Soul Food
Soul Food
Broken Beyond Repair (Part 8)
What happens when you find yourself at the lowest point in life, convinced there's no way out? Devon and Lisa once believed they were broken beyond repair until a profound transformation altered the course of their lives. Joined by Bishop David, we uncover their journey from the depths of despair to the heights of hope, guided by faith. Devon opens up about the havoc wreaked by alcohol and drugs, which led to jail time and the dissolution of his first marriage. Lisa speaks candidly about the void left by an absent father and the toxic relationships that ensued. Together, they paint a vivid picture of redemption, healing, and newfound purpose.
Devon and Lisa embarked on a path that led them to overcome addiction, find stable housing, and secure new job opportunities. Their story is a testament to the life-changing power of faith, community, and personal determination. From mere friends facing individual battles to a united couple with stability and purpose, they exemplify how lives once thought irreparable can indeed be restored through faith in God.
It's time for Soul Food Podcast.
Speaker 2:Broken Beyond Repair. The untold stories of those who were once broken.
Speaker 3:They were once broken, but now they are repaired, restored and, yes, they do have a new life. Today I'm talking about Devon and Lisa. They were broken beyond repair, but you know what? Our God never fails no, he never fails. Bishop David, thank you for joining us once again in today's episode. It's a pleasure. Our God never fails, and he is the one. The scripture says that he came for the lost sheep of Israel. The lost sheep are those who are completely broken. You know.
Speaker 4:Sometimes people think you know God's only going to accept me if my life is okay. No, God is looking for people, like you said, who are lost, who are destroyed, whose lives are messed up. If you need help, you just need to come. Don't worry, Don't try to fix your life by yourself. You can't Just come. And if you're dirty, you're broken, you're sick, you have addictions, just come to God, Come to the universal church, and God is going to start to heal you and put you back together again.
Speaker 3:That's right. He said that he was sent. He was sent to the lost ship of Israel. He was sent to the lost ship of Israel and this couple here by my side. They were lost. Jesus found them. Thanks for joining us today's episode, devon and Lisa, who's going to be the first? You go first, so tell us how broken were your life when you first came into us.
Speaker 1:Um, it's broken. Um, you know, I I was uh hanging out, you know, with with the wrong type of people out on the streets, um, drinking every day. Um, I had, you know, different relationships, you know, and problems with different relationships, and so you know that led to, like you know, heavily drinking and doing drugs and just hanging out, you know.
Speaker 4:And even you had some times in jail or prison.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And that was because of what.
Speaker 1:Bad relationships, bad choices in the relationships. You know, I went to this. Last time I went to jail it was for domestic violence and I did about a month in jail and it really woke me up to the point where, you know, I know that this my life is, you know, is going down the wrong road, so that was what LA County. Yes.
Speaker 4:So that's, that's a rough place.
Speaker 1:That's a rough place, yes, and they had me at wayside and I was in jail for domestic violence, but they had me in a holding tank with guys that was getting, you know, 25 years to life and 55 years and you know guys that committed murder and guys that committed more serious crimes, you know.
Speaker 3:So you were broken to the point of going to jail drinking, smoking, and you lost your first marriage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, first marriage. Yeah, lost my first marriage due to just alcohol and being young. You know, because at the time we got married I was 22 years old and she was 21. And you know I was drinking heavily, you know, going going to bars, drinking with friends and just really drinking heavily back back there, you know, and from that you know again, relationship problems, trust issues, issues. I was real insecure about myself and you know the relationship that I was in with her, you know. I thought, you know she was doing some things that she wasn't doing because of the alcohol and we would get into fights and in front of my kids you know my two sons at the time and I went to jail that time. I went to jail for about a couple of weeks, two weeks. I was in jail for that.
Speaker 3:Right, Lisa. What about you? Your side, the story of your life. You did not know him back then.
Speaker 5:Actually, we did know each other back then Really, we met when we were 19 years old. We met on the bus and we remained friends throughout. You know it's been like over 20 years. You know we remain friends and we would see each other sometimes not while he was married, but, you know, after that and before that and we would always get drunk together and get high together Every time we saw each other. For those 20 years we never spent time sober, you know, it was just always a party. You know.
Speaker 3:Let me ask you something. He was broken. He already told us. What about you?
Speaker 5:How broke were you? I was very broken from an early age from my father not being in the home. He left when I was younger and I felt empty because he wasn't there. I can remember times where my mom will be driving in the car and I'll be looking out the window looking for him and asking her all the time. You know, where is he? I want to see him, but I never did until I was an adult. So the last time I saw him I was like five years old. So that really left the emptiness in me and I found myself associating myself with guys at an early age to fill that emptiness. Myself with guys at an early age to fill that emptiness which just really led to a disaster because I was too young, you know, to even be thinking about having a boyfriend. How young.
Speaker 3:Twelve, twelve. So we see here that broken home also creates broken families, broken relationships. You don't know how to be a father, how to be a mother. Your children will also suffer because they will never learn. She did not have a father figure in her life. Twelve years old, having a boyfriend.
Speaker 4:And you know she was like starving for attention. And then she you you started looking for attention with all the wrong guys, exactly because I'm sure the guys you're involved in weren't good for you no, they wasn't.
Speaker 5:They were older than me and um, they, you know, there was verbal abuse, um, um, physical abuse, you know, during my teenage years, um, and it just it didn't lead to anything good. I ended up having a baby, uh, at the age of 18, I got pregnant in my senior year of high school and, um, my son's father. I met him when I was 12 years old and we ended up hooking up when I was 16. He moved next door, so that's how that relationship started, um, during high school and um, but also at 12, you started to use drugs yes, I was smoking marijuana and also drinking beer and alcohol with my cousins.
Speaker 3:How did you know about this church, the Universal Church?
Speaker 5:At work. It was a young lady that I was working with. She was going through a lot of problems. She was depressed, she was getting high all the time, her boyfriend was an alcoholic and she was just letting herself go. She wasn't keeping herself together. So one day she came to work and she was totally different. She had a glow to her. She came in, you know, walking fast and she was happy, and the first thing I saw was just like a glow, and I didn't even say hello to her. I was just like what happened to you? You know, like what did you do? You know, I was. I couldn't believe it and she was like I got delivered. She was like I don't get high no more. Her, her boyfriend I don't want to say his name, but she said that he don't drink no more. And when she said he don't drink no more, I was like what? Because I know he was an alcoholic and I'm like you knew him before.
Speaker 5:I knew him before so I was like, where is this place at? And she was like it's the Universal Church, it's in Reseda.
Speaker 3:And I said okay, if they can help me, it's the universal church, it's a recita and I said, okay, if they can help me, then I know it's real. Because let me interrupt you for a second and I want to tell you who are out there you who drink, you party, you have this toxic relationship. You never had the father figure, mother, you, you, you feel like trash, just a bunch of trash, right? Well, I want to challenge you to call this number right now. You are going to call this number. On the other side, you are going to find people that were just like you, people that were like you, and they are repaired, transformed. Call this number. It's 1-888-332-4141. This is the number for the challenge, or you can send me a text right now. We also work with text message 1-888-312-4141. Right now, I want you to see the transformation in their lives. What God did for them, he can do for you as well. Let us watch this video about the challenge. I'll be right back.
Speaker 2:Do you feel broken and helpless? Join now the Broken Beyond Repair Challenge and begin to see great changes in your life. Call now at 1-888-332-4141 or text the word challenge to 1-888-312-4141.
Speaker 6:You are now listening to Soul Food with Bishop Bera. Joshua, I can do In desperation. I'll seek heaven and pray this for you. I pray for your healing. Circumstances will change. I pray that the fear inside will flee. In Jesus' name, I pray that a breakthrough would happen today. I pray miracles over your life In Jesus' name.
Speaker 6:In Jesus' name, I speak the name of authority, declaring blessings every promise he is faithful to keep. I speak the name no grave could ever hold. He is greater, he is stronger. He's the God of possible. I pray for your healing. The circumstances will change. I pray that the fear inside will flee. In Jesus' name, I pray that a breakthrough would happen today. I pray miracles will buy your life in Jesus' name. Come believe it, come receive it. Come receive it, for the power of the Spirit Is now forever yours. Come believe it, come receive it. In the mighty name of Jesus, all things are possible. I pray for your healing. Circumstances will change. I pray that the fear inside will flee. In Jesus' name, I pray that a breakthrough would happen today. I pray miracles of vile life in Jesus' name.
Speaker 4:In Jesus' name name in Jesus name. So right now I'd like to to talk to Devon. It's Devon, right? Yes? So Devon, what's the transformation?
Speaker 1:that happened. How did God put you back together again? Well, one day, um, I, I was, I was just, I had moved back home with my parents and um I was, I was sitting there and I was, I was just. I had moved back home with my parents and I was, I was sitting there and I was intoxicated at the time and didn't know what I was going to do with my life, didn't have any idea of where my life was going or anything like that. And I just told God you know, I'm going to put everything in your hands. And about a week later, my wife at the time we wasn't married then she came over to my parents' house and she was just visiting and I was hanging out, you know, with you know, a bunch of guys just hanging at the liquor store drinking.
Speaker 4:But at that point you were like boyfriend and girlfriend or you would hang out together.
Speaker 1:No, just friends.
Speaker 4:Friends, yeah, and so she came over to your mother's house and what happened.
Speaker 1:She came over and she invited me to the Universal Church and I said, OK, you know, I went with her to the Universal Church.
Speaker 4:She had already been going.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the first time I went to the church I really liked it. I said, oh, you know this is a good church to go to. So she started coming over and picking me up and taking me to the church. So every week we will go to the church I say about three days out of a week um, because we will go on Mondays where they pray for your fine lack, financial life, and then we will go on Wednesdays where you know they deliver you from all kinds of different, different things like alcohol, drugs and um, things that you're going through, and on Sundays for church and um. And so they had a campaign coming up which was the campaign of Israel and um, the campaign of Israel is where you make a sacrifice and you know and the pastor will pray with you and he your life, you could get delivered. You know it's for deliverance.
Speaker 4:So that's a time for you to ask for something really big, a total transformation of your life, right? So you guys did that yes, you participate in the campaign of israel yes did you see changes?
Speaker 1:yes, immediately from there, you know, um, I stopped drinking, um, and I finally realized, you know, just, the Holy Spirit just told me that you know, hey, this is the woman that you need to be with. So I asked her will she marry me after all of these different changes start happening in our life, you know.
Speaker 4:So the thing about you stopping drinking was that a deal? Yes, my, my family had you tried to stop before yes, I, my whole family is drinkers.
Speaker 1:You know I was everyone raised, yeah, and except my dad, brothers, so brothers, sisters, your mom, aunts and uncles. Aunts and uncles, everyone, Everyone in my family drinks and you know, when we get together and we have dinner, there's alcohol there. You know, and I was drinking at an early age.
Speaker 4:So you were an alcoholic. You couldn't stop. You had to drink every day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was like a tradition in the family.
Speaker 6:Yes.
Speaker 3:Okay, nissa, you were inviting him to come to the church, so you were already in the church.
Speaker 5:I was already in the church.
Speaker 3:You were saying you found that friend and you found out that her life was changed, her boyfriend's life was changed, and you came to church.
Speaker 5:I came to church um, the first day I went to the church, um, I'm gonna be honest, I was high when I went, because I remember standing on the balcony and I said, okay, I'm about to go to this church and if it's real what she's saying, this is gonna be the last time I'm gonna get high. I've been wanting to stop. You know, I have been getting high for like 30 years. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't stop on my own. You know, no matter how much I prayed, I just couldn't. I was just smoking more and more. So I went to church and I talked to the pastor after the service and let him know everything that I was going through. We stood on the altar and I was crying so hard I couldn't even get any words out at first, because I've been holding so much pain inside for so many years. And once I explained to him everything I had been going through, he knew exactly what to pray for and he prayed for me. Um, and once he was done, the crave of the drugs and alcohol was gone. It was gone, completely gone.
Speaker 5:I had just spent like a hundred dollars on some marijuana. I had it in my car, I got rid of it and I remember going to my best friend's house that evening. She invited me over and I was like no, because all we do is smoke, because I still really didn't know for sure if I was, you know, like delivered from it. So I said, no, I'm a challenge myself and go and see. And so I went over there and sat in the room with her and even though I told her I was I don't smoke weed anymore she still was like here, you know, she didn't believe me and I was like no, I'm OK.
Speaker 5:Went to my cousin's house and everybody in there was smoking and they was like you're lying, you don't know, you know. And I'm like nobody're lying, you don't, you know, you know. And I'm like nobody believes me. And they would try to give it to me and I would like no. And I was surprised Like wow, after all these years, you know I finally don't smoke. I don't want to smoke, I don't like it, I don't want to drink, and I've been sober ever since and there was no going back. No, going back. No, it's been four years now.
Speaker 3:How long have you been married?
Speaker 5:for We've been married, yeah, about three and three and a half, three and a half years.
Speaker 3:Three and a half years, four years Good. So God has transformed your life as a whole. What do you say about marriage, deliverance, family finances?
Speaker 5:Like he was saying, during the campaign of Israel, we did a vow and we immediately seen changes in our lives. Like the homeless, we wasn't homeless anymore in our lives. Like the homeless, we wasn't homeless anymore. Um, the business picked up. He ended up getting two jobs. Um, we got a brand new car and I didn't even have a driver's license. I didn't have no money down or anything. I just went and I was want a car. You know, I just used my faith and did everything. The pastor, you know, taught us how to use our faith and I went and drove off the lot with the car, the car. Note that I wanted no money down, no driver's license. We ended up getting married and we just seen a total life change.
Speaker 3:What was your spiritual life? You had an encounter with God.
Speaker 5:Yes, I did have an encounter with God. I remember I had a cruise booked with my family and this was during the fast of Daniel, and I remember them teasing me saying why are you going if you can't do anything? You know you're not going to be able to go out with us or, you know, participate in anything. You might as well just stay here. And I'm like no, you know this is going to be a challenge for me and you know I'm seeking the Holy Spirit and I'm going to receive the Holy Spirit. So it was during the time I was on the cruise is when I had that encounter with God in the bathroom, away from everyone, and it was just a great, a great wonderful experience. I had the inner peace didn Did nothing, you know, bother me. I felt renewed, I felt complete and I felt happy and peaceful.
Speaker 4:And it's been that way ever since. That's a first for me I've never heard of anybody being baptized in the Holy Spirit on a cruise.
Speaker 3:But inside of the bathroom.
Speaker 5:Yeah, inside of the bathroom. So it's give and take. When you give your life, you surrender.
Speaker 3:So it's given, taken. When you give your life, you surrender. So you surrender all to God. He gives to you his all the Holy Spirit. Yes, so you both had an experience with God, baptism. With the Holy Spirit growing more and more, are you ready to stop or continue?
Speaker 5:Oh no, continue, I'm never stopping. I'm never stopping because I remember the life you know, the miserable life that I lived. That I thought was the life you know, I thought it was normal and compared to the life that I'm living now, I'm never going back, Never.
Speaker 3:Nissa. For those who say they are broken beyond repair, is there any way to repair their lives?
Speaker 5:Yes, by giving your all. It wasn't until I gave my 100% to God. All through life I would go to church, my grandmother would take me to church and as an adult I would go to church, but I would still have one foot in, one foot out and I didn't realize I wasn't giving my all. I thought I was saved, but I was still doing the same things even though I was going to church. So once I came to the universal church, I learned how to give my all, learned how to use my faith, and that's when I saw the changes. That's when I saw the changes. That's when I saw the changes is when I absolutely gave my 100% and let go of everything.
Speaker 5:It wasn't easy, especially family and friends that didn't want to be a part of my life because I wasn't doing the same things anymore. That was hard to let know, to let go, but I knew that I was on the right track because they didn't want to have anything to do with me. No more. That was a good sign, yeah, and I accepted it. And they will say, oh, you're not the same, no more, you change and you know. And at first I would get offended, but then I was like they're right. I have changed and I'm getting to know this new person myself, you know, and if they don't want to get to know her, that's their loss right.
Speaker 3:So Jesus came for people like this. It is written that he came for the lost sheep of Israel. If you feel like that, you are the lost sheep. See what the scripture says. He answered and said I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, those who feel broken. They are the lost sheep, but Jesus came to repair, to redo their lives.
Speaker 4:That's the job of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God wants. He wants to repair our lives, to rescue us, those of us who are lost. We don't have a life Like this couple here. Their life was broken, their life was destroyed and God accepted them back. Interesting that I was thinking, remembering that Nisa came high but God didn't care. Yes, god was just happy that she was there and that day she was healed of all the urges for drugs. So, come the way that you are, whatever, because the important thing is that you come to God's house.
Speaker 3:Come as you are. If you are high, you are drunk, you are intoxicated, come as you are. The Universal Church is a non-stop ministry and we are open every single day. Right now, as I'm speaking, you can call the helpline. You are not going to leave a message. You are going to talk to a real person. And when you walk in the Universal Church, you are going to talk to a pastor. You don't need to book a special council section. You just come as you are, just walk in. You are going to find us. You can be repaired Before God. There is no broken beyond repair.
Speaker 2:Broken beyond repair. The untold stories Broken Beyond Repair, the untold stories of those who were once broken. Thank you for listening to soul food you.