Written by Terry Major
I do not remember much of my early years. I do remember at the age of nine, I went from one foster home to another. After some time, I was placed in a group home in Doylestown, PA. In 1966, at the age of 15, my life started to spiral out of control. It was not long before I experimented with alcohol, cigarettes and eventually drugs. After being caught skipping school and shoplifting, I was sent to a psychiatrist, and as expected, that went nowhere. I was rebellious, bitter, hateful and angry. Trouble seemed to follow me wherever I went.
At the age of 18, I ran away from the group home and stayed with my sister for a time. Unable to hold down a job and with no real prospects, I joined the U.S. Navy in January of 1970. After my discharge, I wandered from place to place. In 1972, I had an overdose, the first of others. Three days later, I woke up in the VA hospital psychiatric ward in East Orange, NJ. I was kept in a medicated fog. I struggled to maintain my sanity – or what was left of it. At one point, they wanted to perform shock treatments on me. God spared me from that. I do not know how long I was there; days just ran together.
At one point in my life, I ended up in Camden, NJ where I got involved with the wrong people and their actions nearly cost me my life. I was on a one-way road to destruction and picking up speed rapidly. I had two failed marriages and spent time in jail and prison; I just never learned. In 1977, I met my present wife, Nancy, and we married in June 1981. It was not an easy life for my family. When things got tough, I always went to the only escape I knew with the result being in rehab for a month.
After years of moving from place to place, my wife and I settled down in Connoquenessing. My marriage was on the rocks and had been for a long time. My choices and life style was catching up with me. My family was a mess and my health was adversely affected. Depression, despair, hopelessness and fear overwhelmed me. I was at the point of no return. Fear gripped my heart. I knew that without God, my future was not a good one. Yet, I was powerless to help myself.
Over the years, I went from church to church never finding peace of mind or the relief I craved. The night brought fear and its torment and the day brought hopelessness.
In the fall of 2009, I was invited to the Church of God at Evans City (now the Church of God at Connoquenessing). When the message went forth, I knew in my heart that God was talking directly to me. He allowed me to see myself as a lost sinner. Later that year, I was invited to a revival meeting where I heard a lot of truth I had not heard before. It was on the last day of revival that God dealt with my heart and had mercy on me. It took a man of God to pray with me. Thank God, he honors the prayers of his ministry and the repentant heart of the sinner.
At the altar, I cried out to God confessing the sins I carried and asked him for forgiveness. As I did, he put his loving arms around me. With my sins forgiven, my separation from God was over. My heart and life were made new after the great transformation. My desire for alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs were gone and I have not had a desire for those things since the day I was saved in 2009.
My marriage was restored and God has healed my body many times. I obtained a good job with the Veteran’s center in Pittsburgh, and was blessed to retire from there. I thank God for the freedom we have as Americans, but when God forgave me on that fall day in October, I knew what it meant to truly be free!
