J
JohnPaul64
Guest
Tonight was a very special night for me and my older brother. To tell this story from the beginning is best. My older brother has had problems for years with drug abuse using cocaine plus he has had mental problems due to depression. He lost his job, his family(wife and two daughters) and he finally hit bottom just recently after burning through his retirement fund he went broke. He ended up moving in with his friend who is an alcoholic. His friend finally threw him out mainly over my brother not paying him anything for living there. He was finally homeless. At this point I took him to my home in in early April and my older brother hired him for $6/hr doing labor. To let you know my brother has made between 100,000 and 150,000 a year at his job before he lost it. He has a masters in business and a bachelors degree in chemical engineering. He is a very bright guy. He lived with me for two weeks which was very difficult, we had a fight and he left and ended up living with his friend again because he could pay him rent. After our fight the next day we called each other and patched things up and forgave each other. He asked me if he could call me on a regular basis and talk about things and go to church together to which I obliged. While he lived with me I worked on him about developing a relationship with Jesus and going back to church. My brother has ignored the church for 20 years. He saw how I lived, prayed and how I went to church. He asked me if he could go to mass with me on Saturday nights. We usually go to dinner afterward and talk. I’ve been praying for him in my rosary everyday for months. 2 weeks ago I gave him a rosary and booklet on how to pray it which he gladly took. He is now praying the rosary and learning more about it. I’ve been working on him to go to confession so he could get communion. I told him how to make an examination of conscious. Well today he finally went to confession. The priest forgave him of his sins and told him he could go to communion because he was married outside the Catholic church. Tonight at mass at the sign of peace I shook his hand and said welcome back. He went to communion for the first time in 20 years. I am so proud of him. I thank Jesus and the blessed mother. I give full credit to my brother that hired him to give him a job and I give the bulk of credit to the Blessed Mother who I’ve been praying to for him. My brother has had issues for his whole adult life and has caused much grief and problems in our family. My younger brother even had to have him committed once and the police had to taser him. I can’t believe how fast he converted. I also give him a lot of credit, he really committed himself. To let you know my brother and I have had a strained relationship at best since childhood and we rarely talked or did anything together. Tonight at dinner he told me he considered me a good friend, we’ve even started doing stuff together, tomorrow were going fishing. Mind you this is a guy who hardly talked to me his whole adult life. This is an amazing testimony to praying and praying the rosary and living a holy life. It hit me like a ton of bricks what happened to him tonight. I’ve had an amazing week with him plus me renewing my relationship with my stepson after not talking to him since 2006. He also attends AA like meetings for drug abusers and has reached 6 months clean. All he needs now is a good job and he can have his life back. I just wanted to share this story with all of you. Glory and praise to Jesus and the Blessed Mother.
PS My whole family has tried to help him in various ways over the years but guess which way worked. Getting him back to the church ! He is so changed, he is calmer and easy to talk to now.
PS My whole family has tried to help him in various ways over the years but guess which way worked. Getting him back to the church ! He is so changed, he is calmer and easy to talk to now.
