Joseph
- humansofsurrender
- Dec 27, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 30, 2025
“My mom passed away when I was five and my dad passed away when I was 12. I had three older sisters. My sister Angie passed away when I was 18. We didn't know Jesus. Jesus actually introduced himself to me when I was around 15. Ironically through a Mormon friend. From that moment on I couldn't stop thinking about Jesus, however, it didn't mean that I changed my life.
A couple years after that, I ended up going down a really dark path for 10 plus years. I met a girl and started experimenting with ecstasy and cocaine. It turned into crack and meth. I've done five years of my life incarcerated for various things. Everything that comes along with addiction. I look back on those moments. It seemed like every single time I got arrested, God reached down and plucked me up. Jesus literally picked me up and put me into jail. He put me somewhere that I could be safe. One time, I got out of jail and went back to my sister's house. There was no power, electricity, or running water. There were kids there. When my nieces and nephews had to go to the bathroom, they would use the toilet. I had to grab a garbage bag and reach down and unclog the toilet. I remember screaming at God. I was having this conversation with the Lord ‘ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? LOOK AT THE LIFE YOU GAVE ME!’
The most super natural thing happened. I looked at my phone and it was 1:50. I closed my eyes, the room started spinning. I thought I fell asleep. I saw all of these different faces together that made one. All of a sudden, this voice said ‘For why ye have little faith, I have great plans for you and your family. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing else is going to happen to any of your family. Trust in me.’ It was Old King James talking back to me. I had never even read the Old King James version. This dream was so intense that I thought I had fallen asleep and that it was morning time. I remember I came to, and I looked at my phone, and it had been one minute. It was literally 1:51. I walked out of that room and I didn't worry about my family anymore. You would think after having an encounter like that things would change, but they didn't.
I was still running around, getting high, chasing the needle. I didn't know what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus. At this point, I wasn't even saved. On my 30th birthday, my sister started talking to my mom's cousin, Mihaly. He's Hungarian. Mihaly was baptized in the Holy Spirit when he was around nine years old, he's the real deal. Mihaly has been praying for me my entire life. Out of nowhere, my sister asked ‘do you want to go Mihaly’s?’ In my head, I was thinking ‘absolutely not.’ But when I went to speak, words would not come out of my mouth. All I could say was ‘yes.’ I was on a bus to Missouri two days later. Here is where things get crazy. Mihaly gave me a VHS movie, The Cross and The Switchblade , 2 weeks before my 6th birthday. It's not an age-appropriate movie. The movie is the story of how David Wilkerson started Teen Challenge. That same uncle that gave me The Cross and The Switchblade when I was six dropped me off at Adult & Teen Challenge when I was 32. God knew. I ended up getting baptized in 2020.
Galatians 2:20 , “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
God has a plan for you. I know sometimes our thoughts get jumbled, but we need to just cry out to Jesus. Even if we doubt, don't have faith, don't trust, or have confusion, just ask Him into your heart. Action is required. If you're serious and you want to have a relationship with Jesus, ask Him into your heart. Understand that's just the beginning of the journey. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves daily and pick up our cross and follow Him. You need to wake up every morning and put Him at the forefront. It means waking up and praying ‘God, I don't know what I'm doing today. Please show me. God, I don't understand what I'm reading today, but I am going to open my Bible.’ I don't care if it's for a minute. You have to read your Bible. You have to stay in prayer. And when things are getting hard and things aren't making sense that's when you need to dig in even more. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 . My name is Joseph, I’m human, and I surrender.”
Listen to Joseph's full audio testimony here:
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