I did a lot of dumb stuff.
Dad tried to kill me.
I became violent.
I survived four overdoses, alcohol poisoning, and one major accident.
I had a 56-thousand-pound coil fall off my trailer…
I grew up in an abusive home. My father was an alcoholic. My Dad tried to kill me because he felt that I was his last mistake. My dad was killed in a car accident. When I was about 5 or 6 years old, my mom remarried, and this is when I met the man who I would learn to love and relate to as dad.
At first, he was mentally and verbally abusive, and when he drank it wasn't fun. At around the age of 8 years old I started getting abused by four different guys and at the age of 13 to about 15, I was abused by two women. From that point on I became violent and thought life meant having as much sex as possible with any girl that would let me. Everyone that abused me gave me alcohol, and by age 14 I turned to drugs. Throughout my adolescent years I became a very angry person and would often get into fights with school kids. With life’s traumas and a turbulent upbringing, I was not doing well academically or socially and was set back three grades.
I eventually made it to high school. However, I was kicked out of grade 10 for my drunken behavior. I did a lot of dumb stuff during these years and got caught almost every time. At age 17, I was out drinking with friends where I managed to roll my car over going down a hill. The vehicle was miraculously turned completely over, landing back on its wheels and I never spilled a drop. What makes this even more amazing is that there were others who had gone over this hill and didn’t make it. In fact, I lost 5 of my friends over the years whose vehicles went over the exact same hill. I was astonished that I was still alive. At that time, I knew it could not have possibly been me driving.
In 1979, at a New Years Eve dance, I met the love of my life, Diana. In 1981, Diana and I got married. During the first two years of our marriage, I was drunk and high on drugs. My wife deserves a Gold medal as she stuck by me through thick and thin. Diana and I have been married for over 37 years! In 1983, our daughter was born and I knew that I needed help to turn my life around. That’s when I started attending AA meetings and found God for the first time. It was June 15th, 1983 and I found myself at my first AA meeting, hearing them tell me that God actually knows our hurts, He knows our pain and He wants to take it all away because He actually cares.
In 1985, our son was born and then a short time after, my wife and I joined a local church and met some really loving people. It was shortly thereafter, in 1986 that my wife and I gave our hearts to the Lord. Life was going well, however after 17 ½ years of attending AA meetings and going to church, I quit AA, quit going to church, and drifted back into my old worldly life. This was when life took a turn for the worse. Sometime in 2005, my wife and I got into a big fight, and she left for two days. At this time, I went home and took every drug in the house I could find. As I lay there unconscious, in either a vision or dream, I could hear my best friend who died in the early 90’s say, “You have to go back because the Lord has a big plan for your life.” I asked who he was, but he just smiled and told me that I would find out at the appointed time.
From that time on in my life, my wife and I had a small business called DanDee and the South Coast Movers. God is so faithful. In the year 2012, I won a contract with a moving company that was worth well over a million dollars a year. However, the first day I won the contract I went out to celebrate and got very drunk! I spent six and half months getting this contract, only to lose it in less than 10 hours. Around this time, it was early September 2012, where I felt so helpless and full of despair that I decided once again that I wanted to end my life. I took 25 metformin and put a full vile of insulin in my belly. I cried out to God and told Him that if He wanted me it was up to Him now. I drank my last 16oz whiskey and fell asleep. The next morning, I awoke, realizing that I couldn't even accomplish killing myself. I was so done with drinking and dragged myself back into AA. Looking back, from age 16, I had already survived four overdoses, alcohol poisoning and one major car accident. In the winter of 1994 while at work, I had a 56-thousand-pound coil fall off my trailer, and just as I moved a couple of feet, it fell to the ground and landed exactly where I had been standing. I should have died several times in my life, but God had His loving hands upon me.
To continue, I spent the next three years in and out of AA. It was during this time that my friend Dick invited Diana and I to his church. We met some people there that helped change our lives forever. I was invited to a place called the upper room where I learned so much about God. Then I was invited to a place called The Farm, where they were talking about trying to raise a dog from the dead and talking to some dude called Holy Spirit. That night I remember going home and telling my wife, “I ain't never going back, those guys are nuts.” Regardless, something drew me back the following Wednesday. I sat there on my chair, my hands felt like they were on fire. I was starting to see lights behind my ears and all the hair on my body stood on end. A lady who saw me in tears, asked what was wrong, and I told her. She got Rick and Jeremy to come over and talk to me for a while. I felt the love of God come into me. That was the most amazing feeling I had ever experienced. There is no drug, there is no drink, that can ever make you feel that good. From that point on I have been listening to Christian messages and consuming the Word of God. The Lord then started revealing people’s pain to me, and I was able to give words of knowledge and lay hands on them. When I first started praying for people about 3-5% were instantly healed. Three years later, my wife and I opened up our first prayer centre in Dunnville, Ontario. We witnessed many people who were hurt and lonely come and get healed and set free by the grace of God. A year later the Lord directed us to move to Hagersville, Ontario where we opened up a new prayer centre called The Greater Ontario Prayer Centre.
Over the last two and a half years we have witnessed many lives changed, people set free, and over 39 cases of cancer healed plus many other healings. God is great and we give Him all the glory! It has taken 4 ½ years of listening to healing messages every day. In the last year and a half, we have prayed for over 1500 people. Through the use of Real Life Stories Christian Testimony Books, we are able to pray for about 200 more people a month. I can say that I know the LOVE of GOD, and that's what I try to give away all the time. On December 5, 2017, I took my son to his first AA meeting. This impacted my life as well as my son’s greatly. Seeing my son go to AA meetings and the positive changes it had on his life encouraged me tremendously. It made me realize the importance of having Jesus in my life and that I could not do anything without Him! As of this year, 2018, I am 6 years sober and able to see others set free the way God set me Free! Thank you, Jesus, for saving my life, and for setting me free! Blessings all, love ya in Jesus mighty name, amen.
Jim and Carla Barbarossa
Phone: 219-762-7589
Email: jimbarbarossa7@gmail.com or jim@step-by-step.org
