I was disowned by my dad when I was five years old. This caused me to grow up with a void in my heart. I was convinced that something I did had caused my dad to not want or love me.

I spent most of my childhood at my uncle’s place. It was there that I learned and practiced a non-Christian religion. By the time I was a teenager, I moved back home to be with my parents and my step siblings, but the problem with my dad resurfaced. This time, I thought I needed to pray harder and do more to break the wall between my dad and me.

However, the situation did not improve and eventually, my dad and step siblings left to move in with my stepmom. It was the lowest point in my life as I witnessed my mom fall apart. I even contemplated suicide. Right then, in our desperate hour, my neighbor handed me a Bible and told me that Jesus was the answer to our problems.

I started to read the Bible and even joined a church. At the age of sixteen, I committed my life to Jesus, and my mom followed suit soon after. However, I approached Christianity the same way I did with my previous religion. I tried to do more, pray more, fast more, and read the Bible out of religious obligations. I thought I had to keep a perfect scorecard or God would abandon me just like my dad did.

As a result, whenever I made mistakes, I would get fearful and paranoid that God was going to punish me, and underwent constant rollercoaster rides in my emotions. Whenever I fell sick, I would automatically think that God was punishing me.

Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I completed my university education and experienced open doors in my life. I thought these successes were due to my right performance with God. But I had developed many bad habits and some were outright immoral. I prayed to break those destructive habits but to no avail.

When I married at twenty-three, I moved to Australia to start a new life with my wife. I decided that I would never be like my dad where my marriage was concerned. My wife and I started serving in church, all the while thinking we had to do right to earn God’s blessings. I began believing that serving in church had qualified me to receiving blessings from Him.

God helped me to forgive my dad and our relationship began to mend. But as I focused on my life’s successes, my relationship with God became dry. I also ended up committing adultery despite being blessed with a gorgeous baby boy and a good life. My wife left the marriage and everything in my life fell apart.

I was convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that God had abandoned me. My name and reputation were ruined. I was asked to step down from my church responsibilities. I was also reminded of my childhood and once again, I harbored thoughts of suicide.

A few months went by and I attended another church that didn’t preach the works of the law but the gospel. Within a few weeks, I started realizing that there was something pure and powerful about the gospel. I continued praying and waiting on the Lord. I tuned out from people who constantly put me down, and tuned in to the Holy Spirit. I also ended my adulterous relationship.

After nine months of separation from my wife, GOD RESTORED MY MARRIAGE! My wife forgave me and we started to rebuild our life together. Then in 2013, Pastor Joseph Prince came and spoke at our church conference. I didn’t fully understand the comparison between law and grace at first, but leaned in to his teachings anyway. He unveiled Jesus in a way I had never heard before.

I was so fascinated by his preaching that I decided to get his book, Destined To Reign. For the first time, I saw what Jesus really did for me at the cross. I began to understand that I am loved and accepted by Him regardless of my failings. He loves me just as I am. For the first time, I saw God as a loving Daddy, a Father who only wants good for His children. God never punishes or condemns me; He is the lifter of my head.

Years of wrong believing and misunderstanding God’s Word became undone. As I surrounded my life with truths in His Word, praise and worship, the teachings at my church, and the powerful truths from Destined To Reign, the chains that used to keep me bound fell off! Bad habits that held me captive for years left me almost instantly. I am now no longer a slave to sin, but free and righteous in Him! All my past, present, and future sins have been forgiven. I am God’s beloved child.

Today, God has restored my life and made it better than I could ever imagine. My wife and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage and we now have three beautiful kids! I am also at the highest point in my career, and I enjoy peace and joy every day.

Thank you, Pastor Prince, for being faithful with what God has placed in your hands to do. It has saved me and my household from wrong believing and perishing under the demands of the law. I am fully convinced that I am a new creation in Christ and nothing can ever separate me from His love. On behalf of my family, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart!