He Shall Direct Thy Paths
When I was very young I was put in the foster care system and even then God had a hand in my life and I didn’t even know it. I went through five foster homes during that time period. I don’t remember much about my first foster home, but in my second foster home, it was just me and my sister, Yvonne. In that home, I unfortunately lost my sister at just three years old to pneumonia. When she got sick our foster parents wouldn’t take her to the hospital which led to her unfortunate death. Still to this day I wonder what she would be like if she would’ve had a chance to grow up, but I do know that she’s with God and one day I will see her again.
I was immediately put in my third foster home when I was about five years old. I wasn’t there very long. I kept getting in trouble so they sent me away to my fourth foster home. I lived in that home for about a year. I was always in trouble. I wasn’t even out of the first grade and I was being brought home a lot by the cops. This was one of the main reasons I kept being sent from home to home.
Next to the last day of first grade I was coming home from school and walking up to the house where I saw my foster parents sitting on the front porch as I grew closer. They told me that I was no longer welcome in that home and that DSS would be there to pick me up in a few minutes. Sure enough, DSS came and I was sent to the next home, which was a big farm with lots of cows. I was asked when they dropped me off “Could you get in trouble here?” and I asked them “How long do I have?” Moving from home to home was all I knew, but this turned out to be the best home of all!
Wayne and Betsy Gaulnack were the names of my new foster parents. I do not remember anyone else who were my foster parents as these two were very special to me. I was able to feed and milk the cows daily. They actually cared about me, but again that was not the path God wanted me on. He had other plans for me.
Unfortunately, my foster dad, Wayne, passed away from some health issues and they told me that I couldn’t stay there any longer without a man in the house. Betsy really tried to keep me there but they refused to let me stay. I had been there for 5 years almost.
DSS had to search for another home for me and when they couldn’t find another home for me to live in, they removed me and they took me to the children’s home to visit. We walked around seeing everything and that evening when we were done, they took me back to the foster home. As I was getting out of the car, the DSS agent asked me how did I like it? I told him I didn’t think I had a choice in the matter, so just do it and get it over with.
A week later, at nine years old, I was placed in the children’s home. I stayed there until I was 17 years old.
One day, when I was about 16 years old, my stepfather and my mother showed up to the children’s home. I was off with some friends for the weekend when I was told my parents were at the home to see me. I told him that couldn’t be possible because I didn’t have parents, but I was made to come back to the home to see them. I had never met my mother or stepfather before. When I got back to the children’s home I walked in and looked at them and said “so you’re my parents. Where have you been?” Then I turned around and left. For a time I was forced to go visit them on the holidays and I really did not like being there. My mother was never really attentive, but my stepfather was a good father figure to me. I wanted nothing to do with them but, there again, Christ interceded. He was sending me down another path that was guiding my life, but yet I still wasn’t paying attention.
At age 17, I joined the military for four years. My first duty station was Yokosuka, Japan, where I had a lot of problems and I started using a lot of drugs and I drank a lot. After 2 years, I left Japan and came back to the East Coast. I was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida and my drug problem grew worse.
I got out of the military after four years and came to Charleston, South Carolina, not really knowing that God was still working in my life. I continued to ignore Him and steadily began doing even harder drugs, and drinking a lot more, which got me in trouble.
One day on the job site a guy name Scott Hagan came by and started talking to me. We somewhat became friends and without fail he would tell me “We’re having church Wednesday night, we’re having church Sunday morning.” He always invited me to church. When the devil had taken my life to the breaking point and I didn’t think that there was any way out and I couldn’t bear it anymore, I remembered what Scott had said to me on the job.
So I visited Christ’s Sanctified Holy Church in Hanahan, SC and I found what Christ had been guiding my life to and what he wanted from me. I was invited to go the Evan’s, GA feastmeeting with some CSHC members and I weren’t and attended service. The Lord started speaking to me and I turned my eyes and my life towards Him that day. God sanctified me and saved me from my addiction to drugs and alcohol. I’ve been serving the Lord for 27 years now and it was the best thing I ever did. I don’t regret a minute of it! Scott saved my life because if God hadn’t put him in my life, I’d probably be dead by now. So don’t ever give up! Don’t ever think that you have no way out. Christ is guiding you. All you have to do is open up your eyes and listen and know that He has been there the whole time, just waiting for you to turn your eyes towards Him.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” - Proverbs 3:5-6
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” - Psalms 32:8
John Brandow