Testimonies of how Christ broke your chains of bondage...

[cross crusader]

I dont think i have ever given my testimony here before, so here is goes i will give you the condensed version.
on July 2, 2004 i gave my life to the Lord. I was an alcoholic, meth addict, crack addict, addicted to cocaine, a womanizer with a list so long it makes me sick to even think about it. I had been kicked out of the US Navy for selling and transporting drugs across state lines and international borders, computer hacking. It is by the grace of God that i didnt end up in prison like 7 of my friends, the birth of my daughter kept me out of that one, and the birth of my son kept me alive. both full length stories themselves. my whole life until then i was good at 2 things, sports and selling drugs. i started out selling drugs at the age of 15. i stayed in the family trade, unknown to my parents who would've beat me had they found out, which when they did i was kicked out of the house. it was easy to cover because i was an all-ohio athlete and no one expected it. then the unthinkable happend, my senior year in High school i broke my leg during football season, my rides went down the drain and my hopes of playing college football went with them, so i turned more heavily into alcohol and drugs, didnt even graduate with my class, had to get tutors just to get my diploma because i had given up so much. so i went into the navy, where once again i found the drug dealers inside the us military, when my mother found that out this is what she said and i quote," Bub, everywhere you go you find the drug dealers." and she had found out because i had brought some meth home from california in a toboggin inside the double lining and in my deodorant stick, a trick not a normal guy would know. so about six months after that i was kicked out. cops and ncis raided our house but i was in ohio like i said for the birth of my daughter. so i get back home and get a regular job determined to put my criminal life behind me when what do i do? get back in the family,(cousins), trade. this ended up costing me my first marriage. after that i turned heavily to alcohol, started doing crack, and coke everyday. although i was still working and functioning as normal i wasnt. i had learned how to adapt. in 2004 i met my wife now, she had put up with my lifestyle, then one night after she had gone out on the town with my sister, i had been out all night with 2 other women and been drinking and doing coke and crack, i devised a plan. i was going to kill her. literally, i was going to end her life that night. But God once again intervened. so as i was sitting in the jail cell that night, god spoke to me. he said and i quote," What are you doing? are you done running?" Four days later, on a friday afternoon in our church i gave my life to the Lord. From that instant, that very moment i was free from every addiction, every bondage, i havent had any cravings at all for anything. no drugs, no depression, no alcohol, nothing. Once we are saved we are free that very minute, we dont need to be in bondage, we are free, we are new creations who never had an addiction, who never knew bondage, we are children of Abraham, not Israel. I have not even wanted to taste alcohol or any drug since. God delivered me instantaneously. you can be too. that is the message when out on the streets preaching or in the churches teaching i found myself telling people, i will tell you what there are just as many people in the church still living under bondage as there are outside. we, the church need to step up and let people know that there is freedom in Christ.

[Spirit Filled One]

Lonnie Mackley,

Praise God for the work that He has done in your life!

He is amazing, how the Lord can and does change us.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful testimony of what the Lord has done.

In Christ alone,
Chris

[baxpack7]

I concur with what Brotha Slug said about "Tell someone". Every chance I get, I tell people about my struggle with narcotics and my VICTORY(HALLELUJAH) led by God almighty. The responses have been mixed, but at least I'm planting the seeds. Check out my signature, and may God bless you all!!!

[AlainaJ]

Wow, what an awesome topic. I have wandered off a bit and now coming back to walk close with God, I can remember how he changed my life.

God and God alone helped me break so many addictions. Before Christ I would have tried everything to be free, I was even hypnotized...lol, but Jesus is the only one who can truly break the bonds of addiction. Satan keeps us in the bondage of addiction, Christ frees us. Jesus gave me the ability to walk away from so many worldly things that I clinged to. He gave me the strength to quit jobs and follow his will even when I didn't really want to. About a year before we began to homeschool, the Lord began to show me that I needed to leave the fitness field that I worked in my whole life. Teaching aerobics and personal training was my addiction, as was exercise in general. I knew He wanted me to walk away and homeschool. The day I closed my buisness adn trusted that God would provide for us on one income..was incredible. The Lord has blessed us so. Now I am a non profit pit bull rescue and I use this ministry to reach peopel with Hid message. But even to take that chance and start the rescue was only possible by His strength.

[Gentile]

Tell People

I have been asked lately, “How do you give it all to God and then leave it there at the Foot of the Cross?”

Our discussion was about sin that we struggle with. We all struggle and if we don’t, we’re just blinded or refusing to admit it. Many give their sin to God and don’t sin that specific sin anymore. They place it at the Foot of the Cross and leave it there. I look at it this way… we all walk a path that God has placed us on and along that path are struggles, some that we allowed and some that God has placed before us. The struggles that God places before us are not sin but instead are tribulations to help us learn, develop, and mature so I won’t elaborate on these at this time.

The struggles that “we” place before ourselves are usually something we’re doing that is sinful and separating us from God. Thus the struggle as we are convicted by the Holy Spirit that we are doing something wrong or holding onto something that is causing the struggle. I could list examples but it would be endless as we all have our own specific struggle(s).

So how do we “truly” give a struggle to God? So completely that we don’t take any portion of it back. For me, I have failed in doing this in the past concerning a sin covered by two words that we find in the Bible… Sexual Immorality.

Failure to give up this sin brought me to a place that God wanted me. Broken and crying out to Him, right at the Foot of the Cross where He wanted me to “truly” leave the sin.

That day I was led to this scripture: Proverbs 3:32

32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD,
But His secret counsel is with the upright.

As I wrote in my journal (yeah, I journal), “I grieve as I read the first part but I now fight to be upright!” I fasted that day and in the evening I placed myself once again before God with my wife and some close friends as witnesses. I was led by this: James 5:16

16 Confess your trespassesto one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

I prayed to God and laid myself bare before God and confessed it all, nothing was held back from that deep dark closet I had always refused to fully empty out. I had in the past, picked and chose what to give to God and this kept satan’s foot in the door to open later and restock the shelves.

I then received prayer from all with me that evening and I was delivered from my sin and it was “truly” left at the Foot of the Cross.

So, all this testimony you had to read through to reach the whole point of this blog. As I stated earlier, how do you give it all to God? Then, how do you leave it there?

Well, for me and I pray that this helps others out there understand how God will turn our struggles, even our sin into something GOOD! My struggle with addiction to fantasy lust and masturbation has enabled God to use me to minister to others who are presently suffering from this and various other sins dealing with pornography… Sexual Immorality.

But the main question is how am I able to leave this sin at the Foot of the Cross after so many years of being bound and chained by it? Good question and the easy answer could have been, “Because I gave it to God and I meant it that final time.” This didn’t satisfy even my need to understand. So I prayed and God answered me quite clearly…

“Tell people, confession, testimony, allow your failure to be known and be used by Me to help other people and I will use up everything you placed at the Foot of the Cross and there will be nothing left for you to take back”

So, this is how I “truly” left that sin at the Foot of the Cross and I have not taken it back. This is why I am so open about this and remain… free!

Truly amazing. This was a great read and I will always come back to this at times. I can relate to your "fantasy" lust and the masturbation part. After the act of it I just feel morally disgusted and especially sinful and a let down to GOD. And if I did masturbate say in a strange place, like the my work! yes I know disgusting, I swear something unsettling will happen to me, whether it would be fighting with my wife, or just some kind of minor but frustrating moment. I really think it's a sign from GOD, saying when are you going to learn. I do pray to GOD and confess my sins off porn and masturbating but when I go back to it that whole day seems to be not right. Kind of strange I know.

[Lee-Roy]

Lot of great stories in here. thanks to everyone that is posting!

[CoffeeCat]

I wanted to share what God's freed me from. I've shared bits in other posts, but since this is the official thread....

I wrestled for about nine years with same-sex attraction. It was as much of a trap and a misery as a drug addiction is -- I wrestled daily, didn't want it, tried to ignore it, tried to give it up on my own... and prayed for years to be rid of it. I didn't have any peace for the longest time, and I couldn't actually remember what "normal" was, since this seemed to hit so close to puberty. I got depressed, and wondered how on earth to 'get rid of it'. I knew that these feelings were sin. Christ made that clear -- what we intend to do in our hearts is just like actually doing.

So finally I did what I should have done long ago -- I gave up on trying to fix myself, and let Christ take over. He REALLY convicted me in a big way that I needed to give it ALL to Him, and I had to give it to Him and leave it with Him..... and He showed me how to see other women as dearly loved daughters of God... as people, as sisters... NOT as objects of warped affection.

HE broke my chains of bondage when I couldn't POSSIBLY break them, when I was SO fed up with everything I was frustrated beyond. He freed me... and it's amazing! This freedom is still fairly new to me, and I praise Him Who gave it. I wake up every day amazed at the work He did and is still doing, and amazed that I continue to be free of that awful weight I carried for too long.

God's SO good. There is HOPE in Him alone. There's freedom to be found in Christ when we are finally humbled by all He can and does do when we cannot. Day by day, He reminds me of the person He wants me to be, not the sins and struggles I thought I was snared by. If you're also struggling and you feel alone, please remember that there's hope and freedom to be found in Christ. Sometimes prayers take a LONG time to be answered.... but through the struggle, I have learned SO much -- Thankfulness and praise and the desire to reach out to others who struggle, especially.

God's good. All the time.

[turtledove]

Something that helped me seek help back when I was in my early thirties..was the way I was beginning to feel about myself when I drank to excess. I didn't like that. But I also knew that God wanted me to be a better wife and mother and not be hindered. One day I looked up on my bedroom wall where I had a big poster with a glass of orange juice on it. (This was a pop poster very popular in the late 60's and 70's). It said: "It's Better Than What You Are Drinking Now. "

At that moment I turned to God and asked Him to be my friend and help me. That was my most significant step in seeking recovery - to finally realize I needed help. And who would have thought ... a pop art poster..but it happened.

[MercyChild]

Some awesome and inspirational testimonies placed here. I am not free from addiction for 6 months yet, but this thread inspired me and gave me one more goal to work towards to. Going for 17 weeks of being clean, and I know that it is only by the grace of GOD!

[baxpack7]

Amen to that MC. AMEN!!!

[RUN2GOD]

This is my testimony on how prayer and faith in Jesus Christ, my friend, changed my life from rags to riches. It has been on my heart to share this part of my life for whoever it may give hope to especially ones dealing with addiction in their life. Never give up on prayer and faith, cause I KNOW it worked for me.
My mom started drinking when i was in the 9th grade after a bitter divorce from my dad .After 19 years of marriage, it broke her heart, and that is how she coped. My older brother(jamie) and me lived with her and since i was the only girl, me and my mom grew close. Even though we hated it when she drank, she was really a good mom "when she wasn't drinking". Through our high school years it really got bad, wrecks, dui's, you name it. We never stopped praying for her to stop, though. Maybe because i was a child i just knew Jesus was there listening. I remember we would say if we had a choice between all the money in the world or for our mom to stop drinking, we would choose for her to stop drinking. Well, Praise His Name, our prayers were answered April 28, 1998. You want to talk about rags to riches. Not only did she quit drinking, she quit everything, and turned her life over to God(priceless). She started counsiling other young women going through what she went through. she met a wonderful man, they got married, he calls me daughter.Sounds like a fairy tale, but it's true.
Now it breaks my heart to say that my dear mother passed away suddenly last june at only 58 years old. Even though i miss my mama like crazy, I am so grateful for the past 11 years. He not only answered my prayers then, but because of my faith, i know i will have eternity with her in heaven one day. For that i still wouldn't take all the money in the world for. Thanks for letting me share. God bless you all.

[mongoose303]

Like some others here I too had strayed from the Lord, although i wasnt involved in any drugs. I was a heavy smoker ( over 2 packs a day for 25 years) and the the same day that i returned to the Lord, Jesus delivered me from smoking, the cravings disappeared instantly. That was over a year ago now and im still free and will stay free forever! Thank you Lord! praise you Jesus! I love you Jesus! I long to be with you glorious Lord!

God bless.

[RollTide21]

This doesn't fall into the category of "addiction", but it was (and still is, somewhat) an area of bondage for me.

I have suffered from Anxiety Attacks. To some this may sound trivial, but anyone who knows what this truly is understands that it's not just "worrying" about something. It's a completely debilitating episode that is extremely frightening.

The first one that I had was more of an anomaly. I felt a pain in my left shoulder (turned out to just be some joint problems) one night about 8 years ago. I started freaking out because I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to the emergency room and had extremely high BP. The doctors gave me the workup and found that I was fine. I went to a Cardiologist to be sure and all was well. I was fine for a few years after that.

The next time was when I was extremely hungover from drinking way too much during a football game (an Alabama loss...to Mississippi State, no less...perhaps that contributed? LOL). I felt just all wrong and my mind took over. I went to the hospital again thinking I was having a heart attack because my heart started racing and my BP was through the roof. Again...everything was fine.

After that episode, I thought that, since I was convinced I didn't have any reason to think I was having a heart attack, I was OK. About 6 mos ago, I took some Aleve Cold and Sinus DAYTIME before going to bed. This medicine's decongestant is really strong, plus it was keeping me awake (should have taken the Nighttime but I didn't think anything of it at the time). I'm also on BP medicine, so as I was laying in my bed the effects of the medicine sort of freaked me out again. This time, I went into my Den and just sat in my recliner and rocked back and forth until I finally calmed down. At that point, I was convinced I was done.

Well...the Monday before last, I had one that I couldn't just control. I'm not even sure what brought it on other than maybe I could feel my heartbeat and I was imagining that I was having trouble breathing. I tried to walk it off and "rock" it off in my recliner. Nothing worked. I tried to lay down and relax and never could sleep. It lasted throughout the night and into the next morning. I couldn't work. I got kind of an emergency Dr's appt where the doctor prescribed Adavan...a low grade anti-anxiety medication. This has helped some over the last week.

I've gotten somewhat of a handle on the situation, but my testimony is about a Word that I actually received on this forum. I had managed to stave off the attacks during the day, but at night I always would get anxious out of fear of another attack. I was reading on this board in the "Be Afraid" thread one night and someone posted 2 Timothy 1:7...which says "For the Spirit of God is not one of fear, but one of Power, Love, and of Sound Mind". That verse really hit at the heart of the issue...which was fear. Fear that I was losing control of my ability to fight off this thing.

I basically broke down and prayed that night on that verse. I acknowledged that I had no reason to fear. God has already conquered Fear and Death. I am His child and I have no reason for Fear. If I happen to get another panic attack, so be it. He'll help me deal with it because He loves me and will not let me go through it alone. What I won't concede is that the FEAR of an attack will rule my life. I got a great sense of peace knowing that Christ had already dealt with all of this on the Cross and when He saved me.

I still struggle with this, but I am equipped to deal with it, now. I just hand it over to God and He reminds me that I shouldn't worry because He has already conquered fear.

[vanguard]

I want to make this short, I was born again in 1979 at the age of 15, I started falling away at 19, in my 20s and 30s I got into drugs and drinking, I came off drugs 14 years ago but keep drinking, I always loved the Lord but was so ashamed, I tried to stop so many times but would always go back, BUT I lost everything and my wife and I were living with my folks when I hit bottom, I heard the Holy Spirit say to me that I had to choose to live or die, I was drinking my self to death for over 24 years, well that day i went outside and prayed, I gave up trying to stop it myself and told God I give up, whatever time I had left was his to use me anyway he wanted all I asked was to be set free from the drinking, That was 307 days ago and i have not had a desire to drink again , I am FREE, after over 24 years. so if you think there is no hope TRUST as long as you are ALIVE there is hope and YOU can find freedom.

[John Walker]

I am or was an alcoholic . I started drinking at age 14 and continued for 41 years . I lost everything ! my family ( wife 2 kids ) they wont talk to me . I lost my drivers license for life . I broke my neck after crashing my car while drinking , I almost lost my life 2 other times in auto accidents . I loved to drink beer and drive . One day in 2007 I was painting on this house i lived in . I look at a job by how many beers will i need to finish this project and I was down to 2 left , My favorite a dark mexican import beer Negra Modelo . So I drank them both . I realized I hated the way they made me feel and that was sick . God choose that moment to take that addiction away from me and i have not had a drink since and it's been 5 years now . Quitting drinking was as easy as deciding what flavor jelly I wanted on my toast , the desire was gone .