Today, I have a new hope, a new life, and a new identity and victory Christ. I eventually reached back out to my Dad, and over the past 20 years, I have forgiven him and worked to rebuild the relationship that alcohol and stress took away. I have shared the Gospel with him a great many times, and he has even come to CityBridge on occasion. He has accepted the invitation to follow Christ, but I hope that one day he will.

There are a few things I can share with you that I have learned from this journey:

I no longer have a formulated mental image of myself based on feelings of acceptance from my parents or other people. I’m no longer defined by the expectations of this broken world that says silly things like, we fight racism and hate with yet more racism and hate.

I can look at my past and truly say that Romans 8:28 is true,

“God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
The truest thing about me is what the Bible says about me, and the body of Christ reinforces those truths that I have learned from God’s word.

For those who were perhaps like me, I hope you can consider these things for yourself, and I personally invite you to come and see.