From Pot Head Rocker to Jesus Freak: John Davis of Superdrag

This testimony comes from an unlikely place: ABC NEWS.

John Davis, lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter from the band Super Drag tells the story of his turning point, when he hit rock bottom, and when Jesus stepped in.

Watch the video here.

His Grace is sufficient

Reprinted with author’s permission

By Larry Nevenhoven

Temecula, California

In 1985, I ran into a brick wall with my life. I needed thousands of dollars to start a publishing company and bail myself and my family out of debt. Credit cards and financial sources were tapped out. There was no one to turn to, not one drop of hope left in my tank. I was finished.

The one untouched asset that I had was a $125,000 life insurance policy. My solution seemed obvious – suicide. As for killing myself, this was not a moral dilemma to me because I was an agnostic. No God – no problems with eternal judgment, right? So, suicide just seemed to be the right business decision to make for my family and me.

My plan was not complicated. I would enjoy one last weekend with my wife and two children; and then, commit suicide via an auto accident on the following Monday evening.

So, on May 20, 1985, I finished up a few loose ends in the morning and early afternoon. Then, for some reason, I stopped at an insurance agent’s office. Though Bill and I knew each other from our children’s athletic interests, we were not intimate friends and had never really talked with each other. But this visit was a divine appointment.

Bill invited me into his office. We chatted about the Chicago Cubs and our children’s sports careers. Then in the midst of our conversation, he looked at me and said, “You are thinking about committing suicide, aren’t you?”

His words hit me like a sledgehammer. How did he know? I told no one. It was my secret $125,000 payday. I was speechless. As I sat there, a vision played across my mind of my car ramming into a bridge viaduct and killing me.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I tried to regain my composure, but I could not.  ”How did you know?” I asked.

“Oh,” Bill said, “the Lord told me while we were talking to each other.”

His words shattered my unbelief. God was alive and cared about me. Bill and I continued talking for a time. Then, he gave me a book entitled Power in Praise by Merlin Carothers and suggested that I read it.

When I arrived home, I began reading the book. After a few pages, I walked into the bathroom, closed the door and knelt in front of the sink. Looking into the mirror, I prayed, “Jesus, I’ve tried everything else in my life, and they haven’t worked. I guess I’ll give You a try!”

Instantly, I was changed. No longer were fear and shame my comrades, but joy and hope filled my heart. Bowing and worshipping my new King, I prayed almost verbatim the poem, Footprints in the Sand, as a promise that I would never let go of Jesus. Never.

For the following two weeks, the Lord performed one miracle after another in my life. Investors appeared with $50,000 for the publishing company. The stockholders elected me the president. A new car was purchased. Our mortgage payments were paid up to date. When God arrived on the scene, things happened quickly.

If my story were a fictional Hollywood movie, perhaps it would resemble “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Jimmy Stewart could play me; Donna Reed could be my wife; the angel would get his wings; and everyone would live happily ever after. The end.

Sadly, my life has not been a work of fiction. It has been a day-by-day journey, filled with some good experiences and many mistakes, false starts and failures. I have trudged through a marital separation, divorce, loss of friends, numerous firings from sales positions and countless low-paying, dead-end jobs. Poverty, rejection and loneliness have filled most of my twenty-three years of walking with the Lord.

And yet, it has been in the valleys of despair where the Lord has truly revealed Himself to me. He became my loving Father. I learned to trust Him.  I learned that His grace was sufficient. And I learned that God is a good God.

Changed by Jesus

Mars Hill Church features a weekly testimony from someone who has been changed by Jesus through the ministry of their church.  I’ve been blessed to be a part of this process, as I’m an editor on this blog, collecting these testimonies.  I’d love to share them with you as they show up, because they are truly incredible stories of God’s redeeming love.

This week, we featured Thomas Hurst, a journalist and photographer who’d reached the end of his rope and was ready to take his own life, when God stepped in.  Read his story here.

For more Changed by Jesus stories, you can find the series on the Mars Hill Blog.

Persecuted for Christ

Pastor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church recently featured several testimonies in a sermon called “Submission to Authority.”

These testimonies were submitted by the people who attend Mars Hill Church, in response to Pastor Mark’s request for examples of times when they’ve faced persecution for their faith.  While many of them are uplifting and end on a high note, several aren’t your typical “happy ending” testimony story.

You can read all the tesimonies here.

If you’d like to listen to the sermon that includes the testimonies, you’ll find that here.

Jesus Heals Post Abortion Trauma

One of my favorite radio programs regularly features authors who share their testimonies of God’s grace in their lives.  Recently, on Midday Connection, Julie Woodley shared her story of childhood sexual abuse, several abortions, and the love she found in Christ that has helped her heal.

Click here to listen to the program and the interview in windows media format.

Woodley also has resources available on her site to minister to women who have been victims of childhood sexual abuse and who have undergone abortions.  You can find that information here.

Cardboard Testimonies

Some friends posted this video on their blog, and I thought I would pass it along.  It’s a nice reminder that testimonies don’t need to be long or elaborate, and they can cover all sorts of ways that God has blessed you.

Have a tissue ready for this one.

Streams in the Wasteland

By Lorie Reichel Howe

Bellevue, Washington

When I was given my first full-time teaching assignment, I was ecstatic. After a year of substitute teaching, I was finally in charge of my own classroom. I spent hours tirelessly setting up the room and preparing for my students. On the first day, my feet hardly touched the floor as I welcomed each child to our classroom.

After a couple of days, my principal came by my room after school. With honesty and regret, he told me that the school’s enrollment was lower than expected and that it was likely I would have to be let go as I was the newest teacher.

Within two days, my excitement turned to sadness as I walked my students to their new classrooms. After school let out, I boxed up my teaching dreams and supplies and moved them back to my one-room apartment where they sat in plain sight along one wall.

As I stared at the boxes, I felt my desire to teach was crammed into them along with my teaching materials. I had trouble finding any bit of hope.

Suddenly, God reminded me of His promise in Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

As hard as it was, I whispered God’s Word and believed He could and would bring an opportunity. He gave me this desire. He would create a space for me. I clung to this belief like a life raft that stays afloat in turbulent waters.

A couple of days later, my phone rang. On the other end was a different principal who knew me from substitute teaching at his school. He needed to hire a teacher immediately because his school’s attendance was higher than expected. My first principal had given me a glowing recommendation. Combining that approval with his own observations, he hired me.

Two days after closing up my first classroom, I was setting up another classroom. God made a way even when the future appeared to be a desert wasteland.