Good morning. Hi my name is Anthony. I am 31 years old. I can say by the grace that God has shown me, he has pulled me out of some pretty dark times. Always knowing there was a God.  I was so blinded by worldly things. Filled with so much hurt, never feeling loved, feeling abandoned, losing my mom and dad at a young age to drugs and being raised by my grandparents that abused us mentally and physically. I would act out for attention. Suspension after suspension (from school) , expelled  four times, and then Juvenile Hall. I was following in my family’s footsteps. I was out on my own when I was 17. I got my first felony a week later after I turned eighteen. I gave up on life. I started hanging around people that I called “friends” that were using drugs. Before I knew it, I was using with them.  I felt like it filled a void that was missing with all the wrong things. I felt a sense of belonging finally, someone that cared. The lifestyle I was living was going to take me down a dark road, and it did from selling drugs to using every drug in the book.  Felony upon felony and pushing everyone that did care away.  I was isolating myself from the world only to find out I was looking at twelve years in prison. God showed mercy. I ended up doing eleven months, and all I could think about is all of the wrong doing and hurt I caused people. I did not want to be the same person I had been. I was sure that I was done with that lifestyle. I found myself homeless and on drugs. Then I finally had enough. I started going to NA meetings with the willingness and desire to want better for myself. For the first time in my life, I had a little over a year and a half off of hard drugs. Because I had that gift of desperation, I was able to get off of probation. I held down a career with the Carpenter’s Union for a little while, over a year. I know my Lord Jesus Christ was there the whole time. I truly feel that he place people in our path for a reason. I feel like God brought me to God’s Ranches to strengthen our relationship. I have come to realize that I can’t live life without Him. I just felt in my heart that this is where God wanted me, and I am learning so much here.  1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour.” See I find truth in that. I truly feel that the Bible is basic instructions before leaving earth. With that being said, I am here to do God’s will, not my own.

Thank you Tommy , Vance, Rick, Jeremiah, Rob, Billy, Tom,  Chris, Andrew, Brett, Lou and Country, for being great disciples and showing the way. Thank you also to all my brothers in Christ. You all helped strengthen my walk with the Lord.

Thank you.

Anthony Patchin