I was brought up in a Christian household and had been walking with Jesus for many years. I had everything going for me—a good family, good grades, and I was even voted the hardest-working student in my college for two years in a row.

However, at the age of sixteen, my life took a turn for the worse. My circle of friends was obsessed with gym, steroids, and cigarettes and these things soon became a part of my life. I felt like I was doing great on my own and I no longer needed Jesus. Everything in my life became about me. I lost respect for God, my family, my parents, and my school.

My schoolwork suffered and I was caught cheating in school tests, stealing examination sheets, cheating in drug tests, and smoking on campus. Eventually, I was suspended from school for three weeks and this led to my expulsion in my final year.

After my parents filed for a divorce after twenty-six years of marriage, I turned to stronger drugs and indulged in promiscuity. I felt like a compulsive liar living a shallow life. All my efforts to change my ways led me nowhere. I was enrolled into a new school but things only got worse as my parents’ marriage eventually fell apart and I turned to even more potent drugs and wild partying.

In the same year of my final exams, I had a massive car accident. My car was a total wreck and it was only by God’s grace that I survived. But at the end of that year, I went wild on a matric vacation to celebrate the end of school. In the first four days, I spent all my money on alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. I didn’t sleep for five days because of the drugs and was subsequently warded in a hospital for drug overdose.

December 4, 2013, is a date I will never forget. I was so tired that I wanted to relax for one night. As I went to bed, I began to just cry uncontrollably. I knew that God was doing something in me. I could feel His presence on my whole body, His peace, mercy, and love—something I’d never felt before. What could have taken months of rehabilitation, JESUS did for me in just one evening. I was at my lowest yet God spoke to me about the plans He had for me. He showed me pictures of my past and every time a picture came to mind, He said to me, “I love you,” —over and over again. God had been looking out for me the whole time. I believe He had placed the right people around me to pray for me even when I was on my vacation.

The next morning, I woke up feeling like a new man. No one could understand what had happened. When I told my friends about it, they joked that the drugs must have cooked my brain. But I knew the truth.

God has continued to bless me out of my socks and has restored so much to me. Today, I am free from my addictions. I have not felt joy like this in a very long time. God has placed a huge purpose in my life and I am so thankful He rescued me in my darkest hour. Without God, I am nothing and can do nothing. Now, I have a bright future to look forward to.

In just a year of knowing God’s favor, I have finished high school and am nearly completed my first year in a university pursing a Finance degree. I have also just married a girl who loves me dearly and who stuck by me in my darkest days. She gave her life to the Lord after I shared my story with her and we are now happily married.

Pastor Prince, I’ve grown so much in the knowledge of the truth through your teaching, and I know it was purely the grace of Jesus that turned my life around. Today, I’m planted in a grace-based church where my wife and I have been asked to serve in the youth ministry. God has also used me to heal people on the streets as well as start a campus ministry at my university.

All praise to Jesus! It's all about Him, not us. I look forward to the awesome future God has for my beautiful wife and me as we serve His kingdom.