My journey with The Lord has been a miraculous one.
I met my wife in February of 2006. Her hometown was an hour and a half away. It was a small town, a town I couldn't stand. She had a house there and had suggested that we move there.
I did not want to leave. I convinced myself to buy a house I couldn't afford and stay at a job that in recent months I had come to hate.
We moved in together before marriage and then got pregnant shortly thereafter. Not wanting to have a baby outside of marriage, we got married.
Both of our parents were completely against it. All my co-workers (all men) were trying to talk me out of it. They spoke of how I was too young and how awful marriage is. In fact, the weeks before my marriage I had started contacting old girlfriends. I decided to marry anyway.
About a week after my marriage, I was fired from my job. Not being able to afford a house payment and having a new baby on the way, I was forced to move in with my wife in her hometown (remember it was a place I hated).
For months I was out of work. I was addicted to pornography on the Internet. My wife had had enough and wanted me out. I would beg her back and she would eventually give in. Then it would all start over again.
We searched for church after church, thinking that if we finally found the right one it would save us from everything that was wrong in our lives. We found nothing. We felt shunned at most churches or we would find a pastor that didn’t seem genuine.
Finally, in December of 2006, I decided I wanted porn out of my life for good. I remembered a teacher of mine who had enormous faith. I finally gave in and told him what was going on in my life. I asked him if he would be sort of an accountability partner for me and he agreed.
After that, things began to change. Eventually I got a job. In fact, I started the week of my last unemployment check.
I was looking in the phone book for churches and I said O.K., this is our last church in this town that we are going to visit. If we don't like it, we will have to travel an hour or two away to find a church.
When we walked in, the church was exactly what we had been looking for all those months. In fact, during the service one of the men walked up to me and put his arm around me and said, "You look like you need someone to pray with."
Our marriage was almost over, even though I had been trying hard to change. That night, the church just happened to have a marriage seminar. We wound up taking a 14-week marriage course.
Our lives have changed. We live for Christ each day. Our marriage has changed—it’s as solid as a rock. And we are leading a ministry in the church.
In my heart, I have forgiven my former manager because getting fired was the best thing to ever happen to me. Because of that, I came to a town I never wanted to be in. There, I found the church where I belong. It was a strange way to find where I needed to be all along.
Or was it? I walked off the beaten path, but once you get right with Christ, He will get you back on the road you need to be.
O. Andrews
South Carolina, USA