MADAM LUST (True Story)
It began in the shadows of my early year (age 5),
an uninvited presence that clouded my sight.
Behind the house, in the quiet of the night,
a secret was forged that I was told never to speak.
A weight was placed upon a young boy's heart,
and though I tried to find refuge within my home,
that persistent call followed me wherever I would roam.
I thought freedom would come with distance,
leaving the village for the reach of a bigger town.
But the struggle followed me, wearing a different face,
taking advantage of moments when I was left alone.
Again, the same silence was demanded of me,
and peace remained a distant, flickering memory.
At the age of ten, the challenge reappeared,
clothed in the images of a glowing screen.
My friends and I sought the thrill of action movies,
saving our money for the local video club.
But curiosity led us into darker corners,
where the peep holes revealed a world I wasn't ready to see.
From then on, my perspective was forever altered;
where others saw a person, my mind saw a different story.
Moving to the United States felt like a new beginning,
a chance to leave the old strongholds behind.
But the struggle found its way into summer visits,
hidden in the pages tucked beneath a bed.
From the seventh grade until my senior year,
the addiction grew into a powerful bond.
Every beautiful face I saw became a battleground
between my spirit and the thoughts that held me tight.
Then, in my second year of college, tragedy struck.
A car ran a red light, and the world went dark.
I woke up in a hospital bed to a devastating verdict:
paralyzed from the chest down, a C3 injury,
with the doctors doubting I would ever speak again.
That night, I prayed from the depths of my soul.
I remembered the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda,
how Jesus told the lame man to rise and walk.
In my heart, I cried out, "I heard that You heal. Please heal me."
The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.
A heavy darkness and fear began to press in,
and a voice offered a way out of that hospital bed
if I would only follow a path that was not of God.
But my spirit rejected the bargain immediately;
I knew that playing with such fire would only lead to ruin.
Then the darkness vanished, replaced by a light I cannot explain.
A different voice spoke, one of authority and peace:
"Because you have denied the enemy and stood your ground,
I will not only lift you from this chair, I will do even more."
I knew in my soul it was the voice of Jesus,
and that was the path I chose to follow.
Like a movie fast-forwarding, my life flashed before me—
every moment and every mistake since the day I was born.
I asked why I was seeing these things if I had already been saved,
and the response was clear: "I am showing you
what I am taking you away from, before I take you to where we are going."
The Lord cleansed my spirit that night,
washing away the sins and the heavy chains of the past.
The next morning, my heart was filled with a new joy,
and the old desires that had haunted me were gone.
Though saved in the presence of God,
the shadows of Madam Lust watched every step I took.
...... To be continued.
D