GOD IS ALIVE AND WELL
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help other people going through hard times. I accepted Christ at a young age (10) because I lived with an alcoholic father who beat me and raped me till I was 13. I ran away and hitch hiked to California where I lived for 4 years as a male prostitute, taking drugs and drinking. The whole time I was working the streets, I was running from life and God.
At 17, I was arrested for prostitution and was sent home to my mothers house with a new the right path. Satan stepped in again to keep me working the streets, but still going to church I was in battle with my own soul. I stayed in this situation till I was 25 when I went to jail for 6 months for prostitution. Here I was a manager at a local fast food restaurant and working the streets.The whole time I was a mess, always depressed and lonely looking for love. I did my time in jail and that's when I met a man that knew God, I studied the word of God for those 6 months and prayed for my soul. When I got out of jail I still lived with a male lover for 2 yrs. going to church thinking that it was Okay to do this.
At the age of 27, I met a women who was 10 years older, and had 5 children. I began dating her and ended up falling in love with her and giving up my gay lifestyle, or so I thought. In a year we were married and now I took on a family, and still the feelings for men were attacking me all the time. After several years of marriage and several affairs with men on the side I could not take it anymore. Here I was married to a wonderful women and 5 adopted children;WHAT WAS I DOING? I have since re-dedicated my life and have not looked back!!!
One day my wife and I got up to go to work. We had been praying for months for the Lord to take over our lives, when this day I was driving an hour and half to work. I got off of the expressway at 6:30 am the same time my wife opened our door to a little girl who asked her for clothing, all she had on was rags. My wife gave her an outfit.When I got off of the expressway, there was a man dirty and asking for food, I gave him my last wife shut the door and decided she wanted to see where the small girl was going. When she opened the door, the girl was gone, as I turned on the road I looked in my mirror to see that the man made it across the busy street and he was gone. When my wife and I saw each other after work we told each other our stories (Angels, no other answer).
That's why today my wife and I run a ministry called Helping Hands Care Ministry. We help the poor and needy with food, clothing, and household items and the Lord has blessed us everyday with more and more donations and families to help. I hope this will help you to understand that no matter what we go through, God is alive and well and working in our lives. David & Jenny Ritenour
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