The greatest miracle today is the transformation of lives in Christ. Indeed its true. I testify to that because a miracle has taken place in my life.
Hello, my name is Ranjit Singh, age 43. I am married to a wonderful person named Ranjit Kaur and we are blessed with two children aged 15 & 11.
For fourteen years, my life was caught in a web of drug addiction and sin, until I came to know the truth and was set free. By the grace and mercy of GOD, for the past 12yrs I have managed to stay sober and am living a victorious life.
As a young boy at the age of 16, I stopped schooling because I had no interest in studies and all I wanted to do was to enjoy myself. I started working and with the money I earned, I splurged on drinking alcohol, smoking and eventually drugs. People around me, my loved ones and my relatives would advise me, but I always ignored them. I always felt that I was in control of myself.
By the age of 22 I became a full-blown drug addict, depending daily on drugs - heroin. At one point, I was spending up to $100 a day on heroin. To feed my habit, I borrowed money and even resorted to stealing from my mother. To make even more money, I started selling drugs, buying in large quantities from suppliers and selling them to my friends and other junkie contacts.
In 1985, I was arrested for drug consumption and was sent to prison for a year. While in prison, I made up my mind to change. Within a couple of months of being released from prison, I got married thinking that the responsibilities of a family would keep me away from my habit. But sadly I managed to stay sober only for a year. This time my relapse was more painful because, not only was I destroying myself there were two other lives, that of my wife and our first son.
Life became chaotic at home. There were constant quarrels. I was not able to hold a job to provide for my family. I also became violent and there were times I abused my wife and son. Deep down in me I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I did not know what to do with myself. People around me tried to help me, but I was powerless over my addiction. I even tried to commit suicide but was not successful.
Being a Sikh then, I was raised up with the belief that GOD exists and I turned to GOD for help. I went to the temples for help, and there I was given very good advise. But what I needed most at that time was not advise. What I needed was support and help in a tangible way. I also consulted the medium and bomohs thinking that their special powers would help and heal me. All this did not work for me.
One day in desperation I cried out to GOD saying “GOD I do not know who you are, but I know you exist and I believe you can help me, please help me.” It was a sincere cry from my heart for help. In Jeremiah 29:13 GOD says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” declares the Lord. Three days after the cry I found my way to a church where a special speaker was speaking on drug and alcohol addiction. I could not believe my eyes and ears when the speaker said that he too was once caught in the web of drug addiction for many years. Everything he said made sense to me. From his sharing I came to know that Jesus Christ healed him and that Jesus can heal me too. After his speech I went up to him and shared my problem with him and he prayed for me. Within a few days, someone brought me to a Christian halfway house for drug addicts - The Helping Hand.
While in there I met many others like me who were also recovering from drug addiction. They shared their testimonies with me, about how Christ had transformed their lives. I too gave my life to Jesus, surrendering myself to him. I have learnt from the apostle Paul in Romans 7: 17-20. He said “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good, I want to do; NO, the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do not want to do it, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in that does it."
Before I knew Jesus Christ, I had been trying to break free from the bondage of drug addiction with my own strength, my own effort, my own wisdom. I realized that I could not overcome my addiction because of my sinful nature. The apostle Paul again said in Phil 4:3, “I can do everything through him (Jesus) who gives me strength”. And the key to live victoriously over sin and addiction was to trust Jesus Christ for his grace and strength. Zech 4:6 says “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit" says the Lord Almighty.
Not only did God set me free from the bondage of addiction, he also gave me eternal life through his Son Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says “For GOD so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” From his word I also came to know that GOD has adopted me as his child. John 1:12 says “Yet to Ranjit Singh who received Him, to Ranjit Singh who believed in His name, He gave Ranjit Singh the right to become a child of God”
I also learned that GOD has a plan and purpose for me, which he had in His mind before creation. Eph 2:10 states “For we are GOD’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which GOD prepared in advance for us to do.” I am saved to serve. Today God has put a compassion in my heart to help those who are struggling in life. Also, my transformed life brings hope to many people.
Today by his grace and mercy, I am living a victorious life. God has not only set me free, but has equipped me to be a blessing to others. And I believe and trust that God who has begun a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Please continue to pray for me and my family that we may continue to remain focussed on the GOD's purpose for our lives.
2 Cor 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come."
So do you believe now, that the greatest miracle today is the transformation of lives in Christ?
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