David Porter

If I were to describe my life before coming to Christ it would be “utter debauchery”.  I was searching for fulfillment in all the worldly and material things not realizing I was ultimately looking for God in these places.  In March of 2021, I was driving in a car with someone that wanted to end his life and was going to take myself and another passenger with him.  The driver deliberately drove the vehicle into the side of a building and I ended up in the hospital for a total of two months.  After multiple back surgeries and temporarily being paralyzed from the waist down, I can only explain it as divine intervention that I was able to eventually walk again through hours of physical therapy.   This, along with my family who were tired of watching my reckless behavior and threatening to remove me from the house, was the darkness before dawn.  Through a series of “coincidences” (a.k.a. God), I found myself in a 12-step recovery program with people that God had planted in my life along the way.  Philosopher Herbert Spencer said “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” That was my general attitude towards religion.   While going through recovery I found myself stagnating in any spiritual practice, generally longing for a deeper relationship with God.   It seemed more “coincidence” that nearly all my posts in scrolling through social media were about Jesus Christ!  My eyes were open at this point, and God just so happened to give me a neighbor who was a Christ follower.  We began talking routinely, and I gave my heart to Jesus. Since then I have found new meaning and purpose in helping others in my situation.  I have adopted as my life verse Matthew 5:14-16 — “ You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” I used to live in the darkness. Now I can go to those dark places, while allowing the light of Jesus to shine through me, so that it might draw others to the same healing grace I have found.