FINDING PURPOSE IN MY PAIN – BY DAVID TAYLOR...

At one point in my life, crime, drugs, and violence were a daily occurrence and I was once told that I would never amount to anything, and to be honest I couldn’t see a way out myself. And well! If you would have told me that God was real and that the Bible was God’s way of talking to me, you would have been met with words that won’t be suitable for me to write on here, along with a big laugh.

How wrong I was!

There is a story in the Bible, one of the first stories that I read and it really spoke to me and my situation, it is found in the Genesis 37-45. It’s about a young boy named Joseph who had a dream from God. This dream was a promise that he would one day become someone of importance and life would count for something and he would prosper beyond his ‘wildest dream.’ However, his circumstances at the time showed something different.

As an outsider looking in, this promise would seem impossible—and even the years that followed would seem like a failure. His brothers rejected and sold him. He became a slave who was accused and sent to prison. Like Joseph, my family life was chaotic, but in different ways. My father was an alcoholic and drug addict, and my two brothers were heavily into crime and drugs at an early age. My mother was also a shell of her former self due to abuse and violence. And sadly, I became a product of my own environment. I committed my first crime—breaking and entering—at 9 years old. At 13, I started experimenting with drugs. This set the stage for the years that followed: by 16, heroin gripped my life, and I supported my drug habit, to be honest, whatever way I could. Pain and suffering were a daily occurrence, not just for myself, but my entire family and anyone who dared get close to me. I stole, lied, cheated, took and sold drugs— you name it, I did it! My life spiralled out of control, and even other heroin addicts crossed the road to the other side, to avoid me.

But one day, when I had lost everyone and everything, I decided that my life was at an end. My circumstances spoke of failure, and from an outsider looking in, you’d probably think this was it. I tried to commit suicide. But God had other plans. Shortly after this, I went to Victory Outreach UK (A Christian rehab), I kept hearing of how God was transforming lives and that It could happen for me too. I had tried everything else (12 step programs, probation, methadone and even prison and none of these things worked. so, I said to myself why not? I decided to give this “Jesus” a try. And so, began an amazing journey that brought me to a place to help others through my experiences. I have worked as an outreach worker for various organisations and now work at the Lighthouse Homes as a support worker, watching miracle after miracle, as lives are transformed daily. I’m also in Bible College doing a BA/H Degree, and I’ve been blessed with an amazing mentor: Barry Woodward. He helps me in my journey as an evangelist sharing the good news that there’s hope and that I found purpose in my pain!

Just like the young boy Joseph in the Bible story above received a promise from God through his dream, you have a promise too, through God’s word. God says to you: ‘For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ (Jeremiah 29:11). This doesn’t mean everything is going to be easy, it just means you have a destiny and a purpose even in the midst of the pains of this life.

Joseph also said the following words to his brothers who sold him into slavery and got him into the mess: ‘And now, do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you (Genesis 45:5). He realised there was a greater PURPOSE for his life and yes it meant there was some PAIN along the way.

See we have a choice, to let our pains of our past get the better of us and stay in a mess. Or to use what we have experienced to help us grow as people, to share the hope with others and to live a life worth living. While fulfilling God’s purpose through you, and for you.

Myself and Joseph found purpose in our pain. And you can too!

What choice are you Going to make?

David is mentored by Barry Woodward - @proclaimtrust.org.uk

Finding purpose in my pain!! Testimony by David Taylor