I Have A Problem!!

HELP ME!!

If you're on this page, I'm going to assume that you're going through a difficult time, or perhaps are dealing with a catastrophic event in your life. Although you will find LOTS of different things on this page that could help you, my first and most urgent response to you would be to encourage you to pray... even if you DON'T believe in GOD and have never prayed before.

IF you do not believe in GOD, I would encourage you to pray anyway. I would tell you to TALK to GOD. Tell HIM what you are feeling, what you're going through, and how you feel about it. TELL HIM you don't believe in HIM, but you want to... and here's the challenge to you...
ASK HIM to SHOW HIMSELF TO YOU.

Many people think that GOD will not show up. This is a lie. God MADE you. And... HE LOVES you more than I can explain here. SO much. That being said, HE understands doubt better than you or I ever could. You may not know this, but if you read through the GOSPELS (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and especially John) and Acts, you'll find that JESUS "suffered" HIS disciples, regularly putting up with their doubt, and even doing things on purpose "so that they would believe." In John's account of the Gospel, we find in chapter 20 that JESUS even presented HIMSELF to Thomas, who, despite all of the witness accounts of JESUS' resurrection, refused to believe it. JESUS was so kind and gentle with him, even telling Thomas to put his finger in the holes in HIS hands, and put his hand in HIS side (where HE was stabbed after HE died on the cross). Thomas falls to his knees and worships JESUS. "My GOD and my KING," he says. GOD knows that we doubt. HE meets us where we are at, and promises that, if we seek HIM out with our whole heart... we will find HIM.

That being said, below you'll find different pages that are designed to bring you comfort, encouragement, and inform you of things you may not know, and not all of it is BIBLE teaching. There are many things and much advice that can be helpful to us when we run into things in life that seem to knock us down and take the wind out of us. Overwhelming and stressful situations often push humans to a place they feel they cannot survive. I hope that's not where you find yourself today. If it is, I hope you'll find something here to help you. If nothing else, reach out to me or my wife using the CONTACT US icon on the home page. My name is John and my wife's name is Crystal. If you feel more comfortable speaking with a woman (and you are a woman), please address your message to her and she will be the one to respond to you. I hope you find help in the pages below, but more than that, I hope you find GOD. HE loves you more than you know and wants to have an intimate relationship with you. HIS power, love, peace, and joy can flow through you and into your life in ways you couldn't possibly imagine. HE regularly blows my mind with the things HE does in me, around me, and through me. And I'm no one special. If you read my story in the ABOUT US page (just click the guy with the sunglasses on the main page), you'll find that I am a special kind of damaged and retarded screw-up. And yet, even as I sinned against HIM and was even HAPPY in my sin, HE saved me. I was dirty as a human can be, even at the moment I was saved. I did not change anything about myself or "clean myself up". HE saved me in spite of me and by HIS power, love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness, HE made those changes in me and transformed me into the man I am today. My wife's story is very similar. GOD loves us and uses us often. HE is truly amazing and HE IS love. I hope you come to know HIM. If you find yourself ready to have a real relationship with HIM, click on the GOSPEL icon on the main page, and I highly recommend you click on the PRAYER icon also. That will go into what prayer is and what it looks like to have a "prayer life". GOD bless you.
I hope you find healing.

Click on the title or the paragraph to enter the page.

Trauma

I guess you can't live the lives that my wife and I lived without experiencing trauma. We both experienced things as children that children should not experience. She was taken advantage of and exploited. I received violent beatings (kicking, punching, stomping, thrown into things and across rooms by my hair/throat) starting around age 7. I was also homeless and dealt with some crazy trauma in that environment. Then, my tour in Iraq provided an even new way to experience trauma. I try not to compare myself to my wife in our trauma. Her's was horrific. No doubt. Either way, we've been through hell and back more times than we can count. Hopefully, that will turn into a good thing if it helps you get through what you're going through.

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Addiction

I am not a medically certified anything. That being said, I grew up in a drug/alcohol party home with my dad and stepmom who were drug addicts and alcoholics. As a child, I never saw them slow down or step away from it. They both did later in life, but I was already following in their footsteps by then. My wife and I were far more dedicated drug addicts than our parents were. They worked. They tried to provide for us. We did not do any of that. We only cared about the drugs and the drug world we lived in. Nothing else mattered to us.
That being said, we feel like we have a particular understanding of drugs, dependency, and rehabilitation that could be useful to you (if you struggle with addiction, that is).

Stories of Hope

Sometimes we get stuck in our situation. So much so, that it's difficult to see anything outside of it. This page is designed to help us step out of OUR situation and into someone else's, finding hope and encouragement in the process. I will do my best to differentiate and separate STORIES OF HOPE from TESTIMONIES, another page below.

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Testimonies

Similar to STORIES OF HOPE, many people have a testimony to share. Some major event that shaped their life and changed them forever. Seeing that people survive the unthinkable and push forward into recovery and transformation can be very helpful, especially to someone who is currently going through something similar. We forget sometimes that bad things don't just happen to us, but to others as well. If you have a testimony to share, please send it to me. I would love to read it for my own growth, and perhaps we can find a place on this page for it as well.

Resources

Too often it happens that there are pre-existing resources who help many people, and there are many people who have no clue that those resources exist. This page will help to bridge that gap and connect you with organizations, individuals, and websites that can help you in tangible ways. I realize that I am, in some ways, reinventing the wheel. Unfortunately, the wheel has been corrupted in many cases, and some of these resources have hidden agendas and people working in the background that do more damage than good. I'll do my best to do my homework and weed those out so that more people can be connected to resources that operate in righteousness and integrity.

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HEALTHY LIVING

Often the choices that we make in regards to the things we allow into our body can have the most tremendous effects on what we think, how we think, and how we deal with stressful situations.