Welcome to the month of LOVE everyone!
Well, we want to bring you a love story this month…a deep love between a Father and His son, a Heavenly Father and a drug addicted son…our son, Zack. It has taken us several months to get ready to tell his story. It’s a powerful one, and one that we have been in agony over for the last 7 years, until just 9 months ago. The ending of this love story however is majestically beautiful, as only God could plan it. A plan that took us through 7 years of torment, fervent prayer, heartache and misery, only to lead us to the most incredible miracle of all… a reborn son! And it happened in a jail cell on May 15, 2019…
Zack had been running from God for years. He experienced God in many ways earlier in his life; at church, at camp, even at Master’s Commission for a year when he was 19. He got married at 25 and divorced 3 months later. He was devastated. He dove into drugs and girls and fancy cars. He was making a ton of money then. And he became someone we didn’t even know. He didn’t call or come over. He was a liar and a manipulator. We couldn’t trust him. Ken and I were terrified. Here we were, counseling addicts all the time, and we couldn’t even help our own son. However, we prayed. We prayed BIG prayers for 7 years…every day. Many days I found myself on the floor weeping and begging and pleading to God. I had gotten to the point of realizing that Zack just might not make it. Then I had to wrestle with God until I finally got to the point of having to pray “even if”…even if, and I couldn’t finish the sentence out loud, but God knew what I was saying. No matter what happened, I would still love my Lord. NO matter what…even if…and the sobbing started again.
So, we started praying to God for whatever it takes, bring Him into your fold Lord, whatever it takes. That was a very scary prayer. But our faith was growing through all of this. Afterall, it was out of our control and we knew God WAS in control. Zack had lost everything by then; his job, his home and his cars. He was spiraling down. He was an opiate addict and now had gone on to heroin and fentanyl, because it’s cheaper, (but deadlier). But on May 8 he was put in jail. Finally, we knew God was answering our prayers. We talked to Zack about going into a new rehab we have here in Foley, Big Fish Ministries, a year-long program. He said he would go. Then our first visit came on May 15. He said he was already in jail and he didn’t want to go anywhere else, especially for a year, because that would be like jail too.
We left there absolutely devastated… again. We walked out of there knowing we had to let him go, and let God have him...
Then, when we got home that afternoon, we had a message on the phone from him, and in a quiet, small voice he said that he had changed his mind, and that he would go to Big Fish. Well, needless to say we were hopeful, yet hesitant. But when we went to see him the next week he was completely changed. His attitude was gone and there was a huge smile on his face. We asked him what had happened and he just said, “I had a moment”.
So, he did his 30 days and went to Big Fish. And on our first visit there we asked him again what really had happened in jail to change his mind. Then he hung his head and started crying, and told us he hadn’t been able to tell anyone yet because he couldn’t get through it without weeping. But he kept on with his story through tears, and our tears, and this is what he said: “After meeting with ya’ll that first day, I left the room mad, walking back to my cell, just being “petty” and mocking God. I said to God, ‘Well, if you want me to go to Big Fish, then you’re just going to have to send me a fish’! ‘Ha, ha’, he thought. But when he stepped into his cell, there was a blinding light coming through the window and he couldn’t see. And all of a sudden, He felt the Lord telling him to pray and all he can remember was the warm flowing love of the Holy Spirit pouring out His love into him and showing him he was worthy of love if he would just receive it. He kept saying ‘thank you , thank you, thank you’, over and over. It was God’s grace and mercy that was being revealed to him. He then knew Jesus was rescuing him from himself. And when he opened his eyes, there on the window was an etched Christian “fish” that he had never seen before! God had given him a sign. He was reborn. He was a changed man, a truly new creation in Christ and he knew it!
So, now after about 9 months he is fully living for the Lord. He is now a leader in the program, mentoring others and teaching classes. He’s also teaching classes twice a week with his counselor in the Foley jail, (where Ken also goes), and in the Orange Beach jail. His plans are to serve the Lord, and His goal is to also become a counselor in this program. So, the legacy for Son Shine Ministries jail ministry and counseling will live on!
We don’t always of course put our “junk” out there to our readers, because we know that you all have your own “junk” to bear. But we could not help but to glorify God through this, and we know there might be someone out there, like us, who is looking for answers in desperate times. Don’t give up! Keep earnestly praying with hope and faith. God only wants us to pray! “Not my will, but Your will be done”, (Luke 22:42), is the spirit of effectual prayer. And, we have to know God’s promises. And when we started praying God’s word, which for Zack was, “For God wants none to perish but all to come to repentance”, (2 Peter 3:9), that was a prayer that started opening up doors as well. We were believing that to be true by our FAITH. You can’t be double minded, but faithful in diligent prayer, and be patient with God. Just remember prayer is a powerful weapon! We will speak more about that next time.
So, we pray you are encouraged through Him!
Pray hard for love, Ken & Cindy
1 Timothy 2:8