When he was sixteen, Darany’s life felt like it was upside down.
When his father died, his mother married another man. Darany didn’t get along with his stepfather at all. Not knowing what to do, he ran away from home to live at his friend’s house.
“I felt very alone and afraid,” he says. “I felt like no one really cared about me. I was depressed. I felt worthless and miserable.”
Then his friend invited him to a worship gathering at her church. “I liked her, and she was a nice person, so I decided to go,” he says. “I had no idea who God was.” At the meeting, he heard about God’s unconditional love — something he longed for. “That was what I was really looking for,” he says. “I kept going back each week.”
About a month later, a church leader asked Darany if he believed in Jesus. “I told him that was exactly what I believed,” he exclaims. “He began to teach me about salvation to make sure I understood what I had confessed.
“Then he encouraged me to read the Bible from beginning to end. Within a few months, I had finished reading the New Testament.”
Great was Darany’s surprise when all of his worries, fears and even illness were taken away from him! Darany points to Isaiah 53:5 (NIV) as a great encouragement during this time: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
“I knew deep down that I was born again. Everything was new! From that moment I couldn’t stop reading the Bible. The Word of God renewed my mind — I rid myself of all that was not pure in my life. Jesus became my best friend.”
You made it possible for a Bible to be placed in the hands of Darany.
Through that Bible, the Holy Spirit is making an eternal difference in this young man’s life.