I grew up Catholic and never actually read the Bible. Prayer was absent from my life. I prayed sparingly or when I felt nervous. I would only seek God when I needed Him. After college I got my first job and at first things seemed normal. A couple months went by and I started experiencing anxiety and anger. Thinking about how I am not good enough and not successful enough and how I am still single. I also was a porn addict and used porn to make me feel better but it just kept making me feel worse and worse. During this time, I went to Florida to visit my Dad and was involved in an attempted car-jacking. I was the driver and 4 guys ran up to the car and one had a gun. I didn’t know what to do and I just yelled out, “What do I do?” My brother in law, who was my sister’s boyfriend, at the time said, “Punch it.” So, I did and when I did the guy with the gun fell over and then he got up and shot at the car. Thankfully no one was hurt and after that my anxiety really hit me. I got this throat symptom where it would make me gag and it would come up more and more over the next year and a half. I tried to just ignore it and do everything in my own strength. One day I was in Florida and the symptoms were so bad I couldn’t control it. Between the car-jacking incident, anxiety and the absence of God in my life I felt hopeless. Life was not filled with this joy and abundance that Jesus spoke of. I walked this road for sometime before meeting Brendan Micik through a mutual friend. We all worked out one weekend at Greenwich High School running sprints and tossing the football. We talked openly about God and how the bible contains truth and life. During the week I picked up my first bible of my own. I began to read the Word Of God and seek out the answers I had been trying to find on my own. The Words cut through all of the fig leaves I put on to cover my guilt and shame. At that point I knew God knew me. He had seen everything I had been through in life and said that He would always be with me!. I answered his call out of hiding and walked humbly into His light. It was a choice that was my own, It felt real and right. The decision I made for Christ has given me the strength to overcome. My life changed for the positive. I stopped just relying on my own strength. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and started living for Him. It allowed me to ask for help and surrender my issues to Jesus. I was then able to see a therapist and start to sort my issues out. As I started reading my Bible my life changed and my desires changed. Jesus freed me of my porn addiction and I am so grateful He has. Living for Jesus has changed my life completely. I walk differently, speak differently, and I have a peace that surpasses all understanding. That doesn’t mean I don’t still have some anxiety but Jesus is there and His peace helps me to get through. Now I am a Christian and follow the Bible and what it says because they are the words of life. The greatest decision you can make in your life is to follow Jesus!
Thank you,
Oliver Coats
OliverCoats92@gmail.com