“I Used to Be Addicted and Suffered Eight Strokes”

 
I started smoking cigarettes when I was 17, and I smoked them for over 20 years. I started smoking weed when I was 21. I did vaping too, and it ended up becoming an addiction and a hobby because I was actually making my own juice and vape coils.

My mom and I used to go gambling multiple times a month. We really couldn’t afford it, but we still did it anyway because we were addicted to it.

I had six strokes when I was younger, and I had no signs of the strokes. I didn’t even know I had strokes until I had the last two. All of them were pretty significant; the first six were small strokes, but the last two were more severe.

I woke up one morning and couldn’t walk, and I did not know what was happening. I had to use a walker for about 10 months. And for about a year and a half, my memory was messed up.

Before that, I had a photographic memory and would remember things other people would not. It got to the point when I had the strokes, I could not even remember my favorite actors’ names, nor could I remember faces.

I used to be a chef, and I did not remember a lot of recipes or what to order. I forgot all that stuff, and I couldn’t work anymore at the time.

I was still smoking weed. I was still vaping. I had stopped smoking cigarettes when I was vaping. I stopped vaping before I stopped smoking weed because I was not planning on stopping either one of those at all.

My mother used to watch the Showdown of Faith TV program, and she started going to The Universal Church. I started going with her. I would go every Friday for the Chain of Prayer for spiritual deliverance and every Sunday.

I received strong prayers and through the messages from God’s Word, I began having more understanding about everything. The one message from the Word of God that I would think about the most is “Don’t get caught up in your drunkenness,” and I also thought about that I was not born with weed and cigarettes, and I didn’t need them.

God took away the addiction. It was definitely a miracle! Before, I used to smoke weed every day. I would get up and smoke it, and before going to sleep, I would smoke it. Today, when I come across its smell, it is nasty to me. I lost one friend because I don’t smoke anymore.

I received the Holy Spirit, and He filled all the void. I don’t feel empty anymore. I don’t feel like I need to do any weed or cigarettes; I don’t need that stuff anymore. I don’t get depressed anymore. God changed my life.

If you are going through something, a problem you can’t handle, hand it over to God because He can definitely help you. He can take away any addiction and pain that you don’t want and replace it with the Holy Spirit. But, you just have to be willing to do what is needed, because if not, then you don’t want to be saved.

—Raymond Patrick