I felt no guilt. I thought it was normal

My parents split up when I was just 3, and then my step-father who was to replace my own father was violent towards my mother. I grew up feeling ashamed and angry because I wasn’t able to help my mother.

My family came to the UK because of the many troubles in the Congo. I was 5. By 11 I’d become violent and if anyone insulted or made jokes about me, I would start a fight. By secondary school I was fighting regularly. I once beat up a boy and left him on the ground bleeding badly. Another time I banged a boy’s head against a shelf so hard that he needed stitches to close the gash in his head. I ended up in a gang and went around beating people up and stealing their phones. Once we even hit a guy in the head with a hammer, but for no real reason.

As I grew older, I got heavily involved in pornography and was hooked for 6 years. This addiction led me to clubs where I would go looking for women to sleep with. I would meet girls and on the same day have sex with them. I was also now smoking weed. Throughout this time, I felt no guilt for what I was doing. In fact, I thought it was normal.

I managed to make it through college and get a part-time job in a warehouse. But when I took out a loan, the money I was earning wasn’t enough to pay it back and I found himself with a serious debt problem.

I only wish I’d found Him earlier

My sister was a Christian and would talk to me about God but I wasn’t interested…until one day, I opened her Bible and read about heaven and hell. Later, when a friend invited me to the UCKG, I went as I knew I was lost and needed help.

“What really made an impact on me was hearing that God loves me and wants me to be happy. After the prayers I felt light. It was a very positive environment which made me want to keep coming back.”

Tresor knew that he needed to change his life, but he didn’t rely on prayer alone. “I stopped smoking weed, stopped being violent and cut myself off from all my friends. It wasn’t easy, and I did slip back into my old ways a few times, but I’d always pull myself together and start all over again. Eventually I was able to stop the bad things and was free from the addictions and that old lifestyle.”

Although Tresor had changed, he wanted much more. “I was struggling as I had many debts and was in a dead-end job. I was depending on my parents, but more than anything I wanted to be financially independent. I wasn’t getting paid enough and didn’t like my job. I’d been applying for many jobs with no positive result.

During a Monday service, the pastor was speaking about four lepers and how they had made a decision to enter their enemy’s camp. They said ‘If we stay where we are we’re going to die, if we go to the Syrians we may be killed, but let’s do something.’ In the end, they were blessed. “I immediately applied this to my situation and thought to myself, ‘If I stay in this job, my financial life is not going to change. If I leave this job, there still won’t be a change in my situation. But if I do something different today, I’m sure my life is going to change.’

That’s when I decided to take part in the Campaign of Israel. I had already been hearing that as children of God we need to be a testimony. I also heard many testimonies of people who had taken part in campaigns and who had been blessed, and this really stirred up my faith. If it could happen to them, it could happen to me too! “My request to God was to be free from debts and to be financially independent. I’d always wanted my own business and had now learnt that I had to be the head and not the tail. I took a step of faith by leaving the job I was in with nothing to fall back on. I knew this was a risk with all the debt I had, but also knew that God would make a way for me. “I had no money. The only thing I really had was my laptop, which I used for everything. Deep down I knew that it was my ultimate sacrifice because it was the only precious thing I had at the time, but something was telling me, ‘No, don’t do it!’ But I sold the laptop. The money that I got wasn’t even close to what I had paid for it, but the important thing was what it meant to me.

After leaving my envelope on the altar, many doubts came to my mind saying, ‘Tresor, what have you done?’ I remember that there were times that I had no money and had to walk to the church, a 2 hour walk. Other times I would ride my bike, sometimes even in the rain. No one knew this at the time. Then one day, while I was riding my bike home from church in the rain, I was physically drained and said to God, ‘Look, I can’t take this anymore. You have to answer me now. You have to do something.’

Shortly after that I received 3 job offers, all of them offering a very good salary. I chose the highest paying one and within 3 months, all my debts were cleared. To have 3 good job offers at the same time was something that had never happened to me before. It was truly a miracle from God after all the knock-backs I’d gotten in the past. But with my vision in mind, I left that job. People thought I was crazy as I was being paid so well, but I knew what I’d asked God for…to be financially independent. I continued to act his faith after his sacrifice by attending the Monday meetings and applying what he was learning.

The pastor gave us a £1 coin and we were asked to multiply it. So with that coin I made 40 leaflets. I got feedback and fixed some people’s computers. With the money I received from those jobs I made more leaflets, more professional ones, and set up my own website. I received more customers, and it all took off from there. Recently, I got my own office. My business in moving forward. I now do web design for clients, I set up computer systems for businesses, I troubleshoot and give technical support over the telephone. At the moment, I have 3 people working for me. I can truly say my dream has come true.

I spent 2 years in a dead end job, wasting my time, but now within one and a half years, I’ve managed to start my own business, pay off my debt and become financially independent. “I feel so blessed. There is no way I can compare my old life to how it is now. I have absolutely no desire to go back to the way things were. God has done and is still doing so much - I only wish I’d found Him earlier.

Now I have huge things in mind for the future, because the more blessed I am, the more I can glorify God!

Tresor Mulamba,
Kilburn

Life can be different if you take charge and decide to make things different. Speak to a spiritual counsellor at your local UCKG or call the 24 hour helpline on 020 7686 6000 now to help you get started.