 with
Glen & Phyllis Stevenson
Glen: I was raised in Peguis First Nation (Manitoba) and have lived there all my life.
I married Phyllis when I was 18 years old and for a few years was just basically
going through life. When I was about 25 years old I started experimenting with
things that I shouldn't have -- like alcohol and drugs. I thought that it was
just normal living.
But troubles started coming in, and alcohol started to control me -- but
just a little bit. I thought that I was still in charge of my life. But these
things, including gambling, just crept into my life and started to affect us.
And I see now that I was controlled by these things pretty bad. Our marriage
wasn't solid any more, and we began to struggle with it. And all these things
made it hard on our kids, too. Looking back, I think it was really rough on
them.
Phyllis: I was born into a home where both my parents were Christians. So I was taught
about the Bible and about the Lord. As I got older, I went to Bible camp and
that's where I really learned a lot about the Lord. It was when I was 12 years
old that I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
And for a while it was great. I really loved it. I was having a ball. We had
youth group, and I went to church with my parents. But that didn't last very
long because I just kind of went my own way. I moved away to the city and I
guess I was just overwhelmed with everything that was there ... and so much
freedom. And I just basically did my own thing. I knew what I was doing was
wrong, but I still did it. But what I was taught never left me -- it was always
there with me.
Then when Glen and I got married and had our three children, I just naturally
began teaching them the things about God that my parents had taught me -- even
though I was not living a Christian life myself at the time. I am so thankful to
this day that I put that teaching into them right from the start.
As Glen mentioned, his drinking started causing problems in our marriage.
Then it was gambling, and then things really got worse because I got into
gambling, too. And I loved it -- you know, I went to bed dreaming about
gambling. And the first thing that popped into my head in the morning was
gambling. And, like Glen said, it was hard on our children.
I tried to justify it by saying, "Well, I always have food for them. I
am always there for them." But the truth was that I really wasn't always
there. I didn't see that. I guess I didn't really see how it was hurting
them. I was too involved with my own life, just doing stupid things trying to
win a lot of money -- even lying to get money to gamble. I drank, too, and
tried to justify that by saying, "I don't really drink that much." I
know now that you don't have to do it much before you're hurting your
family.
But it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore -- I just couldn't
live that way anymore.
Glen:
I grew up being taught to work hard, and to treat others good -- that's all
that was important in life. I don't remember ever going to church. And my wife
can tell you that, after we were married, I never talked at all about God. God
didn't mean anything to me.
Even though I believed in work, and I worked hard, I knew that my life was
not good. I remember in February of 1998, I had just got home one day after
spending all our money. I was in the bad habit of taking my pay cheque and
spending most of it on gambling -- like VLTs. That's what I would do every
two weeks when I was paid -- spend most of it and then leave my family with
nothing.
But that day a man came to our house -- I remember it really clear. I had
just come home after a weekend out with my buddies. I was feeling sorry for myself,
and feeling sorry about what I had done with my money -- how I had hurt my
family.
I remember a knock on the door as I was sitting in the kitchen. So I answered
the door and the man standing there was the pastor of the Dallas (Man.) Community
Gospel Fellowship -- Pastor Carroll Hill was his name. He asked if he could
come into the house and share the Gospel with us and I said, "I don't
know ... what do you mean by ‘the Gospel'?"
He said that he just wanted to talk about Jesus, so I said, "Come on in
... I guess it can't hurt any. Everything is all messed up anyway." I
thought that it couldn't hurt to ask a preacher to come in.
He came in and asked if he could share some Bible reading with us and I said,
"Sure, that would be alright." After he read he said that he somehow
felt that I wanted to tell him how I was feeling but didn't know how to bring
it out. And it was true that I was feeling really guilty for what I had done and
wanted to tell him how I felt. Then he said, "You know, if you put your
trust in God, He can take care of your problems."
After that visit I went to a Bible study. There were people sitting around a
table, all with their Bibles open, reading and talking about Jesus. Still I
remembered that Pastor Hill had told me that if I put my trust in God and gave
my life to Him, then He would take my problems away from me.
I was hurting inside. I felt really awful. And I remember toward the end of
that Bible study, our pastor said, "Would anyone here want to give their
lives to Christ?" I knew right away that it was time. A change took place
in me right then that I can't explain. I remember saying in my own mind,
"Yes, I want to give my life to Christ. I want Him to take away all my
problems." All of my problems were building up inside of me and I couldn't
handle it anymore. I remember really clearly giving my life to Christ that
night.
Phyllis:
When Glen came to know the Lord, I knew I had to do something, too. I remembered
my commitment to the Lord as a young person, but I sure didn't feel saved. So
I did make it right with the Lord. It didn't happen all at once, but as things
went on we started going to church. And we started serving the Lord.
Glen:
Well, I was free from the guilt of my sins, but all my problems were not gone!
Phyllis and I figured that we owed around $12,000 for all of the money we'd
borrowed for gambling. We had just borrowed a little here and there, but it had
all added up. It seemed like an impossible amount to pay back.
I remember the very next day after giving my life to Christ, I said,
"God, I'm going to trust you completely. You've got to help me with
this problem." So, as a brand new Christian, I learned how to pray and put
my trust in Christ.
And within 11 months we had paid this money back! It is hard to explain
-- at the time it seemed so impossible. I know for a fact that it was God that did
it for us. He allowed me to have a good job. I remember working hard and long
hours to make money, and how our kids helped us to make ends meet. Most of our
pay cheques would go to pay our debts. I remember us sitting at the table with
only $60 left out of a pay cheque. That's how we lived for 11 months -- but
we as a family got along and survived. That's what God did for us!
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