There was something that relationships, drugs and wild parties just couldn't fill.

Tags: Partying, Testimony
This article was written by Andrew Palau.

By the time I attended the University of Oregon, I blended right in with my fraternity buddies. On the outside it seemed like I was a happy guy and could juggle classes, work, and the party life. But on the inside I was miserable.

I felt guilty about so many of the poor choices I had made because they were diametrically opposed to the way that I had been brought up. It seemed like there was a void in my life- that something was missing. Something that relationships, and drugs, and wild parties just couldn’t fill.

A sense of emptiness continued, even after I graduated from college and began working in Boston. I kept partying, felt no peace, and drank to hide the pain inside. I felt like I was sinking into the depths of despair. I would look into a mirror and ask myself, What really matters? Where can I go?

At that point, it was as though God tapped me on the shoulder and said, Andrew, look at your parents’ example. What does your dad care about most?

I couldn’t get away from the answer. The center of Dad’s life is the Gospel. He had preached about it around the world, and had written dozens of books. Books I had never read, even though I was an English literature major.

Finally, not knowing where to turn, I pulled Dad’s book, “Say Yes! How to Renew Your Spiritual Passion” off of the shelf and actually read it. Although I was convinced that what Dad wrote about Jesus Christ was true, my heart was still not convicted.

If you've been far away from God sometime in your life, how did God begin to gently draw you to Himself? What advice would you give someone who is related to a person living far from God? S.