Unconditional
love

by Max

I was born in a little town just 20 minutes from Venice, and like most Italians I was brought up to believe in God and the Roman catholic church, I didn’t have a problem with God. At the age of about 4, my dad decided to leave us - my mum and the 3 of us. That fact alone shaped the rest of my life - my sister and I were taken to an orphanage and my brother was adopted.

Me and God weren’t good friends

Me and God weren’t good friends at the time, in fact I thought God could have changed this, so I was angry most of the time, ignoring the fact that my sister was trying to help me.

by the age of 18 I was sniffing cocaine and heroine.

I went from an angry little boy to a messed up teenager, even though one of my uncles tried to love me as a father. I wanted to go and live with my mother, and I finally achieved that when I was 17. We tried to live together for about 4 years, but I was really messed up and I expected her to clear it up. She’d had enough when she found out I was taking drugs - by the age of 18 I was sniffing cocaine and heroine.

I thought we couldn’t live together so I decided to go to

I think at that time God was looking after me even though I ignored His existence

Germany. In the beginning it was good but by the time I found someone to relate to I was moved to another town, I got fed up and while walking in Munich I met another Italian. He asked me if I wanted to go to London and since it was my pay day, I resigned from my work in Germany bought a couple of train tickets and went to London with this guy. As soon as we were in England I found out he was on heroine and I restarted the drug habit.

I think at that time God was looking after me even though I ignored His existence; I never got hooked on drugs, and I managed to go to a work agency and got away from the drug scene.

I got married ...she was pregnant with my child

At about 24, I thought I found love, met this young girl, 16 at that time and got married after finding out she was pregnant with my child, I was ecstatic, I thought I could do a better job than my own father - a chance to put things right.

How wrong I was, in the rush of trying to give my family everything that I could, I spent a lot of time working or trying to go into business for myself, the last straw came when I didn’t go home for 2 months, living where I was working, my wife fell in love with someone else, and on New Years eve 1995 she asked me to leave. I was totally distraught, I didn’t know what was happening and we divorced.

My doctor advised me to take a holiday and I came to Cornwall for a rest.

It doesn’t matter what you have done, there is someone there that will love you no matter what you have done.

While here in Cornwall I met what I considered a strange and beautiful lady, Sarah. She was in a wheelchair and obviously in some kind of pain, she told me how she was coping with not been able to walk and with the pain, there was a strange light within her that at first I didn’t understand but I wanted whatever it was that she obviously had.

Than she told about Jesus, and how He died for me, I finally knew was I was striving for, unconditional love, and Sarah knew where I could find it.

I gave my life to Jesus about 5 years ago, and although life is tough I know where to find help. I had some counselling after my divorce and now have a much better relationship with my son.

there is nothing you have done that will make Jesus love you any less and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more

That’s the best decision I took in my life, and of course the second was to marry that lovely lady that told me about Jesus.

It doesn’t matter what you have done, there is someone there that will love you no matter what you have done.

Sarah said to me: “there is nothing you have done that will make Jesus love you any less and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more”.