Luke & escaping from drink and drugs

My name is Luke and I come from the small village of Sompting. My up bringing has been great, my Mum and Dad have supported me no matter what, all my family are non-Christians and neither was I.

I left school at 16 and decided to go and live in Spain with my grandparents. I became really bored and so started to cause lots of trouble, going out drinking, fighting, taking drugs and causing general trouble. Then to top it off I decided to steal my Grandparents car, so I was sent back to England.

When I came back to England I was still only 16 and got a job in a pub working behind the bar, I was working a lot and very rarely had a day off so I started drinking. Most nights I came home from work drunk, in fact very drunk, hardly able to stand.

My parents tried everything but I never listened and it didn't get through to me, I put them through so much pain seeing their own son killing himself slowly.

I was like this for about 3 years, getting really drunk every night and taking heavy drugs.

Then last summer I met a girl we became friends and got on really well, she was a Christian. We soon became boyfriend and girlfriend and I stopped doing the things that I wasn't supposed to do. Then one Sunday I asked to go to an evening service at church with her. The music started playing and I started to sing, afterwards I was like, 'Me sing? Never! Don't know what happened there!'

The next week I went back to church and found myself singing again. I felt something, I felt a warm feeling inside, I felt me again, alive and well. I went into the loos and burst into tears. I didn't have a clue why I was crying, I told my girlfriend, and from then on she knew what was happening, from then on my life started changing day by day. My girlfriend has done so much for me, she bought me a bible, CD's and books. Then it made me think that God had used her to bring me to Him, it was amazing. Then I had a chat with the pastor, Ray. We talked, then we prayed and asked for forgiveness, then I became a Christian. Since that day I have started to change into a new person, I'm still not perfect but I'm learning. I find it easier to talk to people about my problems, and theirs. I'm smiling, I'm in love, and people ask me for advice, which would have never happened before. I'm living life to the full, without God in my life I feel empty. I love the church and now I'm a youth worker with the 16+ group in the church.

I'm gonna continue living my life with God in control.