Brent Aschenbrenner
I was a good kid who made mistakes but thought my good would outweigh my bad and God would let me into heaven on my own merit. I heard you need to be born again and that was confusing to me. I asked more questions and realized the Bible which I had heard many lessons out of stated I deserved death and there was no way I could be good enough to get to heaven on my own because you had to be perfect. I knew I wasn't perfect. I kept asking questions and experiencing new things people shared with me from the Bible. They shared that faith is believing in God and that Jesus his son, came to Earth livid a perfect life and died on a cross for the sins of the world, including me. A family friend shared with me a tract explaining salvation through belief in Jesus death and resurrection. I took that tract and a week later I saw an episode of 20/20 highlighting a guy who had murdered 2 young college aged girls while he was strung out on drugs. He shared that he was deeply sorry and that someone had shared the Truth of Jesus with him in jail and he asked Jesus to forgive him and redeem him from that mistake and I a kid who did little to nothing wrong in a small town in Central WI could sense this man had a peace I didn't have. Have you ever experienced God's peace, it is life changing. It was for me when I prayed that prayer on that tract back in 1997. God has worked through many rough edges in my life. The biggest for me was addiction to pornography. I was going to church and saying I'm fine but it wasn't until I got real about my sin with a group of guys that I could find healing. A traveling evangelist came to do a conference and I attended. Then he shared at my church the next morning and then shared at a different church that night and I had agreed to give him a ride back to his place he was staying. He prayed over a room of guys and I was expectant for God to heal someone in that room and it was me. God changed my heart and with accountability I got free from pornography. I then started leaning into the teaching of scripture and reading even more on my own and I just kept changing. Slowly God kept changing my heart and helping me when I stay connected to him, he uses people and situations to change my pursuits and desires. God is amazing and is growing me everyday.
