From Drugs to Riches Part 3

Dreaming for my Family

I started to dream of a life free from strife, violence, and hopelessness. I was able to release forgiveness to those who killed my father, and I started to dream good things for my family back in Cebu. I wanted them to know and receive Jesus, too.

During my rehabilitation, I prayed for my family, especially for my brother who was in prison. I declared Acts 16:31 over my family, which says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

My brother eventually came to the Set Free Center for rehabilitation, and he was set free from his drug addiction. And at this moment of writing, my whole family has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Hallelujah!

Dreaming to Serve God

As I surrendered my life to God, many new things happened to me, just as He promised in Revelations 21:5: “I am making everything new”! When I received Jesus, my appetite for drugs disappeared, while my appetite for His Presence increased! I discovered that I was a worshipper!

There’s so much freedom in worshiping God. I realized that I could spend hours in worship without getting bored. As I cultivated this lifestyle of worship, I started to dream of serving God. When I was a child, I had wanted to be a priest. Not that I was older, and with a better understanding of God, perhaps I could do something actively for Him?

I could feel God calling me to be a light for people with addiction problems. Hence, after my rehabilitation, I decided to volunteer at the Set Free Center.

Going to Germany with God

After a year of volunteering, I became a regular staff-member at the Set Free Center. An amazing opportunity came. The leadership asked me if I wanted to go to HELP International’s Revival School in Germany.

I wanted to go! I wanted to learn and be equipped, but I had to raise my own funds for school fees and for my flight. I was able to get a passport and a VISA. Afterwards, I prayed hard and asked Daddy God for His provision. He touched the hearts of random people, friends, and family to give generously to me. I wrote a newsletter about my desire to go to Germany, and many people responded. God provided for me through them! Before I flew to Germany, the money needed for Revival school was complete!

My Daddy God is indeed rich. I’m a rich kid! Me– a former drunken, drug addict and a glue sniffer– granted a VISA, about to enter school in a foreign country, and about to travel to a different nation? Yes!

Back in my old life, I never could imagine that I would own a passport and travel. The only thing that I expected before was a warrant of arrest.

This could only be God. He made the impossible possible! Our God is full of surprises!

Serving to Save the Lost

After three years of being a staff-member, I am now co-leading the Set Free Center. God has brought me to my destiny and my calling, as written in Isaiah 61. God has led me to preach the Good News in streets and in prison. I have also been given the opportunity to minister to a jail facility in Cainta.

I witness hope rise in the midst of hopelessness. I’ve seen God’s light shining in the darkness!

With HELP International staff

God has opened doors for me in the Body of Christ. I now have a lot of friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, around the world. One of the best things that happened to me was that I became a part of the UPRISING family where I got to know wonderful people. God has also blessed me with someone who can be a future wife, and she is beyond what I prayed for. To have a wife and eventually a family, is also a dream of mine.

I used to say that I don’t deserve all these things, but now I can say that I can claim God’s goodness because God has made me His child! We have a good, good Father. He wants to give us only the best.

If change and goodness happened to me, they can happen to you, too!

All glory to the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!