Life Transformed...Daniel's story
I was brought up in a loving family, however I was faced with dysfunctional and selfishness patterns due to the influence of alcohol. I always tried my best to excel in everything I did in life, from playing hockey to attaining excellence in education. I had this strong desire to be accepted by others and found it in socially drinking, smoking and marijuana.
When I started my first year of university I was involved in selling and growing marijuana for financial gain. I had everything the world said I needed to be successful. My life seemed to be great but I was wrong.
When my father was diagnosed with a terminal illness everything changed for my family. I didn't know how to deal with this and resorted to using drugs to medicate my pain. Soon enough I became addicted to drugs and lost everything I had worked for. I ended up committing crimes to feed my drug habits and I was put in jail because of this. I found myself crying out to God, "If You are real then help me." At that moment I believe that God heard my cry and started working in visible ways. My cell-mate was looking at 15 years in prison for committing a number of armed robberies, but I was released after a few months in custody.
I took part in a behavior modification program and started working after being released. My life was still empty and before I knew it, I was right back to my old ways, selling drugs. This time it was a lot more serious and my life was being threatened. I was sitting in a drug house all alone, Christmas morning 2005 and I just started to weep.
I was led home to my mother's house and she was afraid of me. Heart broken, my mother took me out for coffee at Tim Hortons. I began to tell her that I was going to Vancouver to join a gang which required me to kill someone. As I was telling her this, my cell-mate from jail walked into the coffee shop. He was looking at 15 years in prison for the crimes he committed. He was led to Christ through a prayer shared with a prison chaplain. He was released on bail shortly after. He applied to Teen Challenge, graduated from the discipleship program and became a staff member. He sat down and told me of the change in his life. God spoke to me that night, I too met Jesus and everything changed.
I took part in the 12-month program at Teen Challenge and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. No longer was I bound to any drug addiction. I became a new creation in Christ. I graduated from Teen Challenge and witnessed many miracles of God through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. I am now a staff member at Teen Challenge and God has given me all that He had promised. Life and life abundantly, and I am grateful to have had a place like Teen Challenge to take me in and show me a life with hope.
I hope you have been as blessed by this testimony as we were. As I said earlier the peace and joy that you see on the faces of these young men is absolutely worth an icy ride through Manitoba. This day was a gift in so many ways. First off that Wes and I were still able to participate not only because of the cold weather, but because Wes was feeling well enough to drive. But, mostly having a reality check again about how there are young men out there who are searching for hope and that yes, God is still changing lives through many faithful workers. And to top off the day we made some new friends (Rick & Linda) and many other really great people with whom it was a privilege to hang out with for the day.
"For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you." 1 Corinthians 1:5-6
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