Geoffrey. As a young man, I went to the church beginning the early times beginning in Sunday school, and after leaving school lifeless of church-going, I drew my joy from more temporal activities that satisfied my feelings. There was nothing stable; the job, the locale, and even my mind were consistently searching to grasp something of interest.
Finally, I got a job with the municipal council of Nakuru. Then I thought I had a promising career and I can get married. I did. My appointment with a regular income also shocked me to socialize with few friends and at the end of the workday spend some time at the bar and went home later. The job, marriage, and drinking did not fulfill in me the true joy of life until the time Jesus saved me and changed my life. The words in Philippians 4:4-5 helped me to know the true meaning that I can only rejoice in the Lord Jesus who lives in me who gives joy from within but no from outside me.
I was able to stick to my job, go home after work, unite with my wife and children, and spend time with them. My life became stable at work, home, and church. By witnessing the joy in the Lord to the victims of substance, found peace and joy long time missed. The educating children by subsidizing the job minimum wage from work in farming. The growing foods in empty yard spaces in the outside town reduced foods cost. The saved supported my wife in opening a clothes business, and both draw enough income for the family needs. Most people comment that in my youth, things were not hard like today. The commentators belong to the present time and have no evidence or experience of the past because they were not born. They never go through the things people want through when growing up. My father was detained during the war of independence, the Mau Mau, and left my mother to care for four young kids with no stable flow of income for the family expenses. The statement that past time had no difficulties o present reminds me of walking to school without shoes in mad. The feed had cracks, and helping my mother carry the baby at the back to the market. She moved goods to sell back to the market and bought something to sell in the neighborhood. I helped bring home a lengthy wood to cook food. My mother and the rest of the women did the community work enforced by the ruling British colonial government. I was first working on the farm, plowing with the bull, on the coffee farm, coffee factory to earn cash to buy shoes and clothes. Second, acquiring a permanent job in municipal government in Nakuru, as mentioned above in this post.
The giveaway to people of all ages, the life becomes very difficult to make up. The support of a family while engaged in drinking alcohol, living a dishonest life, and keeping a job can be challenging. Those living this way experienced a rough time. I lived the same way. I suffered a lot. My joy came from Jesus Christ, the savor of my sin. I repented my sin and washed with the blood of Jesus Christ. I rejoice in the Lord always, for this is the only true way in this world.