Outflow Story by Brad Bauer
When I was ten years old, my parents divorced. This was totally unexpected for me,
and turned my life upside down. I went from having the “American Dream” life to
questioning my own worth and existence. I lived for years with an underlying sense
of hopelessness. I was smiling on the outside but dying on the inside.
When I finally got to the end of myself, I cried out to God and asked Him to save me.
I invited Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. It’s because of the fact that Jesus died
for me that I know my life has value and worth in God’s sight, and that knowledge has
made all the difference. The healing of my heart is an ongoing process, but it gets
easier every day to leave the hurts of the past behind and press on towards the goal.
“What goal?” you may ask. My desire is born out of gratefulness to God for what He has
done for me. I hope to take my life challenges, along with God’s strength and grace,
and use them to help others to meet the Savior in a personal way.
I attend The Vine Wesleyan Church. The Vine is giving me the opportunity to serve,
teach and reach the community in ways that I would not have available to me or my
family. Through The Vine, I grow and receive encouragement from others who understand
and care. The Vine is a place that, I believe, does a great job of fulfilling Hebrews
10:25 which says to “not forsake the gathering of yourselves together, as is the
manner of some, but exhorting (encouraging, comforting, warning, strengthening) one
another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”