Ron Wright

My entire life, I spent doing things my way. I always prayed for the Lord to show me what my priorities should be, but he never seemed to answer. Some years later God did answer and showed me what I needed to know. Today, my priorities are God first, then food, shelter, clothing and lastly a potential spouse. Through a small voice inside, God showed me these priorities. Earlier in my life, my priorities were not the same. I spent my time traveling, partying, and chasing women. I was a constant backslider and nothing went right in my life. I have learned that it’s important to put God first because the bible says that if you seek first the Kingdom of heaven and his righteousness, then everything else will be added to you. God wants us to seek him first because whether we want to admit it or not, we don’t know what we are doing. It took me a long time to understand that fact, but now that I know it, it has changed my life. The Lord has in his mind things he wants us to do and he knows the best things for us to do. We think we know the best plan but we don’t. I know that things will get better in my life because I now have the right priorities. Everyone’s priorities won’t be exactly the same, but the framework would be basically the same. Put God first, and things will work out in your life.

Kevin Pitts

One of the biggest blessings of my life over the last few months is the way that God has been revealing himself to me through others. In seeing the way that God’s people serve and love other people, I have been convinced of God’s goodness and His love for me. This example has shown me that I have significance too, and that God has prepared for me a great purpose in life. I have found that the more I seek God, the more that He reveals Himself to me. All I have to do is walk by faith, stay positive and humble, pray, and be obedient. Doing these things helps keep me focused on God, and better prepared to do His will. It also gives me the opportunity to help others in the same way that others have helped me. Maybe I can be the one that God shines through to help encourage someone who is weak in their faith. All my life, I have searched for meaning and purpose. I looked to drugs and alcohol and neither of them were the answer. Finally, I have decided to look toward Christ, and I have found Him to be the only true answer. In love, Christ has taken my hand and lifted me out of the pit, and now I can walk in the fullness of His grace.

Daryl Carr

Since last working for the ministry in 2008, God has taken me on a wild ride to discover who I am in Christ, and what God’s will is for my life. Through God’s grace, I was able to reconnect with my 15 year old daughter, Jasmine. In our regular interactions, I was able to better understand what it meant to love a family member. Much of my life up to that point had been spent avoiding the responsibility of my family, but I could see how God was changing all of that. For 15 months, I spent time in a recovery house in Friendship. There I learned how to develop good living habits and a daily schedule. I also focused on my sobriety and sharing my testimony with others. After the recovery house, I got involved in a relationship that I thought was right for me. Quickly, however, God revealed that there was much more work to be done in my life, and that it was not the time for me to get involved romantically with a woman. Today, I find myself essentially where I started 3 years ago, but this time I have the overwhelming peace of knowing that I’m in God’s will. I have been clean from drugs for 22 months, and feel as if God has given me a second chance in life. Everyday, I’m learning God’s will for me and His abundant love in my heart. I have appreciated the support L.I.V.I.N.G. Ministry has given me throughout this journey and look forward to sharing with the ministry in the roads to come.

Shannon Hayes

Have you ever had the unpleasant experience of having something in your teeth from lunch that you did not know was there? I mean, you have a lettuce patch between your teeth, and you are walking around like the Jolly Green Buffon, and no one even bothers to tell you about it? It is surely embarrassing when you happen to look in the mirror at the end of the day and discover the problem. I remember very vividly when two of my friends talked to me about some lettuce in my teeth—a blind spot in my life that I could not see was there. At first I did not want to believe there was a problem. But the longer I thought about it and prayed about it, the more I could see the issue. As God revealed the truth to me, I confessed the problem and began to make necessary adjustments to grow in that deficient area of my life. I praise God for friends who love me enough to inflict faithful wounds. My desire is to be all that God wants me to be. And although I have a long way to go, I surely will delay my progress if I am not aware of the blind spots and am not open to correction. Do you have some really good friends who will love you enough to tell you the truth? Would you be willing to ask those friends to check your teeth so to speak for something that may need to be extracted from your life? If you and I really want to walk with God, we must be open to reproof, even if it hurts; even if it is something we would rather not hear. The Bible says, “stripes that wound scour away evil.” (Proverbs 20:30). It is virtually impossible to go to the next level without the faithful wounds of a true friend who loves you enough to hold you accountable and point out the blinds spots; helping to pick out the unseen lettuce of sin.