Hallelujah – What a Saviour

My name is Joe, and I live in Chatsworth, Ga. At 17, I asked Jesus to come into my heart, and I believe He did. But I never understood how to get Him into my LIFE until over 20 years later, at the age of 40. All those years I had been telling God what I wanted Him to do, and all that time, He’d been waitng for me to ask Him what He wanted ME to do.

Oh, all the waisted years; the broken dreams, hearts, and shattered lives. The family and children whom I loved SO much (and likewise)…GONE. How many times I had begged God to take the drug addiction. How many times I had begged for the return of my children. How many times I had flirted with the thought of suicide. But I never got what I wanted; I only got worse.

Then one day, in an act of total desperation, I fell down in the floor of my lonely home, and began to plead with God, with my whole being (all I had left),”Lord, what do You want from me? What do You want me to do? I don’t really want to die, but I can’t live like this anymore! PLEASE help me! PLEASE tell me what You would have me to do- I’ll do ANYTHING”!!!

Well, it was just that simple. He wanted me; not just my problems. And so, now we have a personal and very loving relationship, instead of just an affair! Now I know that He is MUCH MORE than just some jennie in a bottle that you let out to grant a wish, and then put back on a shelf; no,HE’S GOD!!! And the more I seek to know His will for me, the more I learn to serve and please Him. And the more I serve and please Him, the more I learn to worship Him.

And the more I worship Him, the more and more He pleases me and blesses me, day after day, time and again, over and over; with much more than I would have ever dared to ask for !!!The terrible oppression of over 20 years of accute drug addiction and alchoholism… COMPLETELY GONE!!! Now I’m laughing and ENJOYING LIFE again; much more than ever before!

And I now have a purpose in life; “TELL OTHERS”!!!

One day, I was painting the outside of the church where I was employed, and I was thinking that a lot of people were going to be slow to except me, because of my terrible past; when I very distinctly heard a voice say to me: “You will be a POWERFUL WITNESS” !!! WOAH, I almost fell off the ladder! And so now, I go to the local jail…as a MINISTER; where I spent MUCH of my life (behind bars), and I encourage others to try giving themselves WHOLLY over to JESUS!!! Many of the inmates know me; many were once some of my closest friends, back when I was “Joey the Junkie” (or Joey “Jones”, mockingly, as I would do just about anything for another dose), and they are AMAZED at the complete turn around – the difference that the presence of God has made in my life, and what God is doing in and through me! Many of them tell me over and over how proud they are of me!

But I am quick to tell them it was certainly nothing that I did; I could never do ANYTHING right! All I did was call on God, and submit my will to Him, and He did (and still does) the rest!!! I tell them that He will be just as sure to do the same for them – if only they will freely allow Him to do so! But they have to be willing to give it all up – a life of misery, total failure, and slow but sure death…for a life of JOY, COUNTLESS BLESSINGS, and ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD as our FATHER !!! I have seen 3 guys saved -IN JAIL – in ONE MONTH…HALLELUJAH WHAT A SAVIOR: GOD IS SO AWESOME!!! And I am proof that there is REALLY hope; a SURE way to break that last needle, ONCE AND FOR ALL; and live a MUCH better life in Christ Jesus, and all the benefits that come with being a “SON OF GOD” !!!

Listen, maybe someone, somewhere, at sometime will read this, who is standing in the same shoes I use to walk in. My father died at the age of 32, with scirosis of the liver, from a life of accute alcholism. I was 10 years old.Then my mother, who had been a pharmaceutical drug addict most of her life (and in and out of Milledgeville state hospital), died less than 2 years later, at 33; I was 12. I was so confused. I felt unloved, unwanted, and so alone… believing the lies of satan.

In reality, I had family who loved me and wanted (and tried) to help me, and even more so, I now know that God wanted to help me, but I wouldn’t let anyone close to me. I felt that anyone I loved, DIED! I became very rebellious against family AND God. So I started doing drugs other than pot, which I had already been smoking since 10. At 15, I began to fire “T” (thc), and then it was coke, and then crank, and it ended up being anything that would break down, if it made me feel different (if it numbed my senses). I had been court ordered to a Christian drug rehabilitation center in Corpus Christi, Tx. for one year, when I was 17, where I had asked Jesus to save me, and I even stayed on another year, as a staff member.

And I thank God for Roloff Enterprises, and the Lighthouse, where I learned to love God’s word, and some very important values, but I had never totally surrendered my life to Christ.I held on to my rebel pride (proud of what, I may never understand), and that old liar began to whisper once again: “You’re a rebel and an outcast; live hard and die fast” !!! So I left (before God said to),and there I went again.

The choices I made drew me away from God. The deception of Satan made me believe that I would always be just like my parents, and that I would die by the age of 32 or 33; I believed it was my destiny! BUT… when I was STILL ALIVE at 35, realizing I had outlived them, I decided that I might live awhile longer, after all.

But I had SO destroyed my life by then; though I had never been legally married, I had 3 children by 2 different women who had lived with me, and had been divorced 2 times (there use to be a common law marriage in Ga.; no more); but the youngest 2’s mom shot and killed a man when Tiffany was 10-1/2 months old, and Joseph was only a month old! She was in prison, and after raising these 2 by myself for 3-1/2 years, the state took them from me (though I loved all my children with all my heart; and vice-versa), because I was jail prone, and had no one else to help with them, when I got into trouble with the law. Then my oldest, Candy, who’s mom was remarried (twice),was mad at me for losing her half brother and sister, and she stopped coming around. There was nothing left to live for… or, so I thought.

But, FINALLY, all the wrong choices and the long hard roads led me RIGHT BACK TO JESUS; like I had walked around the world, on burning sand and frozen seas, until I came back to my REASON FOR LIVING; it was JESUS, ready to HEAL and FORGIVE !!! So, it wasn’t too late for me after all.Several of my past friends are now dead. Others are in prison (some for killing the others); one of my friends died from an overdose of crystal meth he did at my home, while I was in jail. Others blew their own brains out. At least 1 is now demon possessed, but doesn’t realize it, or else can’t except it, in order to deal with it.

I am lucky to still be alive, and have my sanity; much less all the benefits that have now come from turning to God. Oh, but to think of how sweet my life could have been, if I had simply trusted God to begin with. None the less, life is great, because God is SO GOOD!!! So LOVING and FORGIVING !!!

People, please don’t ever walk away from God. Believe me, His way is SO MUCH BETTER! And if You have left God’s will, please come back, right now; today! Each day seperated from God produces destruction, ruin, and death.But each day in His presence adds to life, and that more and more abundant, as each new day unfolds!

May God bless You more and more, as You seek to please Him. “Thank You, God; for loving us SO MUCH” !!! “For God didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it.” John 3:17

Joseph A. Robison, Joroco Ministries