My Testimony

 

Last week, we began our journey from Prison to Presence. Today, we look at a real-life journey through the stone walls, the inner cages, and the final surrender that leads to true freedom.

                           My Testimony 

THE OUTER PRISON: THE WALKING DEAD

In the early nineties, the "fallen world" was written across my face in every mugshot—the bruises, the emptiness, and the hollow eyes of active addiction. I was the living dead. My life was a physical and spiritual prison of homelessness and bankruptcy. But on July 22, 1992, I walked out of jail and stood at a fork in the road. To the right was the dope house; to the left was a new life. By the grace of God, I chose left. I chose recovery. On July 23, I woke up to my first 24-hour chip and a taste of peace I had never known. The outer gates had finally opened.

THE INNER PRISON: THE IDOLS OF COMFORT

Over the next decade, I built a life that looked perfect from the outside. I found love, earned degrees, and filled a four-bedroom home with the "stuff" of success—the pool, the cars, and the career. We were doing the religious things: meetings, ministry, and church. But behind the ribs, a new prison was forming: Materialism. We were serving the idols of comfort instead of obeying the first commandment to "have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). We were following the routines of faith, but we had pushed God down the priority list. We were still prisoners, just in a more comfortable cell.

THE BREAKING POINT: THE CRY FROM THE FLOOR

The walls of my comfortable prison crumbled when grief struck. Between 2003 and 2009, I lost my husband to illness and then my mother. In the darkness of that loss, I relapsed. I found myself in a motel room with $100,000 in the bank, yet I was spiritually and physically bankrupt. I was a "success" to the world, but a captive to my pain. Laying on a cold tile floor, I made my final surrender. I cried out the question we all eventually ask: "God, where are You? Show me how to love You first and never put anything before You again."

THE PRESENCE: A NEW PATH

God answered that cry. He didn't just give me sobriety; He gave me Himself. He picked me up, washed my mind with His Word, and set me on the path of true sanctification. I realized that while my mugshots represented a physical prison, my years of "success" were a spiritual prison of idols. Today, I don't just have a clean record; I have His Presence. He was there in the jail cell, He was there in the home filled with earthly blessings, and He is here now. Please visit my Breaking Bread Blog at the link below. I will be posting a new Bible Story lesson each week. I’m a new blogger , so all suggestions and comments are welcomed.

https://breakingbreadtoday.blogspot.com/2026/01/from-prison-to-presence.html?m=1

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