asMessage to the Wanderer: Go Home
My name is Steve. I’m from Franklin, MA. Currently, I am a called servant leader and studying at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online free Bible courses, Click Here).
My Story
My story started when I accepted Jesus at eight years old in my heart. It was then that my family accepted Christ due to a healing miracle my cousin Jim experienced. Further, there was Jim’s vision of Christ at the foot of his bed shortly before the scheduled operation. Their family and ours were nonbelievers. Yet, we understood the power of what had happened and who it was that Jim said he saw that night by his bedside, Jesus.
We were faithful to follow Christ through church attendance and small groups. As a result, I was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and the speaking of tongues at the age of 12. I loved Jesus. But then, the trauma.
It wasn’t until recently that the Holy Spirit showed me to help me process life experiences properly in His ever caring way. I realized it was this same event, my Grandfather dying violently beside me in my childhood home, that was the entry point. It led to decades of rage, insecurities, injustices, pity, and fear. Then all the actions and consequences came from those chaotic emotions that my then 12-year-old heart could understand or comprehend.
Trauma Impact
Failure and incompletion after failure and incompletion, my choices led me further and further away from the Lord and everything having to do with Jesus. In my early teens, I was stealing alcohol from my Dad and deep into experimenting with the typical gateway drugs. I turned away from the worship of God and turned into a rebel with a rebel’s heart. I was disobedient and hurtful towards my parents, disallowing the protective love that I so desperately needed but didn’t know I needed.
There were troubles in my Christian Middle School, in my public High School, with the law, keeping any jobs, in my military service, and with my relationships into my adult years. Drugs and alcohol couldn’t soothe the pain, women couldn’t cure the anger, and staying distracted proved itself unable. It seemed as if my cycles of destruction were the only truth in my desperate life.
Turning Point
This cycle carried on for many years, with my choice of pain relief escalating to the highest level of drug use and alcoholism. So much so, it ultimately became my everyday state of being. I was not looking for this to end, nor did I even know how to stop if I wanted. My life was of such dysfunction that I was in a relationship that ended with my being threatened with my fiancee’s murder-suicide attempt.
I needed help. Yet, I wasn’t availing myself of repentance or God. However, my situation was bound to turn for good because I had a praying Mom in my corner. She battled fiercely for me.
Just a few short months after this threat against my life, I was weak enough to be vulnerable to the “calling home” of the Holy Spirit. He asked me a straightforward question, “Which do you want, son, what you’re chasing after, or what I have for you.?” I broke! I wept for the last 25 years of being a spiritual runaway! Then, I repented as if my life depended on it! I renounced my rebellious deeds and desires as a man escaping death! Finally, I renewed my relationship with the Creator of this beautiful universe, and my Heavenly Father welcomed me home!
Changed and Called as a Servant Leader
Within days, God supernaturally set me free from drugs and alcohol. Within weeks, I had an intelligent vocabulary restored, and within months, I was smoke-free. That same year, I was gifted a business opportunity by the Lord through a connection in my church. Then, at the end of that year, I was introduced to my now-wife, Janet. We’ve been servants for the Lord together since and are also the foster parents to a beautiful 13-year-old daughter.
I’ve come to appreciate the compassion and unconditional love that my parents modeled to me through these troubled years of living. I pray that God continues to see fit to use me as a called servant leader wherever and however possible. Further, I’m grateful to the leadership and staff here at the Christian Leaders Institute for opening up even more possibilities for me to be a called servant leader to all that I come in contact with. All Glory to Christ! Peace to you all!
Steps to Sign Up At Christian Leaders Institute
Step 1 – Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls you in the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2.
After you register, you will automatically be enrolled in the “getting started” course. You will locate the course at your “home” button when logged in. Scroll down to find the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2 Link. Click the link and open the course.
Step 2 – Complete Part 1 of this course, and then you are allowed to enroll in mini-courses or regular courses.
The Christian Leaders Getting Started Class Part 1 shows you how to enroll in courses and mini-courses. Part 2 of the course connects your calling into ministry with programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute. Part 2 will offer some ministry training and introduce you to the other programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost college degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
