(By: David Duncan)

Hello, my name is David and I would like to share with you how God has changed my life. He has shown me that there are much more important things in life worth living for, like kindness, mercy, truth, selflessness, and love. Where once my heart was cold and unforgiving, I now want only to help people to know of the love that God has for everyone. I want to show them that it is pointless to live a selfish life, and that we should love and help each other.

I used to live my life for drugs. I didn't have anything else to fill the hole I felt inside of me. Sure, my parents had told me about Jesus and salvation but I figured I didn't need any quick-fix God in my life. Well I started doing all kinds of things. I hurt people, lied for the heck of it, robbed people, slept with whatever girl would have me, went from job to job, and generally did not care. I didn't like myself very much, but I survived.

Because of the way I had chosen to live my life, I started going to jail... a lot. I still didn't want God. I got put on probation, failed, and went back to jail. This last time I went to jail, I decided enough was enough, and that there has to be more to life than survival. I started reading the bible that I borrowed from the guy next door. I got almost all the way through it (I started at Genesis) and he started complaining that I was using it too much, so I decided to try to get one of my own. I asked the Chaplin at the unit I was in for a bible, but he said they were out. This is when I decided to pray. I figured if God cared about me, he would send me a bible so that I could learn more. Well, I prayed and the next day a new prison trustee showed up. The guy on the other side of me asked him for a bible, so the trustee left and came back with about 4-5 of them and I asked for one. It didn't immediately occur to me that my prayer had been answered. When I figured it out I started reading even more than what I had been. I had trouble at first because it was an old English King James Version, but I prayed for understanding. It didn't get easier all of the sudden, but gradually I started to understand what I was reading.

I learned about sin. God showed me that anything that we do that is not according to or aligned with His will, it is sin. I was also shown that all gifts come from heaven, and how God uses everything (even our mistakes) to glorify His name. I then learned about salvation. I learned that Jesus was the only One who never sinned because everything He did was for God, and that He was God's only begotten Son who was with God from the very beginning. I learned how He came to earth to show us who God is and how we should live. I also learned how He bore the wrath of God by dying on the cross, even though He was completely sinless so that we would not have to pay the price for our own sin. I learned that God loved us, and still loves us, and that that love will never change no matter what we do. I also learned that all we have to do is accept the gift of salvation (the act of Christ who was sent from God for this purpose) and that we could live with God for all eternity.

I realized that God is not a quick fix God, but One who loves us very dearly. So I decided to pray again. This time I asked God to take away all my sin. To forgive me for all the evil selfish things I had done, and to give me a new spirit and a pure heart like He promises. I told Him how sorry I was for everything I had done to Him and everyone else. I told Him that I believed in His Son Jesus, that Jesus came to earth to pay the price for all that I had done.

After I got done praying, I felt all that hate and misery fall away, and a peace greater than I had ever known. I couldn't stop from crying (picture a man in prison crying like a little kid). Anyways, I kept reading. I started telling others about God and salvation. A lot of people started coming to me for help! I told them everything God had shown me and helped them read the Bible (most people couldn't understand the KJV so I helped them interpret it with God's help).

That went on for awhile, but one day I was called into the nurse on sick call. She told me that the blood test I took when I first got there came back and that I had hepatitis C which cannot be cured. I was really shocked at first, then really depressed, but eventually I figured God had a plan. Well after a good while, and a lot of work helping others come to God, I finally got released from prison. I made it all the way back home, and I decided to go to the doctor to see about treatment for the hepatitis C. I took another blood test, and a few weeks later, he called me back and said that the pen must have been mistaken. I could barely even speak. I hung up and praised God because I knew that He had healed me.

Since then, God has helped me to grow quite a bit spiritually, but it hasn't been easy. He doesn't always take away the problems that I'm having, but He does help me to face them. There have been plenty of times when I have run into temptation, but by the grace of God, I can overcome them.

God has shown me that there are much more important things in life worth living for, like kindness, mercy, truth, selflessness, and love. Where once my heart was cold and unforgiving, I now want only to help people to know of the love that God has for everyone. I want to show them that it is pointless to live a selfish life, and that we should love and help each other.

Anyways, from my experience I have learned that freedom is a state of mind, and that God can free your soul. All these things I tell you out of hope that you might look for the Lord, and have the relationship that I have with Him. I know now that I can face anything because I have a friend in Jesus!!!

I would like to thank you for reading about all the wonderful things the Lord has done in my life, and I hope that God will use the words He has given me to help you in some way or somehow. If you would like to write me back, I would be happy to help you in any way I can. Thank you so much and may God bless you richly in faith and in love!

David at soulfinder777@hotmail.com

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YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)