Just like my sister, Roxanne, I too grew up as a Jehovah's Witness. The only teaching that stuck with me, though, was that God is the creator of all things. Everything else they taught was just confusing to me. I ended up leaving that religion when I got pregnant in high school at age 17. By age 21, I had already dove head first into the "world". I associated with the WRONG people and before I knew it, I was involved in their same bad habits. My motto was "You only live once..." that is how I justified my behavior. Almost 17 years later, all I had to show for my life was a very bad drug addiction and 4 children who , pretty much, grew up without me because of that addiction. I tried again and again to stop using, but my addiction always got the best of me. Jail, rehab, attempted suicide, the death of my brother, mother and father, not even the threat of 3 years in prison or my children could keep me from using. I was about to surrender to the fact that this was my life and I would be getting high until I died. I called my sister (the only immediate family member left) and I broke down and told her that I had lost control and I couldn't stop. I told her I was sorry for being such an awful sister. That's when she told me about Jesus. She said she started going to church - which shocked me - I thought she felt like I did. I swore that I would never go back to church because I "did my time". I figured that if heaven and hell were real, God would know that deep down inside I was a good hearted person and that would get me into heaven. So Roxanne explained why Jesus did what He did while here on earth and that if I truly wanted help with my addiction I should pray to Jesus and ask Him for forgiveness and to tell Him I needed Him to help me. So, that's what I did. I asked God to forgive me for messing up the life that I was given and that I truly did not want to be the person I was. I told Him I needed Him to help me because I could not stop on my own. When I was done, I cried myself to sleep. The only way to describe it is like God turned my "crackswitch" off. I woke up and felt different. That sense of failure and unhappiness was GONE!! No one truly knew how horrible my life was.....WAS! It didn't just gradually go away - it was gone overnight. There is no other explanation - I was born again. It is a great feeling to know that God loves me that much to forgive me and change me like that. So now, my motto is still: "You only live once". We only get one life, one chance to show Jesus how thankful we are that He died for our sins so that we could be forgiven. Just believe and trust Him. I know it's not going to be easy - but I am determined to tell as many people as I can about Him and what He has done, not just for me, but forthe whole world. In return, I can honestly say that I am happy and I am finally free. Thank you Jesus!