Jeremiah’s Testimony
My testimony begins at a young age. I was born into a broken home, where
my Father was not present and my Mom was very Ill. My Mother had a disease
where she could pass away any day. Since I was a child my Mother always
made sure I was aware of this and she would tell me that she could be gone at any day. I guess she thought she was preparing me for that day, but
it really was something she shouldn’t have told a young child. My Mom
re-married when I was about six. She married a harsh man who used to
verbally abuse her and myself. He also used to hit me with a paddle made from a two by four. He wrote “board of education” on it. I guess he thought that was funny.
Other times he used to do fatherly things with me that made me feel loved, so when he and my Mother divorced I was devastated. I was about eleven years old and I thought he cared about me, but I soon learned otherwise when he abruptly stopped calling and stopped visiting. As a child I thought it was my fault that he left, until I got older and realized that he was just a jerk and was never a true father figure. When I was about fourteen I started to running the street and taking drugs. I started out with things like marijuana and booze, but I soon stepped it up and started to take drugs like acid and
mushrooms.
I felt like doing drugs and drinking some how made me cool and that I was fitting in with my peers. In the mist of my mess I would always attend school and once I was done with It, I was able to fix and keep good jobs. It wasn’t until I was about twenty-three or so that I tried cocaine for this first time. After doing harder drugs like coke I
still thought I had a grip on thing and that everything was okay, because I still
had a good job, a girlfriend, and a place to stay. When I was twenty-eight my
Mother started to get really sick and I noticed that she was starting to
rapidly decline. During this horrible time the doctors had prescribed to her a drug called Oxycontin and I started to take them for myself.
During this time I was a very successful car sales man, living in one of the most respected areas of town, and dressing in only the best of clothing. In all of this no one knew how miserable I was inside.
I was so lost that I did not believe that my drug problem was affecting my life in anyway until the first time I tried Heron. I was hooked on heroin for the last five years. I tried everything to get off the drug, including changing locations, quitting cold turkey on my own and several other failed options. I had reached what I thought was the end of the line when I decided to move back to Illinois and try to get my life together while living with my Aunt and Uncle in DeKalb. It was while attending an N/A meeting that I decided I could benefit from a program with more structure in my life. The next morning my Aunt was on the phone with a Bible based program in Aurora. I was raised in Church and was a believer before I turned away from Christ at a young age, but I had no idea that Jesus was the way out of this dark place that I found myself in. I figured it couldn’t hurt since I had already tried everything on my own that never got any results.
When I first came to Aurora I gave a half effort to changing my life, I lack faith that God could change me, I focused on the behavior of those around me instead of my own behavior, I read the word of God only to complete the homework of the program and I did not understand that the change comes from developing a personal relationship with God, totally submitting yourself to the will of God, and no longer following after the things that you desire in this world, but obeying His every word.
I plan on continuing my walk with the Lord and I can’t wait to see what amazing things he has planned for me in the future. I’m sure that without Jesus, I would either be dead, locked up or still roaming the streets addicted to heroin and feeling worthless and lost every day. I am thankful to be a believer and I pray daily for those who I know that are still in the dark and have not yet come to know the Lord. May Jesus reach out to them and touch their hearts just as he did mine.
I realized I had completely come to Christ around Thanksgiving of 2011. I was watching a movie and thinking a lot about my Mom. Thanksgiving would have been my Mom’s birthday and this year was especially hard. After the movie, I went into the prayer room of the program and completely broke down. It was like nothing before. I had always prayed that the Lord would help show me guidance and help me with the burden of losing my Mom which I carried around daily. I prayed and cried for about 45 minutes. Suddenly everything felt like it had just been lifted off of my shoulders and I was able the move on. I still miss my Mom, but I know that things are different now. Since I put my trust in God and asked for his help he has made life much more bearable and has continued to strengthen me daily in everything I struggle with, including my addiction.
I pray that my testimony will help one of you escape Satan’s grip and to have you turn to Jesus, because real men love Jesus.
Your friend in Christ,
Jeremiah Jones