Personal Testimony / Wyatt Timmins
God takes us at our word....Raised in the 1950’s, my up-bringing was not totally void of religion yet it was far down on any list of importance. I recall going to church with the neighbors more than any other recollection.
My first encounter with Jesus came before I was teenager, perhaps 9 or 10, living in California. There was a children’s crusade with ‘Cowboy Bob’ at a church near the house. I was drawn to it mainly for the trinkets we left with each night. But one night, I actually asked Jesus into my heart…though I did not fully understand it, as I look back, I believe that God simply took me at His word and never let me go.
I recall coming home very excited and, as the preacher instructed, I asked my dad if he believed in God. His reply was stern as he said “There ain’t no ‘God’ boy…and don’t ever bring it up again” To that time, my father was my ultimate hero…this was the first time I realized that my father could be wrong about something. Still, I wanted to please him and worked hard in school making honor roll and trying to compete at sports.
My father passed away a few years later and at the age of 15, I became one angry young man.
My mother did the best she could raising us but she struggled with issues of her own. In the end, nothing can really take the place of a father. I was pulled back to Pennsylvania as my mother married a year after my father died. He was truly a good man who was willing to be that father figure. The problem was that I was just so angry and I didn’t even know it. I had started using drugs while still on the west coast and now, in a strange environment with no friends, it seemed the easiest way to be accepted and numb myself from life.
I developed a hard outward shell as a person and smoked or snorted pretty much any drug I could get my hands on. I especially became fond of anything hallucinogenic.
In the course of the next two years, I literally ‘fried my brain’ to the point that I would come upstairs and just stand in the kitchen, not able to remember what I came out of my room for.
My mother would begin to suggest things like ‘Are you hungry?’ ‘Did you come up for a drink?’ There was little doubt to anyone who paid even a little attention, that I had a serious drug problem and, that my mind was pretty much gone.
Then Bernie, a person who I would hang with at times and who dabbled in selling drugs himself at times, came to me and told me about ‘getting saved’ as he put it. All this guy did was talk to me about Jesus, share things from the Bible with me and just kept inviting me to church. I could see that something had taken place in his life…he was not the same…he was happy and truly energized about the Lord! I finally gave in and went with him to church. After a few visits, and a few sermons about how Jesus could ‘change your life and heal you, I was at the altar, kneeling and asking Jesus to forgive me for my sins and to make me a new person.
For the next six months, I began to devour the Bible while God began to peel away at that hard, outer shell. Then, after a half-year of enjoying this new life in Christ, the reminder of my old life surfaced…I was at work (the first job I had held for any length of time) and I was handcuffed, read my rights and thrown in jail. Before coming to know the Lord, and in the height of my addiction, I did a lot of things that I should have gone to prison for. A few of them finally caught up with me.
The sale of a substantial quantity of drugs to an undercover agent as well as the burglary of a drug store had me standing before an old hard-nosed judge and a lawyer running for D.A. No amount of pleading from my attorney could get the judge to understand that I had been truly changed and the prosecuting attorney shot it all down as ‘Jail-House-Religion.’ Testimony from pastor and church members did not sway the judge and I found myself carted off to prison.
It was only an 18 month sentence to a county lock-up but still, I could not see why God would allow this to happen to me after I had surrendered my life to Him. I told an inmate about wishing I had my guitar and he coached me through making a request to the warden. In three days, I had my guitar and was singing and playing praise and worship in prison. It was like a little, mini-revival right in the middle of the cell block. I could do nothing but tell people about Jesus and share things from the Bible. To some, I was just another religious nut-case while others listened and accepted Jesus as their Savior.
I began to understand that God is in control no matter what our external circumstances are. The people in that prison needed the message of hope just as I had needed it and the Lord decided to use my circumstances for that moment. Twelve days into an 18 month sentence and all of a sudden, my name was called out to gather my belongings. I was being released! It turned out that old Elmer Beck, a policeman from the little town I lived in and knew the addict and criminal that I was, also had seen the change the Jesus had made in my life. He took the time to get an audience with that hard-nosed judge and convinced him that my conversion was real. He convinced him to release me into the Teen Challenge program.
For the next year and a half, I continued to devour God’s word and my mind was restored. What God will do for us when we surrender to Him is nothing short of incredible! By the time that I graduated Teen Challenge, my memory and clarity of thought were healed by God’s word penetrating through all of the years of drugs, heart-ache and anger.
While there were some ups and downs along the way, I finally surrendered to my calling as a minister. Today, I am privileged to serve drivers all across the country through the ministry that God has allowed. He has healed my mind (literally)! I firmly believe that God takes us at our word…even when we are a ten year old child, asking Him to come in to our heart and save us. He will take you at your word and help you no matter what you have done and no matter what your age is because all He really wants from you is a genuine relationship.
God takes us at our word....Raised in the 1950’s, my up-bringing was not totally void of religion yet it was far down on any list of importance. I recall going to church with the neighbors more than any other recollection.
My first encounter with Jesus came before I was teenager, perhaps 9 or 10, living in California. There was a children’s crusade with ‘Cowboy Bob’ at a church near the house. I was drawn to it mainly for the trinkets we left with each night. But one night, I actually asked Jesus into my heart…though I did not fully understand it, as I look back, I believe that God simply took me at His word and never let me go.
I recall coming home very excited and, as the preacher instructed, I asked my dad if he believed in God. His reply was stern as he said “There ain’t no ‘God’ boy…and don’t ever bring it up again” To that time, my father was my ultimate hero…this was the first time I realized that my father could be wrong about something. Still, I wanted to please him and worked hard in school making honor roll and trying to compete at sports.
My father passed away a few years later and at the age of 15, I became one angry young man.
My mother did the best she could raising us but she struggled with issues of her own. In the end, nothing can really take the place of a father. I was pulled back to Pennsylvania as my mother married a year after my father died. He was truly a good man who was willing to be that father figure. The problem was that I was just so angry and I didn’t even know it. I had started using drugs while still on the west coast and now, in a strange environment with no friends, it seemed the easiest way to be accepted and numb myself from life.
I developed a hard outward shell as a person and smoked or snorted pretty much any drug I could get my hands on. I especially became fond of anything hallucinogenic.
In the course of the next two years, I literally ‘fried my brain’ to the point that I would come upstairs and just stand in the kitchen, not able to remember what I came out of my room for.
My mother would begin to suggest things like ‘Are you hungry?’ ‘Did you come up for a drink?’ There was little doubt to anyone who paid even a little attention, that I had a serious drug problem and, that my mind was pretty much gone.
Then Bernie, a person who I would hang with at times and who dabbled in selling drugs himself at times, came to me and told me about ‘getting saved’ as he put it. All this guy did was talk to me about Jesus, share things from the Bible with me and just kept inviting me to church. I could see that something had taken place in his life…he was not the same…he was happy and truly energized about the Lord! I finally gave in and went with him to church. After a few visits, and a few sermons about how Jesus could ‘change your life and heal you, I was at the altar, kneeling and asking Jesus to forgive me for my sins and to make me a new person.
For the next six months, I began to devour the Bible while God began to peel away at that hard, outer shell. Then, after a half-year of enjoying this new life in Christ, the reminder of my old life surfaced…I was at work (the first job I had held for any length of time) and I was handcuffed, read my rights and thrown in jail. Before coming to know the Lord, and in the height of my addiction, I did a lot of things that I should have gone to prison for. A few of them finally caught up with me.
The sale of a substantial quantity of drugs to an undercover agent as well as the burglary of a drug store had me standing before an old hard-nosed judge and a lawyer running for D.A. No amount of pleading from my attorney could get the judge to understand that I had been truly changed and the prosecuting attorney shot it all down as ‘Jail-House-Religion.’ Testimony from pastor and church members did not sway the judge and I found myself carted off to prison.
It was only an 18 month sentence to a county lock-up but still, I could not see why God would allow this to happen to me after I had surrendered my life to Him. I told an inmate about wishing I had my guitar and he coached me through making a request to the warden. In three days, I had my guitar and was singing and playing praise and worship in prison. It was like a little, mini-revival right in the middle of the cell block. I could do nothing but tell people about Jesus and share things from the Bible. To some, I was just another religious nut-case while others listened and accepted Jesus as their Savior.
I began to understand that God is in control no matter what our external circumstances are. The people in that prison needed the message of hope just as I had needed it and the Lord decided to use my circumstances for that moment. Twelve days into an 18 month sentence and all of a sudden, my name was called out to gather my belongings. I was being released! It turned out that old Elmer Beck, a policeman from the little town I lived in and knew the addict and criminal that I was, also had seen the change the Jesus had made in my life. He took the time to get an audience with that hard-nosed judge and convinced him that my conversion was real. He convinced him to release me into the Teen Challenge program.
For the next year and a half, I continued to devour God’s word and my mind was restored. What God will do for us when we surrender to Him is nothing short of incredible! By the time that I graduated Teen Challenge, my memory and clarity of thought were healed by God’s word penetrating through all of the years of drugs, heart-ache and anger.
While there were some ups and downs along the way, I finally surrendered to my calling as a minister. Today, I am privileged to serve drivers all across the country through the ministry that God has allowed. He has healed my mind (literally)! I firmly believe that God takes us at our word…even when we are a ten year old child, asking Him to come in to our heart and save us. He will take you at your word and help you no matter what you have done and no matter what your age is because all He really wants from you is a genuine relationship.
Wyatt