By Mike Ennis, Faith Community Fellowship, Springville Campus Pastor
Sometimes life just does not make sense. As we look around and see the crazy things that are happening, life just gets more confusing. It seems like what should be right is wrong and what should be wrong is right. When we examine our own life, it can be just as confusing. We are all products of our life experiences. Sometimes it’s all we know.
The good news is that no matter what our life experiences have been, there is hope for the future. The story below illustrates that no matter how you start, your finish can be different. Look at Michael’s story….
Mike Ennis
What is a normal life? My whole life, I thought everything wrong was cool and everything right was dumb. My family, as a whole, was pretty “non-normal”. My biological father was an ex-military man that became an alcoholic. My mom controlled and organized the illegal gambling in our city and never once did anything with us as a family. My stepfather was a retired cook in the Navy with the authority of an officer and in the Phillipino mafia. My sister joined Hispanic gangs at the age of 12, addicted to drugs and in and out of prison.
As for me, everything that I thought was normal was being dropped off at an elementary school in lowriders, ditching school in the 3rd grade with my sister, looking up to the big homies and lifting weights at the age of 9, break dancing in the streets at 12, experimenting with multiple drugs at 13, getting involved in the gang scene, robbing, stealing and doing anything and everything that was gangster. This was my “normal” life.
I graduated from high school and lived in my car. I got caught up and was asked by my surrogate father to leave the state for something his son and I did. Death would’ve been the outcome had I stayed. I left the state and ended up getting married and had 2 beautiful children. I had a great career and I did what I thought was normal. I mentally and verbally abused my family, not realizing the negative impact I was making as a husband and a father. Divorce was hard. My kids hating me was devastating!
It took a divorce to open my eyes and see something wasn’t normal. I began working on myself by doing the opposite of what I had been doing. It started with humility rather than acting tough. An unexplainable situation led me to church and I accepted God into my life 2 years ago. His forgiveness and His many blessings have been unequivocal. I have a blessed relationship with my kids, a beautiful godly fiancé, and peaceful normalcy that is priceless!
My whole life I’ve been covering up and hiding from shame. With God in my life today, I know that even for the bad I’ve done, God has not forsaken me and has been waiting patiently for me to seek him. In return, I now know the true meaning of unconditional love. God sacrificed his only begotten son to cleanse us of our sins.
No matter what life has dealt you, there is hope and unconditional love is available. It’s not how you start but how you finish. I encourage you to be a part of a healthy, vibrant church family that can help you find that unconditional love. If you need help with your “normal,” feel free to reach out to me at mike@fcffamily.com. Remember, you are loved…you are going to be okay…and you are going to make it!
