From Drug Dealer to Gospel Preacher - A Glorious Testimony (Part 1)

A Testimony of God’s Grace
The story of Redemption in the Life of a Meth Addict and Manufacturer
By Shaun R.W. Little
　
Part 1
________
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." - Psalm 51:5

Before I start I should give a very brief rundown of my growing up. I was born in 1980 in the town of Monroe. Monroe is a small American town in Washington state just west of the Cascade mountains. My parents were both addicts and alcoholics. My father worked a lot, and my mother was emotionally unstable. I was never physically abused although at times I was traumatized emotionally by my mother. I was healthy for the most part though mentally troubled at times. My parents were divorced before I was 10 years old. My father was capable, a carpet installer at trade, and able to keep a job so I lived with him growing up. He eventually re-married.

In school I was not in the "in" crowd, but you couldn’t say I was necessarily an outcast. In my youth I was clumsy and uninterested in sports. Although capable in academics, I was given much to laziness and lack of motivation so my grades suffered due to lack of personal effort. I got involved with drugs by the age of 13. I was arrested for burglary by 14, but the charge was reduced to theft and criminal trespass and I spent a day in juvenile detention. By 15 I had experimented with crack cocaine and various hallucinogenic substances. By 15 I was involved in a serious auto accident, and was thrown through the windshield fracturing two vertebrae. By the grace of God I lived and recovered without permanent damage. During highschool I was often suspended for misbehavior or skipped school, and by my junior year I dropped out and immediately got my GED.

I continued in this way, using drugs, sex, and any other sinful activity as a form of escape from the world I loathed so much. I stayed out of jail mostly, although I did a lot deserving of imprisonment. I was quite proud of the craftiness I exerted in my criminal activity and would brag at times about never getting caught. Though you can't find many things I had done on my criminal record, in truth nothing had escaped the sovereign eyes of God.

But I am not writing this testimony to confess all the wicked things I have done. I’ve chosen to exclude some of the more horrible things I have done as they would only serve for unecessary shock value. I will say that my sins are many and they are vile, but even so, God does not have one list of sins that he holds as being more sinful than another list of sins. Sin is sin; it is the transgression of His holy law, and if you’ve transgressed at one point you’ve transgressed in all. Although I personally consider my robberies, thefts, sexually immoral and violent acts more sinful than the sins which are committed by many who profess themselves be "good" men, whom are in fact: covetous, idolatrous, proud, and gluttonous... God makes no such distinction. The wages of all sin is death and damnation. There is not a hotter place in hell reserved for a rapist and/or a murderer as there is for a greedy business man or a man who cheats on his wife. Hell is hell, it burns eternally, and it burns without rest. Perhaps, I am even providentially privileged to have been made to observe in my sins a fruit so obviously dark and foul. The death it brought to me was apparent and I couldn’t deny my wretchedness as I was made to see the shadow of my dungheep cast on the ground in the light of God's glory. For this I am eternally grateful for the price that was paid for me by God on that blessed cross. Just as God made no distinction accounting my sins any worse than another, neither does God show partiality in His grace and His salvation, for all have sinned and fallen short of His glory. So this is the beginning of my testimony. It's my prayer that Christ be glorified as I speak of His providence and grace in the life of one who had no hope.

Continued on Friday

Go On To Part 2