COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED

God gifted my mother with endless talent and ability, and He wanted to use her to do mighty things for His kingdom on earth—to reach countless souls for Christ, to raise a good family, to be an exceptional wife and mother.

But Satan kept her from discovering her godly purpose. He seduced and distracted her at an early age, introducing her to the world of the occult, shielding her from the truth of God’s Word. By bringing my mother into a dark and evil world, Satan kept her from embracing the blessings that God had in store for her. He bound her, blinded her, and beat her into submission. She lived most of her life in chains—imprisoned by the Evil One, completely unaware of the goodness and mercy of God.

The day my mother broke free from Satan’s curse was the day that she finally began to see what God had planned for her life. She became a different person. Her eyes were opened for the first time, and she could see! She saw the hate and violence that she had lived with, and it was abhorrent to her. It sickened her to think of the way she had treated her family, the love she had withheld, the sin that had held her hostage.

Those beautiful green eyes that once had looked at me with such vengeance and hatred were suddenly filled with love. The tension in her face lifted, and a tremendous peace came over her. Jesus came into her heart and took away every ounce of fear, every hint of hate, every lasting shade of darkness and despair. He changed her completely. Finally my mother was able to embrace her purpose, her calling, her glorious future before God.

For the final twenty-five years of my mother’s life, she lived in God’s blessing and favor. She became the person He had created her to be—a wonderful wife and mother. Everyone she met was blessed by her kindness and her friends didn’t even recognize her. She was no longer the person I had grown up with. Her life was completely transformed by Jesus.

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run.