He Gave Me a New Life |
 I was born into a non-Christian family. No one ever told me anything about God. When things were going well I never thought about him. Only in moments of pain and fear would I pray, saying: "O Lord, help me!". I was raised by my mother and stepfather. My stepfather was often drunk and abusive toward her. They argued constantly and I was almost always on edge. I didn’t like the relationships in our family, and I tried to make things better all the time. For my part I tried to be a good son, but everything remained the same. Often I daydreamed about my future family, where everything would be completely different. Immediately after school I went away to study, and rarely went home. I began to learn about the world. Unfortunately, I made bad choices: alcohol, cigarettes, girls and drugs. When I was twenty years old I got married. A year later our son was born. I loved my family, but drug addiction prevented my from being a good father and husband. During this period I was arrested for the first time for drug possession. It was then that all my relatives found out what I was doing. It was a complete shock to my wife. And still, I continued to use drugs. I covered up by "taking" a little alcohol so my wife would think that I was just drunk. That is how I lived; I deceived my family, cheated on my wife with other women and got into trouble with the police. I realized that I was destroying my own family and that I had a big problem, but I did not know how to get rid of the drug addiction. I repeatedly tried to quit drugs, trying everything I could think of, but always returned to my old habits. I met a friend who also was once a drug addict. He was sober, neatly dressed, and it seemed to me as if his face and his eyes shone with light. I asked him, "What happened to you?" He said to me, "I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Savior and Lord." My aunt was a believer. When she found out that I was an addict, She immediately wanted to help me. She invited me to visit her city. That was the first time I went to a service in an Evangelical Church. My aunt thought that as soon as she got me to church, I would immediately repent and become a different person (because that was her prayer). But unfortunately in my case, the plan didn't work. I didn't understand what was going on in church. "There are some strange people here!" - This was what I thought over and over. My aunt was trying to convey to me things that I could not understand at the time. During my stay there she often read the Bible and continued to take me to meetings. The rest of the time we were working in the garden, repairing her car and listening to Christian songs. Honestly, I was not excited about that way of life. My aunt constantly told me about Jesus Christ and His love. For my part I resisted, saying that I was a realist, that I believed in what I could see and feel. She sincerely tried to convince me of the opposite: "But you believe that radio waves exist, even though you don't see them!". In turn, I said that I could tune the radio to a station, and the music confirmed that the waves were there. After I was released, I went home to my mother. My wife had divorced me while I was in prison, and did not want to have anything to do with me, though I repeatedly tried to reconcile with her. Four of my neighbors were believers who attended church. Two of them, like me, had spent time in prison, and two were members of the church. They invited me to the services. I started attending a group in preparation for baptism. Within half a year I was baptized and became a member of the church, promising to serve God with a conscience. I have now been free of drugs and alcohol for eleven years, I have not smoked and I have free from the other sins of my former life. It's a miracle, because at one time those sins were my whole life. I always say that the miracle is not that I do not do this or that sin, but rather that I have no desire for those sins. Now I am serving people who have the same problems I used to have myself. Together with other brothers and sisters we bring God's word into drug treatment and tuberculosis centers, and into correctional facilities in the Poltava region. Sergei Perepelitsa |