Jeff

"I was adrift, heading for a fall and didn’t even know it.  At the time I believed that through my own personal strength I could do anything, handle any situation, and I surely didn’t need Christ in my life. After all, that is what I was taught growing up, and that is what had worked for me up to that point in my life. Fortunately for me, God’s grace can work on the hardest head and in the hardest heart.

My wife and I were relatively new to the San Antonio area, and were invited by friends to a new church in San Antonio. That church was Redeemer. From the beginning, I was made to feel comfortable and welcome. The sermons on Sundays challenged me to ask questions about faith and myself.  I never once felt like I was being “preached” to. Within a few months, my wife and I attended new member class, joined a great small group and later confessed my faith in Christ before the congregation and we were baptized as Christians for the first time.

Everything seemed great in my life as a new Christian, but I doggedly held on to my sinful old ways that had worked for me all my life. This pattern became even easier when my job took me away from my wife, San Antonio and Redeemer for an extended period of time. Everything about the position I was in fed my sinful nature and core belief that I was the driver of my own fate. This belief led me down the path of temptation to make a series of bad decisions, and ultimately an adulterous affair. My sinful and selfish actions resulted in my fall and an extremely difficult time in my life. It ended my career, jeopardized my future prospects, and very nearly ended my marriage. There were several occasions where I felt that dying would have been more favorable than what I was suffering through.

Only now with 20/20 hindsight do I realize with clarity that this was the path I had to take for my redemption. Sometimes you have to fall to rise up. I was a wayward son that needed God’s discipline to grow in my faith.  At Redeemer, the support and counsel my wife and I received during this personal crisis was selfless, overwhelming, and I never felt like it was judgmental. I asked God, my wife and my new church family for forgiveness, and it was given. Since that time I have grown in my faith. My life has worked itself out in wonderful ways with a new career, a family of my own, and a relationship with my wife that is stronger than ever. I am truly blessed!"