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LEESA'S STORY
What a difference God makes!
I was living my life independent from
God and needless to say I was failing miserably.
I was caught up in sin and trying to heal myself with
methamphetamines. I
was blinded by guilt, shame, self-condemnation, anger, pride,
and trying to live a double minded life. I was the single mother
trying to provide for her children all the while drowning in my
drug addiction. I
thought I was fooling everyone, I participated in the school
PTA, school carnivals, etc.
All the while on the inside screaming for help.
I so desperately wanted out of my addiction for myself
and for my children but was to prideful to ask for help.
I was getting more and more involved in
criminal activity to make the provisions that I needed to
continue in my addiction.
See the thing is when you stop doing what you have
conditioned yourself to supply your existence in life you feel
like you are going to die.
To have the strength to face all the humiliation of your
sin and guilt is just to much to bear without the drugs to
provide a way of escaping.
But God heard my cry and sent His son Jesus to extend his
hand down into the pool of sin and muck and mire that I found
myself drowning in and pulled me out.
I was facing serious
charges when the courts allowed me to have
 an
alternative sentence to the Freedom Restoration Ministries.
I found courage and strength from my children, family,
and most importantly our Heavenly Father.
Before long I was on my long journey to recovery, freedom
from my addictions and forgiveness of my sins.
I spent many years in my own way of escape and I have
learned from my time at the farm that it takes time and
dedication through the love of Jesus Christ to change your old
behavior. God tells
us in His word I Corinthians 10:13
There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
God has transformed my life
and gave me the Christ-esteem I needed to break through all the
strongholds in my life.
He not only restored me but has restored my relationship with my
family and most of all, my 6 children.
Knowing who I am in Christ has made me a better mother
and my relationship with my children is better than it has ever
been. God has changed my
desires into His desires and out of my experience is leading me
in the direction to help other men and women that have been
where I have been. I
am blessed with the privilege to be involved with the
“Family Counseling” that the farm provides for the participants
and their families. I
not only get to share with them what God has done in my life but
He continues to show me where I can grow in my walk with Him.
Thank you Freedom Farm and all involved for providing a
safe environment where people can find freedom from their
addictions and strongholds.
The discipleship program at the Freedom Farm is a life
changing experience. I
would encourage everyone I know to stop from their busy lives
and the things of this world and build a strong foundation and
relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Our Family reunited through the Love and grace
of our Heavenly Father.
CODY'S STORY
God
Chastises Those He Loves
Hi, my name is “Cody” William
Watson. I am 22
years old. What led
me to use drugs was accidentally passing out while wrestling
with a friend. I
“came to” feeling really funny and fuzzy.
I liked it so my friends and I started doing this thing
where you take ten deep breaths and the n
put your hands around your neck.
Soon, later on, “Triple C’s” (something you can get over
the counter) were introduced to me and I thought of it as maybe
it would give me the same feeling only longer.
This led me to living a lie and falling in a hole I could
not climb out of.
The good news is that eventually I committed my life to Jesus
Christ in the Oklahoma County Jail.
But the story continues.
Before I went to jail and committed
my life to Jesus Christ, I was overtaken with an addiction to
the Triple C pills.
I got to where I not only felt bad without them but I also felt
bad when I was high on them.
When I was high I would go to pharmacy’s all over town so
that I would have more of the pills to get high on when I came
down (when the high ran out).
Eventually on May 5, 2006 I came to a point where I gave
up on life. I was
ready to die.
After walking aimlessly through the
streets for some time I poured gasoline over myself and let it
run down my body to the bottom of my feet.
I then dropped to my knees in the darkness of the night
and looked at the sky and shouted in complete seriousness; “If
there is a God named Jesus out there and you really care about
me you will have to prove it because if you don’t I am going to
kill myself. I give
it all to you if you’ll take it, if not, I can’t go on and I am
going to end it.” I
then reached in m pocket to grab a lighter but could not fine
one. I couldn’t
find it. I thought
it must be in my car.
As I walked back to my car to get a lighter I saw a
police car. I ran,
because of paranoia.
The police eventually found me in the woods with the help
of a search dog. I
was arrested on pending charges of various kinds.
As soon as I got to jail I emptied
my pockets and there were at least three lighters that came out
of my pockets.
Eventually, I was transferred from the Edmond City Jail to the
Oklahoma County Jail.
Here they put me on “suicide watch” for two days.
After that they took me to “A Pod’ on the sixth floor.
I was placed in cell 43.
In this cell was a big man named Meril Stafford.
Meril saw that I was confused and he gave me a Bible.
The first verse that stuck out for me was Hebrews12:6
which reads; “For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges
every son whom He receives.”
This is when I turned my life over to the Lord.
After being in jail for about seven months Chaplain Jorge
Vara asked me to work in the chaplain’s office and grade papers
and hand out Bible studies.
After about ten months the Honorable Judge Black gave me
an OR bond allowing me to seek physical and spiritual
restoration at the Freedom Restoration Ministries with Brother
Jack Pruett and Ms. Jamette Pruett.
I am now closer to Jesus than I have ever been in my life
and have “freedom and victory” in Christ and have been clean and
sober for seventeen (17) months.
I thank God for saving my life, and my soul, and leading
me to Freedom Restoration Ministries.
A FUGITIVE’S PRAYER
 After
many years of drug and alcohol addiction, loss of wife, children, and all
possessions I found myself sitting in a broken down apartment with a $150,000.00
warrant for my arrest over my head. All was gone except for the cruel taskmaster
of my addictions. Through the years I tried to break free, but I never succeeded
for more than a few months.
As I sat in an old worn out rocking chair in that apartment, I found myself
literally wringing my hands together in pure terror and anguish of soul.
Pleading with God. Asking Him to help me. To become real to me. I was not
willing to play church. If God was real, I wanted to experience Him. I had come
to an end of myself. I had hit the wall for the last time.
A week later I was arrested. A few months later, sentenced to 7 years in prison.
I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the answer to the prayer I prayed that
night in the rocking chair.
Since the day of my arrest I have never looked back. 30 years of alcoholism,
drug addiction, and a 2 ½ pack a day cigarette habit had come to an end by the
grace of my Lord Jesus Christ.
I studied my Bible with all my might during the next few years. During my
incarceration I was introduced to every Christian doctrine there is. All of them
told me theirs was the only true doctrine. I was unstable at this point; I just
didn’t know who to believe. Confusion and frustration had set in.
Then a man names Jack Pruett came to my prison. He told me, “Don’t just believe
what I tell you, see what the Bible says for itself.” He gave me Bible Studies
that were not hiding an underlying doctrine. No hidden agendas. He was faithful
to come every Thursday and just teach what the Bible says. I kept waiting for
the hidden agenda, but it never came. Just good, solid Bible. Just Biblical
principles that I could apply to my daily life. After 8 months of the Rock of
Ages New Testament studies, I got my certificate of completion. But more than
that certificate, something had happened on the inside, The Word of God had
changed me and began little by little to lift the fog of confusion and
frustration.
I could tell that Mr. Pruett really cared about me. He wanted what was best for
me. He wasn’t just looking to put another notch in his Soul-Winners Bible. He
began to tell me how most people who come out of a lifestyle of drugs and
alcohol wouldn’t make it without discipleship. They end up back in their old
ways. He told me about the Trinity Freedom Farm where men could be discipled in
an environment of solid Bible teaching.
I am writing this from the Trinity Freedom Farm right now. Jack and Jacque
Pruett drove me 1300 miles to get me here and deliver me personally. My life
here is being changed dramatically. I am getting a good foundation of the Word
of God to stand on.
After I graduate the Trinity Freedom Farm, they are going to help me get into
Bible College and train for the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God answered my prayer the day I prayed. He brought the Rock of Ages, the
Trinity Freedom Farm, and Jack and Jacque Pruett into my life. But even more
important, is that He did become real to me. And He will become real to you too.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Only Because of Jesus,
Stephen
Hampton.
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