It was after midnight, New Year’s Day, 2009. I remember driving toward a major intersection in Greenville, South Carolina. As the intersection was getting closer, I was weaving in and out of three lanes, unaware of the consequences I was about to face. My life flashed before my eyes. I just knew it was over. When I came to, I saw blue lights.
I woke up in the Greenville County Detention Center, and for the first time, I knew I couldn’t escape the brokenness that was in my being. The past four years had nearly upended my life, and I wasn’t sure if I would make it past my 22nd birthday. The pain I had endured from others was starting to look eerily similar to the pain I was now causing others. My life had become an endless cycle of abuse, trying to fill that missing peace that everyone so desperately longs for.
I had become the person I said I would never become, and I had crossed a line I said I would never cross. My second DUI was the crashing point of my life, but I was so relieved when I realized that God was still with me. Change didn’t happen overnight, but one day at a time, God kept softening my heart and drawing me into His. It didn’t take long before my life looked completely different, and my desires were no longer for my own needs, but for His glory.
The Impossible Becomes Possible
In 2010, God started opening my eyes to the vulnerable and needy around the world, and I couldn’t escape the thought that God wanted to use my story with His story to help change lives around the world. I started doing missionary work and also started serving in an inner-city ministry called Immerse. God used my story in ways I never could have imagined, and when I encounter men who are in similar situations of hopelessness, I can boldly declare the promises of God over them and pray for a radical move of God in their lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. I know the impossible is possible through faith in Jesus.
I am so blessed to now be serving as the Volunteer Coordinator at Miracle Hill’s Greenville Rescue Mission and Overcomers Center. My story is the story of so many men, women, and children who walk through the doors of Miracle Hill’s facilities on a daily basis. Often, it’s a family member dropping off a loved one, hoping something will change. There are more questions than answers, and the heartbreak is so heavy you can feel it.
Justin Broome with Ras, a guest at Greenville Rescue Mission
Thankfully, I see changed lives every single day, and when you ask anybody inside the ministry how it happens, there is one common answer: the Gospel above all, and the King of all kings. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is our foundation, our anthem, and our guide as followers of Jesus, and as a ministry of mercy.
As Miracle Hill staff gather daily to pray for the ministry, we lean fully into the Gospel of Jesus Christ because we are convinced that it is the power of God to change hearts, lives, and families – to provide for and protect us. It is my prayer that we continue to find our place in sharing our stories of restoration through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the hope of glory.
The Gospel Changes Everything
The Gospel, or the Good News of Jesus, is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”(Romans 1:16) The problem, though, is that if we don’t see ourselves as sinners, we won’t believe that we have a need for a Savior. God is not surprised by that, and it’s one of the reasons I believe God lets us take our own path in life if we so desire. I’ve heard it said that “God’s office is at the end of our rope,” and Jesus said something similar in Matthew 5:3 in the Message Bible: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”
Miracle Hill Ministries is a place for people who have burned all the bridges in their lives because we are guided by the Good News of Jesus. We believe that Jehovah God is a God of second chances, a God who rescues, and a God who restores.
On any given day in our men’s facilities, there are fathers longing to be reconciled with their children and husbands desperate for their families to be made whole again. The Gospel gives them that opportunity. It is no accident that Malachi 4:6 brings the Old Testament to its conclusion with this promise about life in the age of Christ: “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” This is why the Gospel guides our ministry at Miracle Hill – because without it there is no hope for life change.
Post submitted by Justin Broome, Volunteer Coordinator at Greenville Rescue Mission and Overcomers Center. Justin can be reached at jbroome@miraclehill.org.
