 My name is Elijah, I'm from Denver, Colorado, and growing up, you know, I come from a pretty normal family I would say for the most part, very loving, but you know, some of my earliest memories in my childhood, there was a lot of confusion, a lot of abandonment, a lot of rage, and I just remember, you know, growing up seeing my mom constantly in and out of my life, she had an addiction to alcohol and pills, and this is something that actually ran in the family. I'm generational, my grandpa was actually a major alcoholic and whatnot, so you know, growing up at the age of 13 is actually when my mom started to use hard drugs. She wasn't just drinking, she actually started to use meth and she started using hard drugs, and my dad at the same time actually went to prison, and this was this was a moment in my life where things just drastically changed for me, and my mom actually found out I was smoking weed, I started smoking weed at 13, started hanging around with the wrong people, I remember ditching basketball practice to smoke weed, and I just felt like this empowerment, just like rebellion, and I felt like I belonged and I was like so happy within my rebellion, and my mom enabled me to start smoking, she you know, I would I would go home every day after middle school with a group of my friends, and we would go to the house and smoke weed, and we're from Denver, Colorado, and you know Colorado just got the weed, got legalized at that time, and my mom actually like even you know would just let us smoke and take us to smoke, she would never smoke like with me, but she would like enable us and take us to get weed and stuff, and it's it's crazy to look back, but just through this time as well at the same time my mom actually began to get into this spiritual knowledge, you know she started, she was doing you know meth, and what meth does is it really messes with your mind, and it gets you into the the spiritual things, you know you start seeing things, feeling things, and I remember she would have these encounters, and in these crazy like dreams, and visions, and weird things, like super spiritual, she started speaking these things to me that oh I'm chosen that I'm a star seed, a star child, and all these like new-aged terms that you know new-aged people can resonate with now, and she would she would begin to claim these things over us that we were light workers, that we were here to do angel work, and here to do work to help people and be a light, right, so you know at 14 I felt like empowered and felt like I had this false identity that I was chosen, that I was different, I was set apart, and that I had some like hidden knowledge, even though it was just it was it was the wrong knowledge, and that led to actually my first time drinking was was a crazy story, I was drinking with my friend for his birthday, didn't even know you know about drinking, never drink alcohol in my life, and I drank, and I remember that night I literally one of my friends I had so much like one of my friends like told me I like my pulse was gone, and we didn't call the ambulance or anything, so I don't know if I actually died, but I remember my pulse stopped, and I had so much alcohol poisoning because I drank a whole a whole handle of alcohol basically between me and my friend, and I literally was passed out on the couch like dead basically like my friend was like crying, and he was like punching me in the chest, and and like they literally thought I died, until like I got a grasp of air, and came back, and I remember like after that just throwing up, and and it was just so crazy how like these emotions led me here, and then after that it just kept spiraling down, and I was just I remember like I would run away from weeks at a time, I remember is when I tried I tried cocaine at a party, and this is like when basically like everything like started just totally for me just crashed down even though it was already like bad I was already at a at a pit you know I was in a hole, and I did cocaine, and I smoked it actually I smoked it for my first time, and I actually started to begin began to hang out with this group, and you know they were drug dealers, and they were in in the occult, and into new age stuff they were in to a lot of new age beliefs you know similar stuff that I learned from my childhood, and mind you you know through this whole time of me doing drugs, and rebelling I still had this this like sense that I was like chosen and different, because I had this new age identity that I was like here is a light worker, and that I was supposed to you know live life for my pleasures, and help people so I was it was it was crazy how this identity led me to where I was, and like the the beautiful thing out of like in this time is when my dad went to prison actually he found God, and he found you know he found God in prison, and he was locked up for he had a 12-year sentence and he served five, and this time I totally believe that you know the reason why you know I am where I am now is because my dad in prison you know found God, and every day he's interceding for me praying for me to clearing over me, and him and his group of friends were fasting for me praying for me, and I remember like there'd be times where my dad would be talking with me on the phone you know on the prison calls, and he would be like speaking life into me, and I didn't like know I thought God was just the universe you know I thought God was everywhere, so I had no idea like what really he was saying, but little did I know there were seeds being planted in this time of my rebellion you know seeds of hope, and seeds of like truth being planted during this time that I was in drugs, and with the wrong people and doing all these things, and eventually remember my dad after he got had a prison he was with he had a girlfriend, and she actually was very involved at the church serving all the time, and she would invite me, invite me, invite me, invite me, and keep inviting me, and keep being persistent with me, and she knew a lot of the New Age stuff that I was in, the meditation and all this stuff, it was wrong she would send me videos actually to combat it, and and God really used that you know God really used that in my life, and it finally led me to like saying yes to go to one you know like revival event, and by the grace of God you know I went, and he was speaking on you know just basically you know basically everything I was going through you know the emptiness and you saw how only God there's a God-sized hole inside that only God can fill, and that there's no truth but Jesus, and I remember that that night in that revival it was a tent revival that I you know was like you know what you know I got nothing to lose I don't know what I'm doing I don't know if this is the truth I don't know you know what is what but I did it you know I received the Holy Spirit, and I just stepped out and you know he led me through the prayer, and I remember that next day I had an ounce of weed you know that I was about to smoke I'd smoke every day is normal routine I had total conviction you know the spirit of conviction fell in my heart, and and after that I I was on this quest of of you know surrendering to Jesus, and you know I actually quit smoking a week after that because God would I would smoke and then God would convict me, and I would drink then God would convict me, and that was like that was like a whole year of that, and finally to the point where God you know totally set me free from smoking, from drinking, you know from a lot of access stuff for my life, and now where I'm at you know is you know I've been fully delivered of alcoholism addiction you know new age beliefs and it took a lot of it took a lot of if it was been it's been three years now so it took the year and a half basically two years of God just cleaning me out cleaning all the residue all the lies all the hurts the mother and father wounds and all these things and I'm still being cleansed but all the the major issues you know the major drug use the major things and now I'm at a point where I'm persistently pursuing Jesus you know persistently trying to walk out my call walk out my mandate that God has for my life because there's nothing in this world that will fulfill me there's nothing in this world to live for there's nothing and what I would say to somebody I know that there's people right now as I'm speaking right now there is young men and women and there's people that are trying to find purpose in the world and purpose in false identities and I just want to let you know there is no drug there is no lust there is no addiction that can fulfill you only Jesus can fulfill you and there is no purpose on this earth besides Jesus God is your purpose and no matter what the devil tries to bring in your life through astrology through deception there's mass deception in the world and a be vigilant because the devil is if you give him an inch he will take a mile so I'm just telling you now Jesus is your purpose Jesus is your fulfillment only Jesus only Jesus amen amen thank you so much for sharing your story with us