Just five minutes of watching the television confirms that we live in a sick world. It has always been a sick world. I once was sick, until one day Jesus healed me and made me whole. God's son Jesus "became flesh and dwelt among us" in order to heal us and he still does that today, because Jesus is the great physician, and is very much alive today.
I am now living under new management, since I asked Jesus to be Lord of my life. He made me a brand new person, born again, not reconditioned or patched up, but a new person. Why not ask Him to come into your life, and trust Him to change you too; then you will know inner peace and real joy in your life. All you have to do is ask Him. Jesus Christ took me out of the bondage and addiction of alcoholism and set me free to be the real me.
The devil is also very much alive and he does everything in his power to discourage, deceive, blind our minds and lie to us, promising us happiness and good times, but as he is a counterfeiter and the father of lies, they only last for a season. I know, because I served him well, and he took away everything I loved and held dear - my wife and daughters, my jobs, self-respect and peace of mind. My life was in constant turmoil, like the restless sea.

Then in May 1984,1 just couldn't cope with the life I was living any more. While I was drying out in a rehabilitation centre in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire (after years of doing my own thing, in and out of hospitals, lock ups, doss houses, sleeping rough, broke, unemployable, sick and helpless), I asked Jesus to come into my heart and sort my life out for me, Jesus did just that. He took away the desire and compulsion for drink and the addiction I had for smoking, because I took Him at his word and asked Him to. I couldn't do it myself - believe me I tried it!

Now that a transformation had taken place in my life, I had to start making decisions about my future. I was still living in the centre at Sunnybrae (Fyvie) and wanted to return home to Shetland. But I faced a major problem. My drinking behaviour in past years meant that I would not be made very welcome.

My mum was living on her own now. She was getting old and vulnerable and I wanted to be home to help her. Deep down I knew that living with her would be too risky. I knew that I couldn't be trusted and had constantly let her down in the past.

I made the decision to move back to Aberdeen due to a combination of this family background and the need to keep pace with the dramatic changes that were taking place in my life.

The very same week that I was planning to move, the centre was unexpectedly closed down. We were all told that we had to leave that day, which was a Friday. Being so close to the weekend, this was not a very good day to leave a rehabilitation centre. We all said our farewells and I boarded a bus for Aberdeen. My previous lodgings in the "Granite City" were full. Having only enough money to pay the boat fare home, I boarded the "north boat" and arrived in Lerwick on the Saturday morning.

My mother was pleased to have me home again, but the rest of my family thought differently. They were not so thrilled about the idea as my mother, and wanted to ship me out again.

Thankfully God had other plans. The most amazing thing about the centre being closed down on the Friday, was that all the residents were asked to return on the Monday to complete their rehabilitation. Looking back on this, I really believe that God allowed the centre to close for that weekend, to get me to move out and come home to Lerwick, which was where He wanted me.

That was in 1984. Many amazing happenings have taken place in my life since then, as a result of my life being surrendered into God's hands. Now that Jesus was Lord of my life, I had given Him permission to lead and control every area of life.

In 1975 my wife had divorced me because of my heavy drinking lifestyle. I subsequently lost contact with her and my two daughters. At that time I was working and drifting around oil-related jobs at the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal in Shetland, the Flotta Terminal in Orkney and on North Sea oil rigs. I was trying to keep my work life as normal as I possibly could, but as time went by, I lost one job after another through my addiction to alcohol.

When Jesus came into my life and I was "born again", I was able to visit Germany and establish contact with my former wife and my daughters. I asked for their forgiveness for all the hurt that I had caused them all, and asked if we could be reconciled as a family again. Many things had changed over these lost years. My ex-wife was now in another relationship and one of my daughters had now married. My oldest daughter subsequently came to visit me in Shetland. When she saw the change that had taken place in my life, it so affected her that she gave her life to Jesus. The change in my life also had an effect on my ex-wife and my youngest daughter - both of them became Christians. My former wife subsequently married a Christian businessman.

In 1987 I married a lovely girl that I met through the church that I attend in Lerwick and we now have a teenage daughter. We have made many visits over the years to Germany and have stayed with my former wife and her husband. We have also been able to visit my two daughters and my five grandchildren.

When I came home to Shetland in 1984, two different ladies, on separate occasions, spoke prophetic words over me. These prophetic words, which were taken from Joel Chapter 2 verses 25 and 26, have now come to pass in my life. Essentially these words confirmed that God was going to bless me beyond my wildest imaginations and restore to me the lost years.

All those years ago, I arrived home in Lerwick with a near empty suitcase, no job and no permanent home. I trusted God in every decision that I took and I can honestly say that He has never let me down. Today I just want to say, "Thank You Lord" for being so kind and good to me and my family. Thank You for good health and for many blessings, especially a wonderful happy home.

I decided to "Trust in the Lord with all my heart and not to lean on my own understanding. In all my ways to acknowledge Him and He would direct my steps and make my path straight". All we have to do is to trust Him in faith and He will show us the way. I love You Jesus and thank You, that under your new management, I am a totally different Charlie, no longer under the influence of alcohol but of Your Holy Spirit.

Is there any hope in this sick world, for us today? Yes there is, for I found hope when I transferred the management of my life to Jesus, and you can experience this same hope too.

Why not try a journey on the "Roman Road" and follow these road signs to hope, joy and peace.