IN THE MIDST OF LIFE’S CHALLENGES
and darkest moments, many of us have
found solace, hope and a renewed sense
of identity by turning to the pages of the
Bible. Its timeless truths and powerful
narratives have the remarkable ability to
speak to the depths of the human soul,
offering a transformative encounter with
the living God.
Andy’s story is a gripping account of a man
who had reached the depths of despair. An
alcoholic, he was about to take his own life
while in prison for an unthinkable crime.
Years later he wrote:
I’d made the decision I had wanted to
make for over three years. I was going
to take my own life. Yes, my situation
was so hopeless I’d lost the will to live...
I was serving a life sentence for murder,
the result of me ‘losing it’ during a
drunken argument. That I couldn’t
remember what had happened as I was
in a blackout at the time only
compounded the dreadful
remorse I felt on a daily basis.
In that darkest hour, a still, small
voice urged him to pick up the
Bible – a book that had previously held no
significance for him. As he began to read,
something stirred within him:
I tried to put the book down, but could
not. Something was urging me on.
Then at Luke’s Gospel it happened,
chapter 15:11-32, the parable of the
lost son…The hopelessness that had
been always constant disappeared. The
wretchedness I suffered went also. Most
of all the idea I firmly believed that I was
unworthy of forgiveness was taken
from me…The angry, frightened
desperate person I had become
ceased to exist there and then.
When Andy read of the brother
who was ‘dead and is alive again; he was
lost and has been found’ (v 32), he realised
he was found indeed:
I wept openly with joy. Suddenly I had
hope. I couldn’t have told you what for,
From
despair
to hope
Niki Kinkaid shares how one
man’s encounter with
Scripture led from his darkest
hour to reconciliation and
a sense of purpose
32 ISTOCK, GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE
magnet Winter 2024
I’d lost the
will to live