glimpse of the dark side of the spirit world. This left me even more insecure.
When I met the Family and received Jesus in my heart, my whole life completely changed! It was a series of miracles! The first was giving up an eight-year smoking habit without withdrawals. Numerous previous attempts to quit had been futile. The second miracle was when my fears and phobias and insecurities were replaced with a positive outlook on life and outgoing concern for others. Thanks to the Lord, I now devote my energies to helping others, bringing the message of God's Love in Jesus to the people of Eastern Europe!
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My Dream of Changing the World Fulfilled!
By April, from the U.S.
My name is April. I'm married, with five children and three grandchildren. (My eldest son and his wife are Family missionaries in Eastern Europe.)
Growing up, I had very little self-esteem. I was reared in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood, and resented being a Jew. Harassment and belittling comments from my peers were the order of the day, but one incident stands out in particular: Some boys chased me through a graveyard, swearing, throwing stones at me and calling me "one of those filthy Jews who killed Jesus." I was quite young at the time, and, being a Jew, didn't even know who Jesus was. I thought that I would surely be put in jail because the boys were accusing me of killing this person!
Some weeks later I was at a friend's house, and saw some pictures I had never seen before--pictures of Jesus. My friend couldn't explain to my satisfaction who Jesus was, so out of curiosity I asked my Hebrew school teacher. I was so surprised when he harshly reprimanded me and threatened me with expulsion just because I asked him that question. That hurt worse than the taunts I had received from the boys at the graveyard, because it was coming from my own people. I still didn't know who this person they called Jesus was.
I became an atheist at 13, because I didn't want to believe in a God who I felt allowed such horrors as the war in Vietnam, poverty, hunger, etc. My greatest desire in life was to change the world, and I dedicated myself to this at the age of 13. Wanting to try different approaches, I became very involved in attending and organizing protest demonstrations, running a co-op which taught art-related classes and working as a part-time social worker, caring for deprived and abused children.
Between the ages of 15 and 17, I took drugs nearly every day, from morning till night. Finally I realized I was addicted, and by a miracle I was cured when I turned to God for help. After this, I began searching for a way to know Him better. I tried many places--from Jewish synagogues to Catholic churches--searching for answers. On one occasion, I met with a Jesuit priest whom I had hoped could give me the answers I was looking for, but he was more interested in finding out from me what kind of drugs to take and how to get them! I visited the Hare Krishna and tried yoga, but found no answers. I then determined to join the left-wing political group of the `60s and `70s known as the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society).
At this point, I met the Family and received Jesus, and my life took on new meaning. I dedicated my life to serving God, and have since been able to help many people in many lands. Finally my dream of changing the world has been fulfilled! I have served as a missionary in Greece, Japan, Eastern Europe and the former USSR.
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Terror-filled Life of Gangs and Drugs Ended with a Prayer!
By Peter, from Canada
Growing up, I hung around with a neighborhood gang. We were involved in purse snatching, panhandling at the racetrack, breaking and entering, and shoplifting. Every few months my mother got a call to pick me up at the police station. I got drunk often, and once, when I was only nine years old, one of my drinks got spiked with two hits of LSD. My childhood was traumatic, to say the least!
My mom and dad both worked, so they were gone all day. Friday and Saturday nights they went out dancing and drinking, so all the kids from the neighborhood came over to our house. We went wild, shooting speed and sniffing glue. Once, when my brother was ten, he had to be rushed to the hospital emergency room to have his stomach pumped. He later "did numbers" (delivered drugs) for the area's motorcycle gang. Things went from bad to worse; his best friend got shot in the face, right in front of our house.
When I was 12 years old, my parents broke up, and this had a shattering effect on me. A gruesome horror film gave me nightmares, and this, plus the family break-up, left me sleepless for three weeks. Add to this my drinking and drug problems, and I was really in bad shape! By the time I was a teen, I was lonely, frightened and tormented by bad dreams every night. I wanted to quit drinking, but didn't have enough fight left in me.
When I was 18 years old, my sister, who had joined the Family and gone to Central America as a missionary, came for a visit. She sang songs that melted my heart and filled me with Love. That night I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart; my sleep was sweet and I was freed from my fears! Fourteen years have passed since I joined the Family and began serving the Lord. I'm now happily married to a wonderful woman and have five beautiful children.
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Jesus Broke Down the Walls!
By Gabriel, from Peru
I remember, as a boy of ten, looking in the mirror and seeing the face of an old man. I had already known that I wasn't handsome, but the full realization of the problems with my appearance was shattering. My eyes seemed worst of all, so I started hiding my eyes behind dark glasses and avoided looking into people's faces. I became very shy and withdrawn, and developed a terrible inferiority complex.
My problems drove me to drink, and on several occasions I drank myself unconscious. At 17, I thought I finally had the courage to try to kill myself, and tried unsuccessfully to do so by running headlong into a thick wall to dash my head against it. Once when I was 20, after a night of drinking with a friend, I woke up in a hospital with a doctor stitching up a head wound. God only knows what I had tried to do to myself that night. My life went from bad to worse, until finally I began seeing a psychiatrist. I was so discouraged about myself that I didn't want to live.
Then one day I went with my sister and her friend to a nearby beach. In the distance, I saw the Family singing. As they approached, I saw in them what I was missing in my life: happiness, simplicity, peace and joy. They explained to me how to receive Jesus as my Savior. Before that I did not know that He could be a part of my life as a helper and friend. It was then a whole new life of joy began for me. That was 16 years ago. I used to be terribly withdrawn, but now I really enjoy reaching out to tell others about Jesus. It still amazes me how He changed my life. Now I want to live in order to share Him with others!
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Saved from Insanity by the Simple Love of Jesus!
By Victory, from the U.S.
When my priest told me, "And we all know that there are no such things as angels," I decided to become an atheist. I remember reasoning that if angels were just make-believe, then Jesus must not be real either. I was just 12 at the time. My parents' philosophy was such that they tried not to influence me too much, but left me to make my own decisions and reach my own conclusions. As a result, my life lacked any sort of foundation.
In college I got involved with drugs, hard rock music, evil spirits, the Ouija board, Eastern religions, perverted sex, etc. By my senior year, my mind was so debilitated from drugs, evil spirits and Oriental philosophies that I couldn't even understand the essays I had written as a freshman. I was in such a bad mental state that I thought I was going insane.
In my search for answers, I began reading on many topics. One book in particular made an impression on me. It was about St. Augustine, and told how his life changed when he found Jesus. I started reading the Bible to find out more about Jesus. His Words were like a healing balm poured upon my wounded heart. Jesus spoke of good and evil, and exposed all the horrors in my life--from drugs to demons--that were destroying me.
At first I couldn't understand how Jesus could be divine. Then I met a girl who told me how much she loved Jesus, and that gave my faith the boost it needed. I started to believe that maybe He is God, and still alive today and that I could love Him right now. As soon as I believed that Jesus knew and cared about me, my aching heart was filled with the most wonderful feeling of Love. The doubts and confusion which had weighed me down just fell away!
I looked for others with whom I could share my new-found faith and Love, but was sadly disappointed by the churches I visited. Why weren't they trying to reach all the poor lost people like myself, I wondered. One day I heard about the Family, went for a visit, and knew immediately that I was finally home! In the 20 years that have passed since then, His Love has grown more real every day, and I'm so happy to be serving Him in the Family.
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God Didn't Give Up on Me!
By Felipe, from Brazil
Before I found the Lord 14 years ago, I led a very troubled life. Born in Manaus, in the Amazon region of northern Brazil, I was brought up by my grandmother. She died when I was just 11. After that, everything became very difficult. I was expelled from school a few months later, and began taking drugs. I saw my father only once or twice a year. At 17 I left Manaus to travel around the country, and eventually joined the army.
One night an army buddy and I went out to have a good time with lots of drugs and women. At around two in the morning, he suggested we go to a well-known restaurant outside of town. On our way there, in the middle of nowhere, some cars suddenly emerged from the darkness. There was a lot of shooting, and someone grabbed me. "This is him," he said as he put adhesive tape over my eyes. Were these men drug dealers I had crossed, or fellow soldiers who held a grudge? Had my buddy deliberately led me into their trap? What was happening? Suddenly one of them stuck a .38 caliber revolver in my ribs, and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through my lung.
I was taken to a hospital where I lay in a coma for three days. When I came to, I found myself in a glass room all alone. My body was full of tubes. I looked up and there above my bed hung a large crucifix. As I stared at it, I began reviewing my life. Later, after joining the Family, I understood that the Lord had to let something so drastic happen to me to get me to open my eyes. I was a tough case! Lying in that hospital bed, I promised God that I would quit taking drugs and follow Him somehow.
I was living in Rio de Janeiro at that time, and over the next few months I became increasingly disillusioned with society. A year after the shooting, I broke my word with the Lord and began taking and dealing drugs again--mainly cocaine this time. One day I was staggering across the street, high on drugs, when a car hit me. The three days I spent in a hospital again gave me lots of time to think. I realized the Lord had taken my vow to stop using drugs and follow Him more seriously than I had. The drug part was clear-cut, but how could I follow a God I hardly knew?
When I recovered, I sold everything I had and struck out in search of the path that I was supposed to follow. Two months later I found it, when I found the Family. I'm so happy the Lord got through to me!
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Finally, a Purpose in Life!
By Chrispin, from Dominica (West Indies)
I'm of African descent, and was born and raised in the former British colony of Dominica, an island republic in the West Indies. For most of my teen years I attended a Catholic school on a scholarship, but when I graduated from high school I decided to get a job rather than continue my education. By the age of 24, I had done what I wanted and acquired a lot of material things, but still I was not satisfied. Disillusioned by the insincerity of friends and my perception of society at large, I decided to leave these successes behind and head out for the countryside.
On that very day, I met the Family. Immediately I knew that God had answered my heartcry for the truth! Soon afterwards, in order to join my first Family Home, I decided to move to Jamaica, taking a nine-day journey by ship through the clear blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. En route, however, I discovered that I had lost the Family's address.
I prayed for the Lord to guide me, and the first person I spoke to out of the over nine hundred fellow passengers on that cruise ship was a Family member I had never met before! After visiting his parents in Trinidad, he was returning to the Family Home I was going to join. Neither of us had any idea that the other was on that ship! This answer to prayer, amazing to me but simple to God, encouraged my faith.
I have been in the Family for 19 years now. I am married and have two teenage daughters. I have preached the Gospel in every country in the British West Indies--from Trinidad in the south to Jamaica in the north--as well as many countries of South America. At every turn, the Lord has blessed me and answered my prayers!
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Social Misfit Reclaimed!
By Ruthie, from the U.S.
In my childhood I had just about anything I wanted. I went to private schools, took piano lessons, sang in a choir, and was a Girl Scout. Still, as hard as I tried, I never seemed to fit in. My home life began to unravel as my father's drinking problem worsened and fights between him and my mother became commonplace. She left him eventually, taking my six brothers and sisters and me with her. When my mother was killed in a car accident, I decided to strike out on my own, rather than go back to live with my father. I roamed the country, living with friends and relatives, getting into drugs and searching for I knew not what.
Between the ages of 17 and 19 I had a nervous breakdown; I was also exposed to witchcraft, lesbianism, petty crime, drug dealing, and prostitution; I tried to commit suicide, was deeply depressed, and basically became a social misfit. In an effort to help others, I worked off and on in nursing homes, but it never lasted. At the age of 19 I met a farmer who led me to the Lord.
After that, all I wanted to do was live for Jesus! He delivered me from all my hang-ups and problems, and for the first time in my life I was happy! Two months later I met the Family, and knew I was where I belonged! Ever since then (17 years ago) I've been truly happy, living a life in service to others--a dream come true!
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Saved from Suicide!
By Julia, from Denmark
I grew up in Denmark, which is considered to be quite liberal in terms of moral and personal "freedom" for young people. I was seldom corrected by my parents, and by the age of eleven, I had the liberty to make my own choices. This resulted in heavy smoking and drinking, stealing and vandalism, involvement with motorcycle gangs, and early teen sex. In Denmark, pornographic material is available to anyone over 12, and I soon reached my saturation point.
At 15, I decided to commit suicide, but instead I was found by the Family. They led me to Jesus and helped me find a new meaning and purpose in my existence! I was impressed by their warmth and loving concern for me, and their sincere desire to serve Jesus and help others. So I decided that was what I wanted to do with my life as well, and not once in the past 16 years have I regretted that decision. The Lord and the Family have taken wonderful care of me since I was a lost, confused teen; they educated and trained me; fed, clothed and provided for me; and gave me wonderful opportunities of service and precious companions and friends. Thank You Jesus! I'm so grateful!
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Fugitive Finds a True Refuge!
By David, from the U.S.
I graduated from high school in 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War. My cousin, who was one year older than me, got drafted into the army. He was sent to Vietnam and was killed just a few weeks later. This made me ask questions about the war and why our country was involved in the first place. I received no answers that satisfied me, so I rebelled against the war and refused to go into the army when I was drafted. This decision meant I became a fugitive from the law. I quit my job at Boeing Aircraft Company, and went underground.
In order to survive I had to find a way to support myself without getting caught by the government, so I started selling illegal drugs. I also took a lot of drugs myself, and as a result became addicted. I was compelled to carry a handgun to protect myself from being robbed by other drug dealers and gangsters. I found it hard to operate on my own, so I formed a small gang for protection and to pool our resources.
During this time I saw several of my acquaintances die of overdoses, get shot, commit suicide, go crazy, or get caught by the police and sent to prison. I lived in fear--afraid to live and afraid to die--and my health deteriorated rapidly. I felt lost and lonely and trapped, and didn't know what to do.
My mother told me she was praying for me and that I should pray too, but I had no faith in anything or anyone at the time. I was filled with fear and skepticism.
Then one day while selling drugs at an outdoor rock concert, I took an overdose of drugs and had a very bad trip. I thought I had died and gone to Hell! I finally broke down and began to pray for someone to help me! As I prayed, two young men approached me. They smiled and told me Jesus loved me and was the answer to my problems. They gave me a little paper and left. The tract explained the plan of Salvation and ended with a little prayer which I prayed, asking Jesus into my heart. I was instantly restored to my right mind. My fears had vanished! I felt like someone had turned on a light inside of me. For the first time in my life, I knew Jesus was real!
I began looking for someone to serve Jesus with, and in 1971 I met the Family. I now have a Japanese wife and five beautiful children, and we are all missionaries for Jesus. I have been happily serving the Lord with them ever since. Every day gets better!
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family