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Hey, Welcome to our website, some of yall may know me by Jono(John-OH) or Jonathan but for those of you who don't and those of you that knew me back in the day....Well I've changed for the better, I USE to do drugs, steal motorcycles, cars, make collections(meaning kicking in doors and taking whatever they had with other people I ran with) when people didn't pay up, a prospect for the Aryan Nation, shoot up ICE, and all that crazy stuff BUT if it wasn't for our Lord Jesus Christ, I would still be doing all that, NOW i'm a JESUS FREAK and happier than ever. Have a beautiful wife, 3 kids 8 yr old that races dirtbikes, 3yr old girl, and a 1yr old girl, nice house and cars, and i'm NOT bragging just telling people thats in the same situation I was in that as long as You believe and pray God will help you and you can have a great life too, BUT you have to try and meet Him like half way and not just let God do all the work, you know what I mean? Well if your reading this God Bless you!!! Send me an email, if you want to chat or have something tugging at your heart and want to know more what that could be or WHO that IS. I will probably give you my cell phone number if you would like so we can have a better chat or if you need prayer PLEASE send me a email!!! Or if you live around here and want to check out the COOLEST church in the world then check out this website!!!!
- http://opendoorministries.org
Nicole's Story: I just want to share where I came from, where I've been, who I used to be, and who I am today. I pray that others who read this realize that it is only because of God that I am out of that mess that I used to think was just a normal way of life.
Well I was born in Fort Worth, lived in Houston, Texas as a baby but have spent most of my life in Granbury. Despite the fact that my Dad died of a drug overdose and my mom is an addict as well, I was actually a pretty good kid and didn't have anything to do with drugs until I turned 17. As a kid I was exposed to every bad thing you could think of drugs, crazy fights, police, and so much more. Luckily I had my grandmother who taught me right from wrong and also taught me about Jesus and took me to church as a little girl. I felt so out of place in school because here I was with good grades playing basketball, soccer, singing in choir but my mom was always on drugs...staying up all night partying her life away while I was in my room crying myself to sleep and wondering why my mom didn't love me enough to quit using drugs...I mean I had already lost my dad because of it but she still didn't care. I was so against drugs and swore I would never touch any kind of drug or smoke cigarrettes ect. I started going to church with my best friend just so I could get away from all the craziness that I had to live in. At the age of 11 I started to feel God tugging at my heart to give my life to Jesus Christ and when I finally did it was the most awesome feeling ever! I loved going to church and being around such nice people. I remember going to church camp one year and just crying because I had to go back home. Sometimes I wondered..."why would God give me a life like that?" "Why did my dad have to die from drugs and why do I have to have a mom who is a drug addict?"....any time I thought about that I would also think about how greatful I was for having my grandmother who has never touched a drug in her life. I really looked up to her and am so glad that she showed me the good side to life. My life started to take a downfall the day I met my son's dad about 10 years ago. I don't know what was wrong with me because from the beginning of our relationship it was horrible. He cheated on me all the time, did drugs all the time, and was a compulsive liar. I thought...well maybe if I do more with him he won't cheat...guess what I got pregant and the cheating never stopped. I was so scared...being a senoir in high school and pregnant. I had let down my grandmother and felt like my whole life was ruined. I felt so ashamed so I just stopped going to church. I was pregnant by this guy who did drugs, lied to me all the time and cheated on me and took my car for all hours of the night and just treated me like crap. I felt so worthless but I stayed with him because I thought I could change him. There is one thing that my grandmother always told me and it is so true. The more you are around something bad the less bad it seems to be. Soon I started using drugs just to fit in with my sons dad and his friends....and when I started I started big. Even my mom being the addict she was said I did more than she would do...I was headed to destruction fast! First it was acid, then weed here and there and then I tried extacy and did that almost every weekend for almost a whole year, then cocaine and then Meth and Xanax....after that pretty much any drug there was I did, pills, GHB, I was spinning out of control. I tried going to college but because I couldn't stop using drugs I ruined that. I remember then praying that God would send me someone who really wanted to straighten up and get out of the drug lifestyle but it wasn't time for him to answer that prayer just yet. I felt it in my heart that I wanted something more but instead I kept using and then I ended up selling drugs, stealing and just getting deeper and deeper into hole. I wasn't happy, there were times I overdosed and thought I was going to die but then I would just wake up the next day and it was on to the next drug. I would always think about God and pray for forgivness and for help but as soon as I started doing drug after drug I would block God out of my head. Eventually I got pulled over with my sons dad with a Quarter Pound of weed and went to jail. I got 6 months probation but instead of straigtening up I just tried to do what ever I could to make my UA clean. I got caught on my final month...the officer came to my house gave me a UA and I failed it for a few different drugs. Instead of taking more probabation I did the 6 months in jail with work release....the day I got out of jail I came home to my mom doing speed so I got my friends and off to the dope house I went....by this time my sons dad was in jail and I decided to move on from him. But I just moved on to someone else who was even worse...and this is where it really got even worse...more drugs, more crimes.....I got to where I didn't care about anything...I started doing very large amounts of what ever drug I could get ahold of. I never shot up ice but the people I ran with did and I would watch them do it...my morals had just gone out the window. I would hardly ever see my son because I would leave him with my mom while I would run around and stay up for weeks at a time with no sleep at all. I started suffering from major amphetamine psychosis so bad I would see people who wern't there and hear things. I would just stay in the house in my own made up nightmare. Once I wrecked my Jeep by almost running off a bridge at 5am because I was high on Xanax. I would still pray sometimes when I was coming down and for the few days I would be sober I would pray for God to send me someone who wanted better. Then in December of 2005 I got a phone call from Jono, who is now my husband and the love of my life! I had seen Jono around because he ran with some of the same people I did. I had even done drugs with him before. He asked me if I wanted to hang out sometime so we started talking. I remember one day he asked me..."What do you think about God?" and I told him how I had been saved at 11 years old and I used to go to church and then he told me how he went to church as a kid and was saved when he was 9. We later found out that we had both prayed for God to put someone in our path that wanted more in life!!!! We couldn't spend a day apart and ended up getting married in March of 2005 and now we have two beautiful daughters together and he adopted my son and loves him just as his own. We have been married for going on 5 years now! At first it was a little rocky because we had both been so used to the lives we were living that we didn't immediatly stop using drugs...it was still pretty crazy then...we still had some of our old friends and were kinda stuck in our old ways. We started going to church with Jono's mom and that little seed that was planted years ago began to get watered....we started realizing that there were some changes that we needed to make. So we stopped using the hard drugs and just stuck to weed and liquor and beer. We would go to church maybe once a month or so when we weren't hung over. But God was doing a work in us and we didn't even know it. We stopped using any kind of drugs and then we partied and got drunk every night. There were always so many people at our house...almost a fight every night...that was crazy. We were trying not to get too drunk on Saturday nights so we could make it to church on Sunday mornings and sometimes we made it and sometimes we didn't. Then we got invited to Open Door Ministries by a good friend that Jono met at work. As soon as we walked in that church we just felt this peace and calmness. That was God's prescence! After a week of being there Jono walked up to the front and prayed about quitting drinking. I was set free from my addiction to cigarettes. Things just started falling off one after another. Our life began to change dramatically and awesome things started to happen...amazing things that we knew with out a doubt were God. We have no desire to go back to our old ways...I am so happy now, that old life is gone away and now there is so much more to life. And I promise you it's not all boring, when you live for the Lord you learn the true meaning of life. I have this joy that nothing can take away no matter what my situation. God has blessed me with the best husband ever who I can trust with all my heart. We just keep getting blessing after blessing. The more we do for God like outreaches and just living in a way that pleases him the happier we are. I promise you God is so real and he loves you so much and wants you to live a happy life. He has turned my mess around and I am so thankful for that. The closer I get to God the better life gets! Everyone fights battles and goes through things but I have God to give me the strength I need to overcome. He wants to do that for everyone. No matter what you've done, no matter what kind of person you think you are. Just in the short time I have been living for God he has blessed me so much and this is only the beginning!!!! I love God with all of my heart! Thank you Jesus for pulling me out of that mess and thank you for giving me this life. I pray for anyone who is reading this and needs a touch of your love. I pray you speak to their hearts and transform their lives like you did mine!
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Our Crazy History