Peter Gladwin survived a house fire when only one year old. Later he got into bad ways, serving 3 months in prison at 13, was knifed on a bus when he was 15, and was knocked down by a car at 24. “I did what a lot of people do when it comes to handling hurt and pain”, Peter says, “I hit the bottle. I was sleeping on benches, taking drugs. When I was 27, I got the telephone call from my brother that my dad had committed suicide.”
One morning Peter was on a bridge thinking the only way out was to go the same way as his father. He looked up and saw the block of flats where his mum lived. He ended up stepping back and going up to his mum’s flat. “My mum had never seen me in such a state. But she went and put the kettle on and brought me a cup of tea!
Then she rang my sister. Unbeknown to me, my sister had become a committed Christian eight weeks previously. She said three words that hit me so hard: ‘God loves you’. She said the only thing
stopping me from having a relationship with God was my sin, but the good news was that Jesus had died and paid the penalty for my sin, so I could come back into a relationship with God. It made sense – I just knew that this was my destiny: to come to know God.”
“Within a few seconds I was crying down the telephone, asking Jesus Christ to come into my life. As I did that, I looked into the corner of the room and it was either Jesus or an angel standing there saying, ‘Come to me and I will give you rest.’ I knew I didn’t want to kill myself anymore. I gave my life to Jesus. I ended up working at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.”
“Then God called me to set up as a full-time evangelist. I go into churches, prisons and schools in this country and abroad. We’ve got a big ministry in Poland in tough prisons. I remember this really rough-looking bloke started shouting at me. I thought, ‘What have I said?’ The translator said, ‘Don’t worry, he isn’t having a go at you. He’s saying, “Why haven’t we heard this good news before?” Peter has written books, his latest being, “Out of the Darkest Place: God’s Comeback Plan for Your Life.”
Source: Premierchristianity.com
Bible Study: Romans 1:16-17
PRAISE God, he is the Saviour and transformer of lives.
PRAY for great fruit through Peter’s ministry.