Don’t Let Anyone Tell You God Can’t Use You!
By Dr. Tommy Ray O’Dell
I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
the first grandson of the illustrious
evangelist, T.L. Osborn. I grew up in
that atmosphere, knowing about
international crusades and powerful
miracles. I had even heard the story
about my grandfather seeing Jesus
and how that transformed his young
ministry, and it deeply impacted me.
But somewhere I took a wrong path.
When I was sixteen years old, my
life was virtually over. I was a drug
addict with a burned-out mind from
chemicals and hard drugs. I dropped
out of school and ran away from
home. I slept on the streets, wherever
I passed out. Everybody gave up
on me, even my family and friends.
They all thought that I would die a
drug addict. But Jesus never gave
up on me. The seeds of the gospel
that were planted in my heart by my
wonderful grandparents made all the
difference in the world. The Bible says
that the Word of God is like a seed.
Sometimes we emphasis the power
of demonic or satanic seeds, but
there is nothing like the power, the
efficacy, of God’s seed, His Word.
The Bible says whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall
be delivered. I learned the truth
of that word on May 8, 1981, the
night I overdosed while with some
friends. My body began to convulse
so badly, they thought I was dying.
These “friends” were afraid of getting
stuck with a corpse and being asked
some very uncomfortable questions
by the police, so they stopped the
car, pushed me out and drove away.
There in the ditch, by the side of the
road, I called out in the name Jesus.
My whole prayer was simply, “Jesus,
OK!” There was no way I could pray
a more complicated or theologically
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