“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
Psalm 4:8
Gregory Delgado, 2001 New Life Program Graduate
and Whosoever Gospel Mission Chaplain/Operations Manager
A Place of Rest
“Until I came to the Whosoever Gospel Mission, I had been running – mostly from myself. For me, using drugs and alcohol was a way to run. I had lost everything – a rewarding career in the Navy and every relationship that meant anything to me. I don’t really know how to put it. I was depressed. I thought my life should be different – better than it was. I had nowhere to go, so I just kept running. I was addicted and homeless. I was exhausted.
I knew I needed help – God’s help. That’s when I came to the Mission. When I got here, I stood at the front gate and said, ‘God, you’ve got to take all this from me. I can’t do it myself. It’s Yours.’ I left everything behind me at that gate. For the first time, I felt safe. I finally felt like I could stop running. I could rest.
That’s what the Mission became for me – a place of rest, a refuge where God met me and changed me. When I stopped running, God’s peace came over me. All the stuff in my mind that I was running from disappeared. I was freed from shame, anger, guilt and fear to be submissive to God’s Word and his plan for my life, to be a good husband and a good father.
That was years ago, and I’m still learning to submit my life to God. But I do know this – that’s when I have the most peace and joy, when I’m laying down my own will and submitting my life and my family to Christ. Now I have a beautiful wife and seven beautiful kids. God has blessed me with a ministry here at the Mission and also at my church.
As the Mission’s Chaplain and Operations Manager, I see these guys who come in here just like I did, and I see that they’re running, too. I just try to point them to Christ. I tell them they don’t have to run anymore. Jesus says ‘Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ I’ve seen what God can do in this place. I’ve seen Him transform a life. I’m just so thankful to be a part of it.”