I started having same-sex attraction as a young teenager.  However, about then I had an experience that made me aware that God was real.

When I was 17, my mother died, and 2 years later I developed a depression that gradually deepened over the next 4 years. I often cried privately and prayed to die.  My behavior became more erratic until one day the police took me to the hospital and I wound up in a padded room.  That was a “bottom” experience for me.

A friend invited me to a Billy Graham Crusade in 1988 where I decided to surrender to the Lord. Though I didn’t immediately feel different, my life started to improve. The first time I got really absorbed in reading the Bible, a tormenting inner feeling I had for years suddenly left.  I started going to a church where I often experienced the tangible presence of God and I learned a lot about how God really is.

I frequented a local ex-gay ministry and started getting in touch with my masculine nature.  The leader invited me to an Exodus conference in 1999 where I saw God the Father holding me as a child and weeping uncontrollably over me.  I had another healing encounter at Exodus in 2001 when Jesus powerfully told me that I am not a mistake.

My testimony is that I was a tormented wretch with no hope, but now because of Jesus I’ve got peace inside and my life gradually keeps getting better.