My name is Rob Henry. I have lived in Welland for almost 4 years with the most beautiful wife, both inside and out. A man such as I could have only hoped and dreamed of someone like her. Lisa is certainly a clear indication to me of the favour of God on my life.
I was asked to share a little about myself and the journey I have been on for the better part of my life until where I am today. I couldn’t possibly start without being reminded of the verses that indicated my pitiful state prior to God’s sovereignty reaching into my life. Eph 2:12 says, “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” , and Col 1:21 says “...and you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled.”
You see, I was lost, without hope and separated from God through my sinful nature. It just took a long and painful journey of self affliction before I would look up and surrender to God what was already his… “me”...all of me. I was stubborn, rebellious and, to be quite frank, selfish. But regardless of my obstinacy, “God brought me out of darkness and into his marvellous light” (1Peter 2:9) “and now in Christ Jesus, I, who was sometimes far off have been made near by the blood of Christ!” (Eph 2:13)
The verse that sums this transformation process up for me personally is Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me and heard my cry He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord!”
I grew up in a small town near Ottawa called Smiths Falls; there were five thousand people, that is when everyone was home for holidays. As you can imagine there’s not much to do in a small town and to no surprise, it left much time on my hands! Those two ingredients alone made for a toxic recipe that would be a near fatal concoction for not only my brother and I, but would also seal the fate of many of our friends.
I got involved with drugs and alcohol around 13 which would eventually lead to a 20 year run of substance abuse and along with it came guilt, shame, emotional pain and hopelessness. Being 12 years old brought with it many transitions, as are natural, and entering a Pentecostal church in attempts to pursue a a spiritual journey was no exception. I believe that move was influenced by my Dad’s attempt to appease his own conscience regarding his spiritual convictions. The Bible says in John 16:8 that “the Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement.” Although this brought our family into the church and changed the spiritual climate in all our lives, it was also the catalyst that would set my brother and I on a self-destructive journey that would change the course of our lives and our families for good.
Somewhere along the way at that ripe old age of 12 I had made a commitment to Jesus Christ as Saviour. An altar call was made, my hand went up and Jesus Christ came in and took up residence. It was where the saving grace of God through his Holy Spirit, unbeknown to me entered into my life and heart and journeyed with me and became my companion through this whole 20 years, regardless of the self destructive behaviour I lived. The conviction of the Holy Spirit nudging me all these years was the key to me ultimately surrendering. Hind sight is 20/20 and I now realise that the drugs and alcohol were something to ease and fill the emotional pain of dealing with the low self esteem, insecurity, fear, abandonment, lack of affirmation and feelings of inadequacy I experienced at such a young age. The lifestyle made me so hard and insensitive, not even the suicide or funeral of my live in girlfriend who died before my eyes could move me to grieve. This set the stage and would ultimately bring me to a similar place at 32 years old where I overdosed on drugs and alcohol and ended up in a coma for 14 hours, not expected to survive. It was the love of God through His Holy Spirit that took me through it all, day in and day out, I heard His small gentle voice prompting me to turn my life around and at 32, I responded and entered Teen Challenge, not to rid myself of that lifestyle ,but to appease my conscience to get right with God before I died, somehow knowing that the lifestyle would disappear once I did. That happened the first night on my knees in repentance.
That one choice to enter Teen Challenge has brought me freedom in Christ, everlasting life and together we completed 2 years of Bible school and a missions trip to Ethiopia. We are committed to helping those we can, in any way we can, that is our purpose and our calling.
God has brought me through and out the other side and it was at Teen Challenge that I listened to a tape that transformed my life, Ray Comfort’s ‘Hell’s Best Kept Secret’. It ultimately brought me into the place of developing the boldness and desire to evangelize with everything in me.
I have devoted my life to sharing the Gospel and planting the seeds of life into others that were so strategically planted in my life.
Now that you have read this article, I would like you to think about a few questions... To those who believe in and have received Christ as their Lord and Saviour,
where were you before God called you? Are you planting the seeds of the Gospel into others lives as you once had planted into yours? Can you remember who was involved in leading you to drink of that living water? Have you actually put much thought into your former state and what direction you were heading in before you turned your life over to Christ? Do you feel compassion towards those around you who are lost?
To those who have not made that profession of faith in Jesus Christ and have not trusted him as Lord and Saviour, I ask you this question, “How is life working for you?” I mean...are you content, do you have hope, purpose, fulfillment, assurance of the future and most importantly, eternal security of where you will go when you die?
I understand that many reading this article are finding life difficult, but I hope that somehow your hope is restored and God works the soil of your heart by depositing some seeds of life today. Life may seem empty, your existence without purpose, hope may even seem like a stranger and you haven’t known peace. But I’m here to tell you that although not having experienced it, it does exist for you today, so I encourage you to silence your heart and still your mind, someone is speaking to you, reaching out to you and calling you by name and it may be through this story or it may be that small still voice gently inviting you to come to Him.
That was me and this was my story. The accounts of my life and how the seeds of God’s word and that of those who spoke into my life were sown in my heart at such a young age by numerous individuals is of utmost importance of why I am here today and the essence of how I can share this story. You know a farmer can prepare the ground, spend millions to purchase the most modernized and efficient equipment. He can prepare the barns to store large crops and hire labourers to work the ground and plant the seed, but if you don’t have seed, it’s futile and hopeless to even invest because the life is in the seed and is produced when planted in the soil.
In a world of despair, uncertainty, and purposelessness I have never more realized it then I do now that “hope” was the fundamental factor in my overall survival of the lifestyle I was immersed in and I believe it is the essence and key ingredient to a purpose-filled life and if it is absent and not something one is personally experiencing, then life becomes something of an enigma or mystery and soon becomes something not worth living for.
In conclusion many would be shocked that a man, once laden with fear, extremely shy and somewhat reclusive can become a zealot and social extrovert whose outgoing personality now confronts total strangers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am by no means different than any of you who may be reading this, in fact, the Scripture clarifies this point in,1 Cor 1:26, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are.”
With God it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or what you can do. With God all things are possible when a life is wholly surrendered to His will. It is at that point he will reach down into your life, take hold of you from the slimy pit and valley of the shadow of death where there’s literally no life and pull you up and breath his life back into those dead bones for his glory and purpose and give you hope and a promise and a chance to help those who are struggling. It is at that point you become his hands and his feet.
I am nowhere near close to where I want to be in my intimate relationship with God, but I am certainly glad I‘m not where I used be. It seems the closer I get to the Glory of God the further I seem to be.
I was, as the cliché says, a “dead man walking”, but that has since changed and this life is to bring new life to others until my life here is done.
God bless you all and thanks so much for your love and prayers and strong family support we have felt since coming here in July, 2005! We love Faith Tabernacle as our immediate family and are here to help those we can.