Introduction

If you are over the age of twelve, perhaps you have found that nobody had to teach you how to be rebellious. It happened so effortlessly that you could do it with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back. Every person is born with the sin nature of Adam, so we are all inclined toward rebellion and disobedience.

Even though I had a godly heritage and was raised in a good Christian home, it took no effort for me to be rebellious. No form of discipline could stop me. I kept my mother on her knees in prayer for many years. James 1:3 says that the testing of our faith produces patience. With three sons who spent years—and even decades—as some combination of runaway, drug addict, and prison inmate, my parents’ faith yielded a bumper crop of patience!

Thankfully, they never stopped praying for us. I know there must have been times when their faith was stretched so far that they felt like giving up. But relentless prayers and their ability to release us into God’s hands eventually brought an answer to their prayers.

You may have heard the expression, “When you’re in the gutter, the only place left to look is up.” Sometimes it takes a gutter experience before people will look up and reach for Jesus. So it was with me. The gutter of my life—the lowest point of my existence—was underneath a bridge where I lived for weeks at a time during my life as a heroin addict.

Even before I turned to God, He heard the prayers of my mother. When I reached the lowest point in my life, God—in His boundless mercy, grace, and love—lifted me from under that bridge and placed me in His loving arms. Today He still carries me as I bring the hope of that same mercy, grace, and love to people around the world who are lost and sinking in a sea of despair.

I hope this testimony of God’s love and mercy will encourage you to persist in prayer for your own family members. No matter how long it takes, don’t lose that fervent burden to pray for them. The Lord is able to take a situation that the enemy means for evil and turn it into something good. He can take the trial that you and your family are experiencing, turn the situation around, and use it advantageously within His kingdom.

My life is an example of how He did just that. God extends that same mercy, grace, and love to you and to your family. What He did for me and my family, He will certainly do for you.