In the late 50’s when I was 10 or so years old my grandfather got a TV (Black and White of course).

I was in the living room on a Saturday watching TV by myself. We could get three stations, one sort of OK and the other two with a lot of snow.

I remember seeing an Oral Roberts telecast. Being brought up a Catholic my family would make fun of Oral and his healings. They would say that they were all staged and that he was a phony.

I watched the show nevertheless since there was not much else on. At the end of the show Oral asked people in the tent and at home if they wanted to know that they would go to Heaven when they died.

As a Catholic I knew I would go to Heaven if I had not sinned since my last confession, which happened a lot. I never had assurance of really going to Heaven most of the time.

So I raised my hands when he asked us to and prayed along with him as he recited the sinner’s prayer for salvation. I remember being so scared of someone seeing me with my hands raised. What if I was found out? The Catholics spoke hell and damnation on anyone believing anything else that the Catholic Church.

Something happened in my life. The seed was planted and sprouted. It took 20 years before I made a heart felt confession for Christ. But I knew within that God had a plan for my life and was going to use me to do some good in the world.

My fledgling faith and mom’s intense commitment to the Church molded me into a soft spoken deeply driven individual. Yet my life did not play out the part until late in life.

After much prayer and wrestling with God and my past I have broken free from the stronghold which strangled my life for so long. My involvement with Word of Life Christian Center was a major turning point for me, along with meeting and marrying Ana.