“He was driving drunk at 3:00am New Year’s Day 2000 and wrecked. His friend, Matt Jones, was killed in the accident. Matt’s mom, Mary, invited Troy to the funeral and told him, “I love you; I forgive you, and if you give your life to God, He will use it for good.”
“It should have been me, not Matt. I know what it’s like to sit in a jail cell and think, “this is it, I’m done, it’s over, I’m at the end of my rope.” I thought, “I will never let myself have fun, be happy, have joy, or hope again because I don’t deserve it.” After the funeral, I remember thinking, I’m going to do everything Matt’s mom wants me to do in response to her. I started attending church, I was just a broken boy. I realized through that; Mary was really representing Jesus. I found out after attending church for a while, that I wasn’t really just responding just for her, I was responding because God was drawing me to Him. There is a song that goes, “God makes beautiful things, makes beautiful things out of us.” God makes broken things beautiful. He makes stories of people coming from the dirt, from horrible places in their lives, and makes a beautiful story out of that. I would encourage people to hold onto hope and look to what Jesus can do in their situation, but more importantly in their life. My name is Troy and I surrender.”
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