Genuine Passion
Testimonies
Miles
Miles is a pretty passionate about sharing what God has done in his life! He works in physical therapy aspiring to help others as he himself has been through the long process of rehab. You can find Miles hanging out with friends and being a just a great guy if hes not busy with his school work.
Katie
Katie is a graduate from The Ohio State University where she studied English and was heavily involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. She has a large family and enjoys playing almost every sport. She loves sharing about what the Lord has done in her life and plans on doing that as a ministry intern for the next 12 months.
Please take a moment to read Katies wonderful testimony!
Branden
Read below for my testimony!
Story Of A Lost Life
I grew up living with my grandparents most of my life. I wouldn't say my family situation is normal, and I feel like I pretty much raised myself, attempting to make the best of my situation. I watched how people failed in parts of their lives and tried to learn from that, but love was never really a part of what I knew. My life took a turn for what I believed was the worst when my ex-wife left me in 2007. In what I consider to be the lowest point in my life, we stopped going to church and our relationship fell apart. I can say from my own experiences, we all do stupid things when this happens and I contribute that low to my selfish behavior that ensued. I perused gaming, fame, money, love, sex, and fun in my college years.
Pain and Destruction
From my lost life and selfishness, I firmly believe my wife stopped loving me. I did things I never wanted to start doing to her, but I truly cared about her, even after I had done these things. Thoughts of rejection continually entered my mind and I could not stop them as the pain of the situation set in more and more. Satan had a foothold on my life and led me to believe she hated me and didn’t want to be with me. After trying and trying to find love with her, I gave into hopelessness and depression.When we fought over pointless things, my anger led me to pick on her and be slightly physical.
When she left me, I felt I had lost everything. I was crushed beyond measure. I became confused and lost. She wouldn’t talk to me and hid behind the realm of her family’s safety. She told them things to make them believe I was a big threat to her. All I wanted was to talk to her but the intentions to try and work things out were avoided. At one point they even called cops on me telling them I was stalking them. As a result of the divorce, I had to sell our house, which cost us more than twenty grand.
The pain of these events created wounds that tormented the inner depths of my soul. It was like I had a knife stuck in my heart, slowly shutting off my pulse, but if I pulled it out, I would bleed to death anyway. I was brokenhearted and life was dead to me because I couldn't bear the pain of the situation. All the shame, destruction, death, regret, failure, fear and unrest created a rift between myself and my normal ways of life. In the days after she left me, I didn’t eat but a snack here and there. I ended up cutting myself to try to ignore the horrible, bitter thoughts that plagued my mind. Suicide seemed like an escape, and at several points during that time, I feel that if I had a handgun, I would have killed myself. I thought of pills and other acts of injury to solve my issues and these thoughts still haunt me until this day. If I see a movie where anyone shoots themselves in the head, I cry because it feels so real to me.
It was God’s hand that carried me through this destructive path my life had taken. I feel he allowed things to happen for a reason. Surely, that reason was for me to come back to Him. Caring and loving friends at church helped me get through the moments of hopelessness. I am especially thankful for my friend Bob, who had a genuine big heart for helping me. Throughout the course of our friendship, this was never failing. Finally, I ended up eventually giving all my pain and heartache to God to let him heal my heart and mind. I've found that the healing process takes time, but it always reminds me of how I need to stay close to Him. He has done a lot for me.
Where Is My Heart Now?
I had the opportunity in 2008 to go Passion. It was here that I felt that God really showed up in my life for the first time in a long time. I feel that the last night there, before returning to my life in Columbus, He spoke to me specifically, saying, “Branden, this week you are going to take care of all your stuff and be able to focus on my calling for you.”
God totally got my attention. I felt should obey by going home and ridding my life of things that would prohibit me from focusing on Him. I just didn’t know how this could be done withthe financial struggles I was encountering with the sale of the house . When I returned home Monday after a young adult conference called Passion, I started catching up on bills and things that I had been putting off. Then I found out that my house was being sold that Friday,a whole four weeks earlier than I had expected. Things were falling into place just as He said it would happen. I was most definitely blown away by his mercy. I felt the pressure of all the responsibilities released and I saw God working in my situation more and more. God gave me more than I expected.
At this point in my life, I feel I would do nothing but seek Him and give all glory to Him. This desire to glorify him spurred my desire to go to Uganda in 2008. I have let God piece together the emotions of my shattered being. God's love has been shown to me, and now it just pours out of me, even in times it normally would fade to the back of my mind. I now have the tendency to love others more than myself. I go to Bible study and engage in prayer. I've developed relationships with people and prayed to God for many things. Since I came through my trials and put my trust in God, things have just had his name written all over them.