Pastor Brandon’s Testimony

I was laying on the freezing snow-covered ground soaking wet, going through hypothermia trying to figure out how a person gets into a situation like this. It is not like I woke up that morning and thought, “I think I am going to try to freeze to death today.” No, that is not what I thought at all.

I did not wake up one morning in my youth and think I would be addicted to pain medication either. Anyway that is where I ended up. So, let us start long before that, at the beginning.

When I turned thirteen years old I started smoking Marijuana. From that I stemmed into doing other drugs such as nerve pills and whatever else I could find in the medicine cabinet.

The friends I hung out with were a big influence on what I found myself doing as they were also on drugs.

By the time I was fifteen I had done my fair share of pain pills. If you were never on the drug scene, it is hard to imagine what people do to be “cool” or have a good time.

Crushing up and snorting a Lortab (pain pill) was not unseen around my friends. It was not something I really enjoyed doing because it burned my nose. However, I did take quite a few.

I was seventeen years old my best friend introduced me to Oxycontin, a very addictive and powerful pain medication.

When my friend crushed the pill up there was not very much there to snort, unlike a Lortab, and when I snorted it, it did not burn like a Lortab.

From then on I was hooked.

For years I would basically hand over my pay-check to the drug dealer just to get more of this drug that was eating away not only at my finances but at my home-life and my life in general.

One night I went to a party, or as I would like to call it, “the party”. This party was one of the greatest turning points of my life. Some friends of mine asked me to sing in a band at the party.

I had already been in a couple of hard rock bands, and some of the same band members from a previous band were playing there. Anyway, I was excited to go to say the least.

When I arrived at the party I realized I did not have any Oxycontin with me but I planned to leave and get some because I had not done much that day and I knew I would need some later.

Most of the people at the party only drank and there was not much drugs there except the Marijuana I had in my pocket. Anyway I sang and I drank a little bit, and I was not much of a drinker believe it or not.

During all of this it started to snow and it snowed more and more, and I being without a car could not persuade anyone to take me anywhere to get my fix.

At this point I made a bad decision, I decided to become so intoxicated with alcohol that I did not care about not having the Oxycontin, and I did just that.

I can remember saying “I’m thirsty”, and grabbing a tall, full glass of what I thought was water and just drinking it down. A friend of mine said “Do you know what you just did? You just drank a full glass of Vodka!”

After that everything else was kind of blurry. I laid down in a waterbed that was leaking and got back up soaking wet.

I was getting out of control and I got into an argument with someone there and just as we were about to fight, four or five people grabbed me and dragged me outside onto the porch.

I can remember wrestling and trying to fight my way back into the house. The wind-chill was seven below zero and I was starting to freeze to death literally. Finally somebody pushed me over the porch rail and I landed in the snow.

Beyond drunk and tired from fighting I just laid there. Everyone went back inside and left me there.

Now, here I am, lying on the snow-covered ground freezing to death. I did the one and only thing I knew how to do; pray.

My simple prayer was this, “God, please don’t let me die. If I live the rest of my life out the way it’s supposed to be lived, just please don’t let me die.” The next thing I knew I was standing in front of the porch and the guy I had the argument with was putting my jacket on me.

The next thing I remembered I was sitting with my head down on a table back inside and when I lifted my head my Aunt and Grandmother was there to pick me up, because they had called them and that is who I lived with at the time.

Now it is three days later and I am at home in my Grandmother’s living-room. I am trying to decipher in my mind what happened at the party and what I was going to do with the rest of my life, because I just knew God had saved my life.

My Grandmother came in there and asked me if I was okay and I said “No”. Then she asked me if I wanted to pray about it and I said “Yes”. That night I asked Jesus to come live in my heart and save me eternally and he did.

I ended up going through quite a bit more after that. You see as a result of either going through hypothermia, Alcohol poisoning, all the drugs I had done in the past, DT’s, or all of the above, I developed a Psychosis or a chemical imbalance.

I started to perceive reality in a way even I cannot explain. Three weeks later I found myself in jail, not knowing why or how I had got there.

To make a long story short I walked into a church where the pastor was cleaning the church and I ended up beating down the pastor and stealing his truck.

The court system sent me to a Prison/Mental facility and when I arrived there and the doctors had done their evaluation they told my parents that they were 99% sure that that my mind was so distorted that I would never have a normal conversation ever again.

Through prayer, my medicine I take every day, and by the grace of God I tell my testimony almost every day.

I have been involved in music ministry ever since and God has given me my dreams more than once.

I thank God for everything he has done in my life. It has made me who I am today and I would not change it for the world.

I am now married to the woman of my dreams Donna Robbins who stands along beside me as we answer our call to Pastor Revival House Church in Richmond, KY.

Pastor Brandon Robbins

P.S.

I have made amends with the pastor and we are friends now. Along with helping me have my Felony removed he is a friend I am more than grateful for in that he literally turned the other cheek and gave the true example what it means to be Christ Like.