An inmate named Cody shares his powerful testimony of finding redemption through Jesus Christ after years of battling addiction and feeling lost.
Many people struggle with guilt and shame because they think they’ve made too many bad choices and there’s no way out. But we have a loving God who forgives us, redeems us from all our sins, and gives us eternal life.
It doesn’t matter who we are or where we are right now, because His grace reaches everywhere, even into a prison cell. That’s how Cody’s life was changed forever.
Childhood Filled With Pain and Instability
Cody’s childhood was painful. His real dad was addicted to heroin and methadone. When Cody was five, his parents divorced. His dad was never really part of his life or his little brother’s life.
Cody and his brother moved around Alabama and Mississippi with their mom. When Cody was eight, his mom married his stepdad.
The Wild Years
Without a father in his life, Cody always tried to prove himself. “I was always trying to get that affirmation that I never got from my father,” he says. He became the wild child in his family. He partied hard and did drugs.
His family had to drag him to church. He hated going because the Holy Spirit convicted him every time. “Every time I sat where you sitting right now, the Holy Spirit would eat me alive because I knew what I was doing was wrong,” Cody explains.
Rock Bottom in a County Jail
His life spiraled downward fast. He got arrested multiple times. He caught a burglary charge in Mississippi, bonded out, then went to Texas selling drugs. He got caught selling cocaine there too.
When his wife was six months pregnant, everything crashed down. He got “completely ripped away from everything” he knew and landed in county jail.
The Night Everything Changed
Lying in his bed one night, going through painful detoxes, Cody had nowhere else to turn. Some guys below him were having prayer call.
The Holy Spirit was calling him to join them, but he didn’t listen. That night, he opened his Bible while crying. He had serious time hanging over his head. The feds had up to 55 years. Mississippi had up to 99 years. Texas had up to 99 years too.
He randomly opened his Bible to Jonah 3:6. The verse said God saw how people turned from their evil ways and relented from the disaster He had promised.
“In that moment, I just felt this overwhelming sense of peace come over me, and everything was going to be all right,” Cody remembers. He started praying and studying his Bible. He got close to God again.
God’s Miraculous Mercy
Then God showed up in miraculous ways. The federal court gave Cody the lowest sentence possible. Texas gave him probation instead of 99 years. He got out and turned his life around completely.
Cody started his own business. He preached on social media. He led the men’s ministry at church. He did Bible studies with young adults two or three times a week.
A Second Calling
Two years later, married to his wife with a house, she got pregnant again. Then Cody found out he had to go back to prison on his old Mississippi charges. He cried out to God on his pond levee.
“God, why do I gotta go back to prison? I’m doing everything that you want me to do,” he prayed. God told him there was one person He needed Cody to reach.
Cody accepted it. “God is a miracle working God man, if he can take me. Whenever I was strung out on cocaine and fentanyl, my wife strung out. And he can turn our lives around. He can do it for each and every one of you,” Cody testifies.
His story shows us something beautiful. No matter how far we’ve fallen or how broken we feel, God can restore us. He takes our mess and makes it into a message. He uses our darkest moments to bring light to others who are still struggling in the dark.
WATCH: Inmate Shares Powerful Testimony of Redemption
