My Testimony: Introduction

Hi, you there.

So... God is asking me to step far, far out of my comfort zone… He’s directed me to write a series of posts for the Brave Sky blog.

Because I was blessed with dyslexia as a kid, writing and reading are tougher for me than most, and it’s very hard for me to frame thoughts and put them on paper because I suck at writing.

Put me in front of a crowd of screaming kids or a large congregation to give a speech and I have no problem, but put me in front of a computer to write… and that’s when I am completely lost. So bear with me as I work though all of this. Thank you, God, for having someone create spellcheck and giving me a wife that is great at proofreading!

Everyone has a testimony, a story they can tell about how their life changed from how it once was to how it now is. I want to share with you the details of my life, including trials and triumphs that God brought me through. My hope is that others will see that God is the true healer and miracle worker, and if God can bring me through 40 years of really bad events, there’s hope for anyone.

In telling you my testimony, I hope to provide you with some background on who I am and where I came from and how God brought me here, and how He transformed me from the mess I was into the man who loves and wholeheartedly adores Him today. I promise to share openly and honestly because I’m not ashamed of what God has done in my life.

If I were ever given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go back and change anything in my past, I wouldn’t change one thing. Why? Because I want God to have the opportunity to use every single one of my experiences, all the choices, all the abuses, and every single past event to help lead others to seek Him in all their pain, trials, successes, triumphs, and everything in between. I consider all my experiences, even the awful ones, to be gifts because they have the potential to encourage others dealing with those very same things today.

I don’t want you to be overwhelmed with reading for hours on a single mile-long post, so I’ll be posting many smaller portions over the next few weeks.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments as you follow my story, and please feel free to share about my testimony with those you feel would benefit from hearing what I have gone through, especially those who are currently going through similar situations. My testimony isn’t more important than anyone else’s. My desire is for God to use my past to offer hope to others. If He can bring me through it, He can do the same for anyone.

My story starts in the summer of 1979, in a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. I was named Thomas Jr., after my father. I became a thriving toddler who loved to sing and dance and entertain, performing songs while “playing” my toy guitar. I was inquisitive and unafraid. And then, after I turned two, things changed….

…for the continuation of this story, click here