After almost a year, I was reunited with my father. At first I wasn�t thrilled about the visitation, but throughout my time with him began to enjoy myself. I began longing for that peace and happiness that he and his family had. Even stranger I began longing for the discipline I saw in his house; with my mother there wasn�t any discipline, but in my father�s house there was discipline and they were a God fearing family. Before I left to go back to New York, I discussed with my dad and Donna about coming to live with them. They were overjoyed to find out that I wanted to live with them and welcomed me with opened arms.
I went back and lived with my mom for two more months, but this time I actually tried to grow close to God. I went to church with friends and started to read my Bible. When I finally arrived at my dad�s that summer and started to go to church regularly, I decided Jesus Christ was the answer. I gave my life back to Christ, and this time I had roots and a loving family to back me. The empty feeling that had hurt so much and was never was able to be filled, was gone the day I accepted Jesus, and has been gone ever since.
When I sat back and thought about it, I realized yet another truth from the Bible. The verse says,
�Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we also will live with him;
If we endure, we will also reign with him;
If we disown him, he will disown us;
If we are faithless, he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13)
The Lord remained more than faithful to me even though I wasn�t serving him. Through some of the toughest times of my life he remained right by my side, and even when I didn�t realize, his love still remained. If possible to count the ways God has continually protected me, I know the number would be incomprehensible. First, though I was forced to drink alcohol, the Lord sheltered me from being forced to use any illegal substances, which could have been extremely damaging to my future. Second, even though my mom�s wretched boyfriend tried to force my brother and I to fight and kill each other, he never was able to succeed. Even when saying no was extremely hard to do because we were afraid of being hit; God gave us the strength to say no. Third, God also sent many people to protect me and prepare me for what God had in store. Through every aspect of my life God put at least one person in each area to help me. There were people who were there just at the right time so that a certain incident didn�t occur, and then there were the Christian friends that were examples to me. The Christian friends helped me to learn about Christ, and grow closer to the point of being saved; they were the ones who planted the seed.
God has been amazing when I wasn�t following, when I turned my back on him, and especially now that I�m serving Him. God has protected me in so many other ways that I can�t begin to comprehend all that He has done. There aren�t any words that could be found that would express the thankfulness I feel in my heart. Even though I was faithless He was faithful. To God be the glory, honor, and praise.