My Testimony

By Tim Lee Fletcher

If you are a recipient of this letter, then there’s a good chance you’re a youth at risk of following in the footsteps of most of us who are incarcerated!  Who did not or simply could not crawl out of being a product of the environment we were exposed to and therefore wasted away our lives.

I sincerely pray that this letter serves its purpose in encouraging you not to make the same mistakes and hopefully setting your mind on changing the course of your life. Keep in mind there’s no magic pill nor any words that can be spoken that can change the past.  It’s history!

If you’re like me and countless others who have spent endless hours day in and day out hoping, wishing, dreaming, and fantasizing of a different past life. . . Stop!  Don’t waste another second in dreamland allowing your past to hinder the awesome present and future that’s ahead of you.

The following is what I have said and heard more times than I can count: “You don’t know what I’ve been through!”  “What they did to me!”  “The things I have said and done!”  “The hate they make me feel!”  “No one will ever love me.”  Add our own situation(s) to the above list.  It has been said before, believe that you are not alone!

Tragic as it is, no child or youth should ever have to endure or experience physical, psychological, emotional abuse or poverty and neglect.  Yet, it is a reality.  Starting today, it is your God given right to say “enough” and seek a better life for yourself.

Being a recipient of this letter, you are in a position and surrounded by people who care about you and want to help you.  Don’t be shy about asking for help you need.  You must want it as well.  Don’t be like me!  I wasted a good part of my life because I was too stubborn in receiving the help that was offered and available to me.

My life finally changed when I gave my life to Jesus Christ and received Him as my Lord and Savior.  Putting my trust in Him through His word (the Bible) and building a personal relationship that is real and everlasting.  Since then, I have had peace and joy I never had before.  I’m still in prison, but the smile on my face, the joy, and love I have can only come from God through His Son, Jesus.  I’m free from my past and I am truly free on the inside.

Seek help, seek Jesus, and find your purpose in this life doing your part in breaking the cycle of ‘At Risk Youth.’

My prayers go out to you. . . God Bless!

John 3:16; Romans 1:15, 8:1-2