Alan Roberson

I am a 69-year-old retired man. I was saved in a local non-denominational church when I was 14 years old. I loved going to church. But when I was about 17 years old, I began slipping away from God.

I began drinking some and hanging out with other guys close to my age during my junior and senior years in high school. We were just tasting young adulthood and the freedoms we were beginning to experience, and looking forward to college days and life in general. I do remember that I continued to pray at night most of the time. I did not lose that tie to God.

But now I can't understand how I could have kept that communication going but still justify in my mind doing things that He did not approve of. Young, inexperienced, stupid....I don't know what, but that is the way I was. I wasn't a criminal or anything like that, and I never did drugs. But slowly I got to a point where I didn't think about God much.....unless I needed help with something.

I went on like that for most of my younger years. Without making this a very long, drawn-out dissertation on my whole life, suffice it to say that as I got into my 50s and 60s, I began to look back at life. There were good times and bad times, as is the case for most of us.

I went through a bad divorce at 36, and that really changed me. It was tough. For sure, God was there to help. A few years after that, I met and married a great Christian woman, and we are still happily married to this day. We just had our 29th anniversary.

Looking back, the single biggest realization that I had was that God never left me! After the divorce, I sank into depression for a long while. I asked God for help, and he was there for me. The guilt of having allowed myself to slip away from Him was tremendous, but I know I am forgiven, and life has been great now that I am back to Him and in better times.

I hope that people of any age who read this will understand that getting saved and staying devoted to God is the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you. The rewards are not only there for you in this life, but for eternity as well.

With God in your heart, do not worry and do not be afraid. Enjoy living life His way.