My testimony, I was one of those kids growing up that was always in some kind of trouble, At home with my step dad or at school with a principal. I was whipped and beaten for the bad things I was doing, but it never stopped me from doing what was wrong. Then when I got older it went to drugs and alcohol. I had no respect for family or any authority.  At 18 I would steal whatever I could get my hands on for drugs. The heat was on in the small town I lived in so my buddy and me hitchhiked to Florida.

Once in Florida things in my life got worse.  Now I was in jail for robbery, 1 to 5 years in prison. 19 and at rock bottom. Now you start to think about life and what freedom is all about. I thought about my family and all the people I hurt. I did not know God or his Son Jesus in my heart back then, but now I know they were always there. I ended up getting a one year sentence in the County jail, 10 months for good behavior. This was great news but my heart was heavy. The lady I robbed was always in my thoughts, the look of horror and shock on her face was imbedded in my mind. I became a trustee in the jail with full reign in and outdoors, if I tried to escape I would surely go to prison. With 6 months left I just wanted to do my time and get out.

As time went by I knew I had to get in contact with the lady I had robbed. After several weeks of bothering a really cool guard, he finally agreed to let me write a letter to the lady and telling her how sorry I was for what I had done to her. A week later I received a letter back from her. At first I was sure she was going to light me up and let me have it, for I deserved it for what I had done to her. But after I opened the letter I found words of love and forgiveness. She told me she had forgiven me the day it had happened. And that she was a Christian and that she had been praying for me. She told me not to worry about it and she wished me the best, and told me Jesus loved me. Nice letter I thought, but a Jesus freak, great, I did not understand.

Then the Pastor started coming in on Sunday afternoons talking about the love of Jesus. At first I could not stand to hear the gospel, then after a couple of Sundays I was reaching through the jail bars receiving my first Bible. The void my life and in my heart was filled one night in that jail. With tears and asking for forgiveness I asked Jesus to come into my life and heart. Now I understand the letter and the wonderful lady. That was 30 years ago in my life, I can not change the past, but my future is filled with love and forgiveness. After jail I went to my step dad’s house and talked. We became good friends and I I told him I held no grudges and I was sorry for the things I had done to him. He said ditto on that. 

There are times I feel alone and down in the valley, but I know it is just a lie, Jesus said: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20

I am not proud of my past, but my past is forgiven through Jesus. I have been off the drugs for 40 years and walking clean with Jesus, perfect, we never will be. The Jesus stickers and art I design are to reach out to everyone about Jesus. But my heart goes out to the youth in the world. Pray for the young men and women that they stay out of jail and prison and stay away from drugs. 

May God bless you.

Wayne