My name is Alex and I am thirty-one years old. Until I was eleven, I was brought up in Russia where I had no knowledge of God or the Bible. I used to laugh, at that tender age, whenever I was told that some people still believed in the bible. For me, it was just another fairy tale like ‘Alice in wonderland’ to be read by little children or by people who were unable to think for themselves. Going to church for me and my family was just a waste of time. It was for week-minded people who needed a crutch to hang on to. Religion was like a bad drug. It was, as Karl Marx said, the opium of the people and I wanted nothing to do with it.

In 1998, when I turned eleven, my family moved to Kassel in Germany. My Mother bought a used table for our house and in a drawer, I found a bible. How strange! I wondered how people could still value, in this modern age of science and technology, a book like this? I felt confident I did not need this book to inspire me but, for some strange reason, I could not throw it away either. My idols were more down to earth, like rap artists and I listened to them all the time. I also followed their example. I fell into drugs, becoming more and more self-centered, and hurting others, including my family, but especially myself.

In 2003, when I was only seventeen, I had an emotional meltdown and was admitted to a clinic for rehabilitation. I tried to turn my life around, but when I was released from the clinic, I turned again to my old ways. I had no will power or motivation to change my life around. Around to what? I thought to myself. Well, back to the clinic I went again. I felt like a lost cause, like a boat without a rudder buffed and tossed by every passing wind. Then, one day as I was lying in bed feeling hopeless, I thought of the bible in the old table which my mother bought for our house. Could this be the answer to my problems? Was God, whom I refused to believe in, be calling me back to Him like a wayward son? I asked my mother if the old bible was still there in the table drawer where I found it six years ago? She said she didn’t know but that she’d look to see if it was still there.

My mother returned to my bedside the following day, carrying the old bible. I was speechless, and was moved to tears by this unexpected miracle: the bible was still there waiting to be discovered after all those years. I began to read from this bible, beginning with the good news of the gospel. A powerful feeling came over me that is indescribable to this day. I was buoyed by a new sense of hope as I read the account of Jesus’s life. His words spoke to me directly, and brought me healing. I could hardly take it in: that Jesus died for my sins, that I could rise to a new life with Him, and that I could love my enemies. Wow! I could love my enemies!

One evening as I was reading the gospels, my whole life of sin flashed before me, but I was not afraid any more. I was not even ashamed. Jesus, in his mercy, had washed my sins away like dirty water being flushed from a washing machine. I felt as free as a bird for the first time in my life. I was no longer chained to a life of sin. I became a new person, a child of God. My family could not believe my transformation, and they were overjoyed. I was baptized a Christian, and my mother soon followed my example. If Jesus could change my life around, he was surely worth believing in.

Jesus changed my life and rid me of my addictions. He achieved what the clinic, the police, the judges, the doctors, my relatives and my friends could not do. Ever since my conversion, I have been reading up on Christian literature. It was on Facebook that I became a friend and soul mate of Fr. Hugh Duffy who introduced me to his website. I began reading his blogs which became a great source of inspiration and comfort for me. We kept in touch, he with me and I with him. One day, he asked me to write the story of my conversion for his website. This was a great honor.

I am truly grateful to share this testimony of mine for like the wayward son in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), I “was lost,” and was “found.” I “was dead,” but now I am “alive,” thank God.

The good news is that God’s beloved son turned my life around. If Jesus could do that for me, He can do it for anyone.

—Alexej Diel

Alex is married and living in Germany. He is now an active member of his Church, and is privileged to offer his testimony of God’s goodness to him when he was a wandering and lost soul.

Fr. Hugh Duffy