I recall a time when I danced in the moonlight;
Walked along the shores of beautiful lakes;
Camping out with deception, and illusion,
I wondering down paths of suffering and pain;

That’s how it began, but once is all it takes.
I was young; I wanted to fit in, to belong;
I thought I was grown;
We sat in circles drinking and getting stoned;
One thing led to another, and before I knew it
I was hooked;
My fraudulent friend deluded me.
He called it ‘living life to the fullest’,
Now I ask, “When will it all end?”
I had bottomed out;

My sincere loved ones intervened;
They offered their protective and caring hands
Leading me down a righteous road
And out of a desolate land.

The resolve was difficult at best,
“Why should God care if I live or if I die?”
I felt as if I had no self-worth;
So many Christians offered
Up prayers on my behalf;

They told me about a Savior
Whose Father sent Him to earth to save the lost,
And how He paid the ultimate cost.
They told me how He would forgive
My trespasses if I would just ask,
With Him I could be myself
And throw away the mask
I had been hiding behind all these years.

Today I am clean; when I lay my head down at night,
I know God has chained up my demons;
Through Jesus, and my faith in God,
I fought the battle and I’ve won.

© Janice Bumbalough Marler
poetrybyjan@nc.rr.com