Clint Gresham

Snapper :: Texas Christian University

 

As a child, my family always went to church. I knew all the Bible stories from Sunday school like any good Christian boy should. But for us, church was our time to see friends. It had nothing to do with coming and learning about the love of our Creator. It was a religious experience where we came and gave our wink to the “Big Guy in the clouds” as opposed to a real relationship with a real person—Jesus Christ. I remember sitting in church with my mom, begging her to let me go outside and play because I just couldn’t sit still. It was the most boring thing I had ever experienced. I looked at the lives of the people that I was going to church with and just assumed that this is how life is supposed to be: Marriage is supposed to be tough, friendship is supposed to be shallow, and people are supposed to be depressed.

With my parents divorcing when I was eight, and going to a church that was more of a social club, it resulted in “the perfect storm.” As I got into high school, my boredom with the church and inner turmoil only increased. We were created with a void in our hearts that only a relationship with Christ can fill. I knew of Jesus but I always thought of Him as an imaginary friend. I didn’t know that He was real and could really set me free from addictions or really heal my body. I didn’t know that all I had to do was look up and ask for help. I didn’t know that living with addictions and expecting mediocrity from life was not God’s best. I didn’t know that God wanted to give me, a hopeless strung-out teenager on a path to destruction, His ULTIMATE best. But as the Bible says, “My people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.” (Isaiah 5:13) I was completely empty inside and began looking externally to fill the void.

I was introduced to drugs and alcohol by a few friends from school. Because I was playing football, I felt like I was able to control my addiction, but I knew deep down that I was destroying myself. I rarely used drugs in a public setting. Most of the time that I did them I was alone. It was the only way I knew of coping with the pain that I felt. It was the same story with alcohol. I would do whatever was necessary to get alcohol and would typically drink it by myself. On the outside everything looked fine. People would have never known the battle that was going on within me. But it was all a sham, and I was burning the candle at both ends, and eventually, I cracked.

Because I was so unstable, I was looking for anything to bring structure to my life. I found that football was something that could deliver that. The definition of an idol is anything that you put before God, and for years, that was football for me. I lived and died for football and I knew that I was destined to do big things. But just like the drugs and alcohol, it did not deliver true joy to me because I had placed it before God.

When I went off to college, I was having some serious issues with my back. The pain had gotten so bad that it was difficult for me to walk. I had tried doing all sorts of treatment that ranged from stretching to acupuncture but nothing seemed to work. I never knew that Jesus didn’t only die for my sins, but also for my body to be healed. Isaiah 53:5 says, “With His stripes, we are healed,” and I was desperate for a healing touch. My cousin has a healing ministry that I knew about and I was ready to try anything. He sat me down and began explaining to me that Jesus paid for healing for my body. I didn’t really understand but I went with it. I sat down in a chair and lifted my feet up only to see that my right leg was an inch shorter than my left. After confessing and getting rid of a bunch of unforgiveness in my heart, we began praying and commanding the healing that Jesus paid for to take place. I immediately felt an intense heat around my entire body and began to hyperventilate. Honestly, I was freaked out because I looked down at my legs and watched them grow right before my eyes. My right leg grew an inch in about five seconds and after a few moments; the pain in my back was gone. God had just become real to me. Ever since then I have given myself to learning more about Him.

Everyone is different and their personal experience will determine how they meet God. My experience with physical, emotional, and spiritual healing is that none of these come without a relationship with Jesus Christ. He promised them all in Isaiah 53:5 when it says that, “He (Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (spiritual), “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him” (emotional), and “with His stripes, we are healed” (physical). Jesus usually makes Himself known in one of these three areas, and for me, it was physical healing.

I believed in Jesus, I believed He is the Son of God, I believed He died for my sins and rose from the dead, but I never thought He could heal me physically. My life with Jesus began when I accepted ALL He had to offer, not just part. My testimony is that we should reach for ALL Jesus has to offer. What each of us needs is usually different; Jesus can provide exactly what each of us needs when we accept a personal relationship and make Him our best friend.

It does not matter to God where you have been or what you have done. If you call on Him, He WILL help. He swore that He would through the blood of His Son. He has taken my life that was destined to be a train wreck and made it into something significant. He has given me purpose and set me free from a life destined for mediocrity. He will do the same for you. When you seek Him and do what He asks, it is the most incredible transformation you could ever imagine. Sure, I have had to give some things up. But what I came to realize was that the things that I was using to fill my heart, like drugs and alcohol, fail in comparison to the awesome love of God. You see, sin destroys people and God hates seeing His children hurting. Sin is a counterfeit of the truth and steals from you. God doesn’t want us to sin, because He is trying to protect us.

I am forever grateful to what Jesus has done in my life. He saved me, delivered me, and healed me. Because He died for me, I will live for Him. He is waiting with His hand outstretched, will you take His hand?

 

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