TRUST AND ASSURANCE

By: Luis Acevedo

Hello, and God bless the young readers who are taking the time to read this.  My hope is that my story may be an inspiration, or at least give all of you some insight to the power of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Growing up, I seldom went to church with my family.  Most of the time when we went to church, it was to mourn the death of a family member.  So, in a way I was associating our trips to church with feelings of sadness rather than joy and praising God.  This, of course, confused me as a child; and to be honest, I never liked going because of how it made me feel inside.  Now, over 30 years later, I have a completely different feeling, understanding, and appreciation for church and the wonders that the house of God possesses.

As I mentioned before, this newfound trust and faith in Jesus Christ did not happen overnight.  It took many years and a lot of pain to finally let God in my life and see the truth. I can say this with a full heart and an honest soul that my change and my faith is 100% real!  Now some of you may be hesitant, or perhaps afraid to put your faith in God because of your past exposure to Him or the church like when I was young.  Trust in Him and He will provide.

My advice to all of you is to turn to Christ now, if you haven’t already!  For some of us, it may take hitting rock-bottom to finally understand that we are not living right.  It may even take a trip to prison to come to the realization that you are obviously making some poor life choices.

I am sitting in the courtyard of the education department at this prison with my Bible next to me and my “Life Above Reproach” book right next to it because they go hand-in-hand.  The Lord has put me here for a reason.  To repair the broken man that I once was and to repent for my sins.  Also, for all the hurt I have caused to so many throughout my life.  I have asked for His forgiveness, and He has assured me that if I stay on the straight and narrow path, and away from the broken ones, that He will bless me with my ticket to Heaven.  Amen!

The evidence of the Lord’s blessings are all out there for me to see now.  I was an addict and now I’m sober.  I was a high school dropout and now I’m a graduate and tutor.  I was a liar and now I speak the truth.  I was a serial sinner and in denial, but now I leave sin in my past.  Now I take responsibility for all that I have done.  I was selfish, but now I share all that I can with others.  I was afraid of change, and now I embrace it.  I was blind, but now I see!  And I have the Lord to thank for all the changes in me.

As much as I would like to be home with my son and my family, I know that this is what I needed in my life to finally break free of all my dysfunctions.  If I wasn’t here right now, I would still be out there sinning.  But instead, I’m here in programs like this one that has brought me closer to God.

Life Above Reproach has helped me so much because it gave me 32 weeks of amazing insight that I will always cherish.  Trust in God and seek Him now.  Don’t wait to be broken like I did.  You are young and in prime position to come to Christ early in your life to gain his unconditional love and assurance that He will be there for you Always.

Thank you and God Bless!