BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

allowed at a family Thanksgiving dinner. I couldn't be around my nieces and nephews. I was too volatile. Unpredictable. Nobody knew what I might do. "I cleaned myself up and got o drugs for a while. When I relapsed, I didn't see any reason to go on living, so I decided to kill myself. I checked into a hotel with drugs and razor blades. By now, I knew that my foster father was right. I was completely useless. I planned to run a bathtub full of water. Then I'd get high, cut my wrists and bleed out." A Dierent Kind of Death "When I started drinking, I talked to God. That night, I realized I was furious with Him. All that anger and resentment came out. I screamed at Him. I cussed Him. I blamed Him for everything. I went to war with God. I believe God knew that I needed to get that o my chest. He let me. He was willing to take it. He listened and allowed it. "I don't know how long it lasted. But I fell asleep without killing myself. The next morning, I woke feeling dierent. I knew that somehow, in all that rage, I'd connected with God. Something had happened. I believe that God heard me and saved me that night. I determined in my heart that I would find God B V O V : 1 3 and change my life, and He spoke to me. He told me to leave Montgomery and follow Him. I ended up taking a bus to Mobile." Once in Mobile, Brandon found a temporary job where he met a man who had been addicted to opiates. The man told Brandon about a program he had entered called Wings of Life that helped him to get sober. Through the program, the man had found Christ. Sometime later, Brandon met another man who, upon learning that Brandon had drug issues, invited him to Wings of Life. In June 2009, Brandon entered the ministry's 90-day residential program. After spending 90 days in the program, Brandon was oered the opportunity to attend Bible school. While there, his life was radically changed. He was born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. Upon graduating from the program, Brandon remained at Wings of Life as an employee—working primarily in maintenance and in the kitchen. Later, he was called into ministry, where he began to work with youth, and soon after began preaching. "I needed a lot of mental healing, which I received," Brandon says. "Despite my early diagnoses, today I'm whole. I take no medication and am a biblical counselor." Over the years, the Lord showed Brandon that there was still something he was holding on to: He still had unforgiveness in his heart toward his dad. "The memory seared in my mind was of my dad—a huge man—beating her (his mother). He dragged her to the backyard to finish the job. He looked like a monster, pounding and punching her. Strangling her. "That's what I remembered—a monster. I credit Kenneth Copeland and the Word of Faith for helping me understand that the things that happened to me in my childhood don't define who I am today." —Brandon Brandon with his wife, Cary Dawn. "

• Cover