This is not a war story

but one of victory.

I can hear the freedom bells ring

and my heart sings

because once I was a captive now liberated by the King.

But that’s just the thing

I wasn’t always free.

Even at age three I couldn’t stand being me

and as I got older my value was harder to see.

I was lost with no direction

chasing an illusion of perfection

never quite good enough all I found was rejection.

My efforts were futile and in my deflection

I threw in the towel as a form of self-protection.

On the path of destruction I broke my moral compass

and consumed a controlled substance to escape into oblivion numbness.

When I was high I was on a euphoric summit

but when the drugs were gone I’d plummet.

I didn’t mean to sell myself into slavery

but by the age of eighteen I was a heroin fiend

and I had played myself right in to the devil’s scheme.

Stuck in a bad dream I opened my mouth

but all that came out was a silent scream.

I can’t tell you how many times I tried to get clean

each time I thought, “this is it”

but it was all a smoke screen.

So I wandered the streets hopeless hollow and dead.

Inside I felt this feeling of constant dread

and my very life was dangling by a thread.

Surviving overdoses and car wrecks

I wondered “why am I still here?”

But just when I thought it was over

the love of God drew near

telling me He had always been right here through the years

watching over me and catching all my tears.

He told me not to fear and to be of good cheer

and if I’d just follow Him I’d be in the clear.

He took the shards of my heart and He fused them

back together with a love so tender

all for His great pleasure.

And I’ll never give up the treasure of

being tethered to Him forever.

Because once I was a transgressor on the roadway of sin,

but now life is one grand adventure with Him.

God’s Light led me out of the empty pitch black

I’m free forever and I’m never going back.

(p.s. Sorry about the message before the poem in the video, this video was made before I knew I'd be submitting on here.)