New Creation

Before Christ - Alcohol, Anxiety, Drugs and Depression was my life.

I grew up in a home with two sisters and one brother. My mom's side of the family was Catholic and my dad's side Lutheran, but he didn't go to church as he claimed to be an atheist . But growing up my mom took us to Catholic church on Sundays and we got to go to CCD a Catholic afterschool program. I really don't remember much about Jesus, just endured the typical Mass every week. Our home was full of yelling and fighting between my parents. My dad would walk out and leave us for days at a time after these fights because he was so angry and then he stayed at my grandparents. This cycle of anger and abandonment happened all throughout my childhood. While I was in high school my parents separated and then got divorced, this was the catalyst that started my drinking, drug use and not caring. Although my mother endured years of verbal and physical abuse, the Catholic church would no longer allow her to take communion as a "divorced" woman. That decision the church took against her, made me decide to no longer consider myself Catholic. After graduating high school I stated drinking heavily for quite a few years. I found myself in Reno with a woman I didn't know very well, but did know she liked to drink like me. Both drunk, we ended up in a chapel and married. At the age of 30 I quit drinking and started going to AA, she however continued drinking and smoking pot. With a son on the way and no changes in her behavior, we divorced when he was born. She moved back to the area that we had grown up in about 150 miles away and continued drinking and spiraling further into harder drugs. I would drive to see my son every other weekend so worried for him, and was filled with anxiety and depression because the whole mess was out of my hands. This of course, had me thinking of all the mistakes that I had made and people that I had hurt - the thoughts were consuming me.

One Sunday evening I was home in my travel trailer and a neighbor in the trailer park knocked on my door and asked me to go to church with him. Prior to that we had never really had seen or spoken to each other. Well, I thought to myself why not cause nothing else in my life was working, and went with him to church. There was singing, a pastor spoke and then there was an alter call. I had never seen an alter call before as I grew up Catholic. My heart was pounding so fast and I started up the aisle and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It's been a journey as my problems didn't just go away, but I felt a peace come over me and a trust that God would protect my son.

When I read 2 Corinthians 5:17 "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" I finally understood, I was forgiven, my old self was gone and my new life in Christ had begun.

Having Jesus in my life has given me hope and peace.

1 John 5:13 - "I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." I know!