From Brokenness to Covenant: Johnny & Presha’s Testimony

Our story is a testament to just how powerful, loving, and faithful God truly is. Before Christ became the foundation of our relationship, we walked through seasons of brokenness, addiction, mistrust, and decisions that deeply affected our relationship and our family. There were times when we genuinely didn't know if we would ever overcome the things we were facing. But even in our lowest valleys, God never left our side. He didn't just bring us through those seasons; He changed us through them.

For much of our relationship, we were trying to build a life together without fully understanding what it meant to place God at the center. We were immature in many ways, especially when it came to trusting one another. Our relationship had become unhealthy, and the hurt we had caused each other often felt impossible to repair. Johnny's struggle with alcohol and drug addiction made an already difficult season even harder. As the addiction progressed, so did the consequences. After four DUIs and multiple emergency room visits, it became painfully clear that if something didn't change, the outcome could be prison or something far worse.

There was a point when we both began to believe that freedom from addiction might never come. We had prayed, hoped, and struggled for so long that, in some ways, we had begun to accept our circumstances as they were. Yet even when our faith felt weak, God was still listening. We were both praying, and so were many people who loved us and cared about our family. What we couldn't see at the time was that God was already working on our behalf.

One particular moment that stands out happened while Johnny was in rehabilitation. Presha and Johnny's mother came to visit, and during that visit, the weight of everything our family had endured became painfully evident. Although Johnny was finally receiving help, the exhaustion, hurt, and uncertainty were still very real. We were tired, and we couldn't yet see what our future would look like. Looking back, however, we recognize that God was teaching us the importance of surrendering everything to Him. Even when we couldn't see it, He was working around the clock on our behalf, preparing a peace and restoration that we couldn't have imagined.

As Romans 8:18 (NLT) reminds us, "Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later."

When Johnny completed rehabilitation and made the decision to surrender his life to Christ, things began to change. We started attending Freedom Church, then known as HFA, and as our relationship with Jesus grew, so did our understanding of His love, grace, and sovereignty. God began healing wounds we had carried for years. He taught us how to forgive one another, how to forgive ourselves, and how to love each other in ways we hadn't known before.

One of the greatest answered prayers in our relationship was Johnny's freedom from addiction. We had prayed those same prayers countless times, sometimes wondering if anything would ever change. But God heard every one of them. What once seemed impossible became one of the greatest testimonies of His faithfulness in our lives. Today, we can look at one another and recognize the healing God has brought into our relationship. Where there was once mistrust, there is now genuine trust. Where there was hurt and division, God has brought forgiveness, peace, and unity.

Our relationship with Christ also transformed the way we understood marriage. We both surrendered our lives to Christ in 2024, and in 2025, we made the decision to enter into a marriage covenant before God. That decision meant so much more to us than simply becoming husband and wife. It represented our commitment to stop building our relationship according to our own understanding and begin building it on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Learning what marriage meant from a biblical perspective was a process. At first, there were moments of hesitation, particularly because we wanted to be certain that marriage was a decision we were making out of love and obedience to God, rather than pressure or expectation from others. Through the guidance and encouragement of our church community, we began to understand the significance of covenant. Ultimately, our decision to marry came from a genuine desire to honor God and establish our family on His foundation.

Our Freedom Church family has played an important role throughout this journey. They have loved us through seasons when we struggled to love ourselves. Rather than defining us by our past mistakes, they chose to see us through the eyes of Jesus Christ. That kind of love wasn't always easy to receive, especially when we were still learning to accept God's grace for ourselves. But through their encouragement, prayers, and example, we have experienced what it means to belong to a community rooted in the love of Christ. We are incredibly grateful for the people God has placed in our lives.

Today, building a Christ-centered home means choosing prayer, surrender, and obedience daily. It begins with us. We understand that if we want our children to know what it means to follow Jesus, we must first model that relationship in our own lives. We seek God's wisdom in how we love one another, how we parent our children, and how we serve together in the church. Our family is not perfect, but our foundation is no longer dependent on our own strength.

One of our greatest prayers is that our children and future generations will learn from our testimony without having to experience the same pain we endured. We pray that God's grace and glory will shine through our story and that our children will see what He is capable of restoring. We want them to understand the importance of choosing God from the beginning, honoring Him in their relationships, and building their lives on a godly foundation. Above all, even when they don't know what to do, we want them to know Who to go to.

Looking back, we wouldn't wish those difficult seasons on anyone, nor would we ever want to walk through them again. But we also recognize that God has taken the most painful parts of our story and used them to reveal His mercy, patience, and faithfulness. He never looked at our brokenness and decided we were beyond forgiveness or restoration. Instead, He met us exactly where we were and brought us out of places we never thought we would escape.

We now understand something about God's faithfulness that we couldn't fully comprehend then: His timing is perfect. Even in seasons of waiting and suffering, He is preparing us for the people He has called us to become. Our past does not have to be wasted. God can use the very experiences that once threatened to destroy us to encourage someone else who is walking through a similar valley. We can now sit beside someone who is hurting, understand their struggles on a deeper level, and confidently say, "Look what God did for us."

To any couple currently walking through a difficult season, our encouragement is to keep going, keep praying, and don't give up on what God can do. Magnify the Lord in your lives. Welcome Him daily into your hearts, your marriage, and your home. Speak life and His Word over one another, even when your circumstances seem impossible. Surrender what you cannot control and trust that He is working, even when you cannot see it.

We are living proof that God can redeem what is broken, restore what seems lost, and bring peace where there was once chaos. Our story isn't about everything we did to save our relationship. It's about everything Jesus did when we finally surrendered it to Him.