Ryan shares some of his childhood memories of Christmas. He shares about the significance of the birth of Jesus Christ and how He was a gift from God for all people – including the First Nations.  But a gift must be received for it to become your own.

“… And that’s when I repented of my sin, when for the first time I turned my back on sin, and really cast myself on Jesus Christ to be my Savior. And I can really say for the first time a lot of people say, you don’t go by emotions and stuff, I back that by a 100%… but for the first time I felt like there was something, knowing Christ as my Savior, there was real peace there for the first time. There was a joy there that I had never felt in my life, which was so much better than ever having been drunk or high.”

“I can remember being happy as a child – there came a time when I began to see that the world was a dark place and that things were not as they should be.” Soon, Randy would get caught up in his own darkness. He read the Bible, and at the age of seventeen, fear gripped his heart as he considered his standing with God.

“I was going through a lot of hurt and loneliness; I didn’t feel like I added up. I had one very close friend, and I was thinking about suicide; we talked about it, like I told her, “Maybe it’s the only way out.” And then I heard somewhere later, that if you do that, you only cause your, the people you leave behind, your family, your friends, a lot more pain.”

Carla is originally from the Garden Valley First Nation in Manitoba. As a baby, she was given up for adoption and brought into a non-Native family. Early on it became apparent that something was different about her. She was soon diagnosed with cerebral palsy. With a gentle honesty, Carla shares about some of the challenges that she has faced, the encouragement she received from her adopted family, and the relationship that she has with her Creator.

Eric looks back over his life and stands in amazement at the direction it has taken since he turned his back on his rebellious sinful behavior and began to truly follow Jesus. He traded hopelessness and despair for a life of peace with God and reason to live.