I didn't believe a loving God could allow such difficult things to happen in the world and that was really my challenge, if there's a God, why does this happen and so I was really one of God's biggest critics
My name's Lee and this is my story
Because of the void that I had in my life, I became a real people pleaser, in the sense of seeing others happy and by being the person that makes them happy
I had a really weird spiritual encounter when I was in Year 10
For about two weeks, I would be crying and crying, I wouldn't even know why and I could feel this presence but I couldn't tell you what it was, I couldn't, all I knew is that it made me ask deep questions"
Questions like, what is the meaning of life, why is it that I exist
I was asking this to all of my friends and I remember, I would just start crying to my mum and I'll be like, "Mum, why is it that we exist, why
So me and a group of friends, we went to a party and one of my close friends, she got cold, so naturally I gave her my jacket"
The next day, me and the lads, we met up and we were bantering and then it just started raining"
Everyone else had a jacket apart from me, so then I said "oh, my friend, she goes to a church around the corner"
so then I ask my friends, "is it okay if we go down to the church and get my jacket
So as we go to the church, she says, "oh, do you guys want to come in, we're having food after
So then I go in and I encountered God
That for me was the beginning of my transformation
I got saved a few months before my mum had a heart attack, and so everything was just going so well and I was so happy and then, to almost get that what could have been a devastating blow to my life and losing my mum, but God really used that
I believe that God led me to go straight to my pastor's church at that time and they really took me in and they prayed
Then the next morning, we met again and we prayed and so that really helped me turn to God and it really helped me see that, I had him to lean on in the hardest time of my life
Because I wouldn't have been able to do it, I literally broke down
The difference that Jesus has made in my life is unspeakable
He's changed my perspective, he's given me a purpose, before I was just living life on a whim like, but I never really had a real purpose and I never really felt like I had a plan for my life either
I didn't know which direction I was going, but he gave me that, he gave me a purpose, he gave me a plan, he gave me a hope
