Impart

have been blessed with so many amazing friends and each one has a story of how they came to beleive and trust in Jesus. One of those friends is Rob who has walked in maybe darker places than most yet has come through and is still here to tell the tale.

My name is Rob joy and i am 28 years old, I grew up on a very rough estate and at the age of 16 i started taking drugs, I dont know why I started but it was the worst mistake I ever made and i made quite a few. I became hooked very quickly and within months i was a big dealer in my area, i had always been very angry and violent and the effects of the drugs only made me even worse. As i started to develop a reputation for fighting and being someone to stay on the right side of i also developed a serious ego problem. I loved the way people were scared of me and would bend over backwards to do things for me, i loved the power of it all. I didnt realise at the time that it was all very shallow and empty, just like how i really felt inside. At the age of 19 i was sentenced to 18 months in jail for a huge fight that nearly killed a young man. I was caught on camera using a weapon on this guy and had no choice but to plead guilty. Prison only made me worse, i came out with a bigger attitude problem and after spending several months pumping weights i looked even more intimidating and thought this was great, i was becoming more and more empty and dangerous to be around. I always carried a weapon of some sort around with me and wasnt afraid to use it, which is what i ended up serving a second prison sentence for. I was obsessed with my football team Chelsea and used to love the violence that went with it, I actually beat a man up with a lump of wood just because we lost to Liverpool, while i was on bail for that i hit someone round the head with the butt of a gun i had and the armed police took great delight in arresting me. They had wanted to bang me back up for years and even had warnings about me on their police website that i found out about through a friend of mine who was a police man. Still i didnt learn my lesson and came out more aggresive and more determined to hurt as many people as i could. The death of my dad had broken my heart and i didnt care anymore, if i died i died and if i killed i killed that was my attitude. I started to sell huge quantities of cocaine and was shovelling deadly amounts up my nose aswell as injecting loads of illegal steroids, it wasnt very long before i was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and placed on very heavy medication. My life was a total mess and i was slipping lower and lower into a very dark and lonely world. I had lost everything i cared about and everyone i loved, or so i thought. A girlfriend of mine fell pregnant which was a total miracle and i decided i needed help, i had to raise a child and i couldnt in my state. I tried many times to kick my habit but everytime i failed. It was then that i started contemplating suicide, i had no strength left in me and my once sharp mind had been destroyed by the drugs and the lifestyle i led. There was no hope left for me or was there? My mum was a christian and had preached at me for years about the love of Jesus and the hope he gives but what had God ever done for me? My dad was dead, i was a junky, my girlfriend had left me and most of my friends and family had disowned me. But something deep inside me wanted to believe that he could help so i rang my mum and asked her what to do, she told me that if i gave my broken life to Jesus he would fix it,heal me and set me free. I decided to give him a try, i said a prayer that asked him to forgive me and begged him to help me. I then fell asleep peacefully and i remember waking up and having no desire to get any drugs, i also felt strangely peaceful and i didnt feel angry or lonely, something had changed inside me, it was as if the veils that blinded me had been removed and i knew, I just knew that not only was God real but he was alive and not only was he alive but he could change my life. That was in September of 05, I am now involved in a fantastic church, i am totally free of drugs, violence, anger and everything that goes with it and i have the most amazing relationship with God. He has done EVERYTHING his word tells us he will do and more. I run my own business now and have 2 lads working for me who have come from very similar backgrounds, i am seing not only there lives restored by the power of God but many others who dare to believe in Jesus. I can assure anyone who doubts God that not only is he real but he is full of love and grace and blessings, all he wants is to have a relationship with his kids, you and me, so my question to anyone reading this is why wait? Theres no greater love than the love of God. Just surrender your life to him and let him set you FREE! If he can turn my broken, desperate and lonely life into a life of complete love, acceptance and JOY then i have no doubt that he can do the same for you. If you dont already know the LORD Jesus and you want to start a relationship with him then simply say this prayer out loud after me " Jesus i need help, i recognise that i am a sinner and i have made bad choices in my life, i ask you to forgive me, and be the centre of my life as i now choose to make you the centre of mine, show me how to live a life that pleases you and ensure that i spend an eternity in heaven rather than an eternity in hell. and i thank you that you willingly died on a cross for me". If you have just prayed that prayer for the first time i strongly encourage you to find a good church, you will need support and love from a good church family especially in your early steps with Jesus. And read the bible, its full of life.
Bless you all and thank you for hearing my testimony, i pray now that you find the love of a saviour that came to die on a cross to set you free and give you eternal life. Dont be fooled, without him and his forgiveness there is only hell to look forward to but with him there is FREEDOM!
If you want to contact me and ask me any questions please feel free to do so on robebjoy@yahoo.co.uk