Signs and Wonders - Real Stories. Real Change. Real Hope.
Discover true stories of transformation that happen in our communities. Genuine moments of change that will inspire and lead you to hope. Watch and let us know what awakening looks like in your life.
Jaryd survived the streets, multiple arrests, and a son who almost didn't make it — until Jesus changed everything. Watch this short documentary about one man's redemption and the faith-based boxing program now transforming over 1,000 lives in his community.
I've almost died numerous times. I had OD'd. It hit me that I was so alone. No matter how bad you think that you are or what you've done or where you're at in life, God can turn it around. My parents got divorced when I was probably around four or five years old. Lots of fighting and arguing. And my mother remarried. My stepfather was an abusive alcoholic. I think that's part of why I was such a hurt person. It was some wounds that were left to me at a young age that I was never good enough, that I wasn't loved, and that if I just never would have been born, then the world would have been a much better place. Most of my teen years, I chose to get mixed in with the wrong people and the wrong friends, you know, and that kind of started off with muking weed and drinking and taking some pills. In and out of juvenile detention, had a hand blown up with a shotgun, and that was the first time I was introduced to morphine on a pump. I mean, I remember just like the flood that came over me, the feeling of it, and sent me back in the hospital chair. And it's something that really gave me pain relief, not just physically, but also from all the emotional pain. And the problem with that is, is you build up a tolerance. And so it starts off with a simple little pill, and then it just goes up the ladder of strength until the point where you get so much and the doctor says, "I'm not giving you pills anymore." And now you've got a habit that, you know, you go out to the street or whatever you're going to do to get it. And the next thing you know it, you're doing heroin. When you are addicted and you're sitting in your bedroom and you're injecting heroin so that you can make it to the next day, that becomes your new existence. I actually took a couple of overdoses to really realize that, you know, I have a problem. We're going to lose him. That's a dark place to get to. ♪ Take me broken ♪ I remember just like sobbing on the floor, asking God, "Please forgive me, God." Like I said, "I'm going to do it your way. I'm going to give my life to you." It was like a huge weight was lifted off of me. I'm just going through the Gospels. Like I'm reading through the Bible and before it was just letters on a page. But now it was like words of life. I had talked to my brother and he had been to St. Thomas and I always loved the water, you know, it was like something about my soul. I was telling my friends about this. I think you should go down there. I'll buy you a plane ticket. And he's like, "You don't even got to pay me back, man. I'll help you get down there." So he books the ticket. I remember when I got here, I remember stepping off the plane. It was bright, sunny day, beautiful, hot. I know Salvation Army had an organization here. The gate's locked. It's closed up. Kevin, he was the captain at Salvation Army. He comes out and he's like looking at me, "Can I help you?" And I'm like, "I just want advice. I want a place I can make resumes and print it out. Like I want to go look for work." I'm like, "Where am I going to stay at?" He's like, "Well, you can stay at Bunker Hill. It's the cheapest place you're going to find." It's like a hundred bucks a night, paid for the night at the hotel. And I was pretty much out of money. So that next morning I got up and I got on my knees and I prayed and I said, "God, if you don't make a way to provide, I don't have no way to do this anymore. I don't know what I'm going to do." I see a company called CRM. I go in there and I hand her my resume and I said, "This is who I am." She's like, "I'll give this to him and maybe he'll give you a call." I didn't even get all the way settled in and the phone rings. Guy's like, "Can you come in tomorrow morning for an interview?" And he's like, "I'll offer you the job." This is like God thing. This isn't like just a coincidence. I had met Kevin. That's where I first met, the Salvation Army. And so I had been going to church ever since off and on. It was really, really cool. Like, it was a small little church and it was just people there who loved Jesus and they were just there to sing and praise the Lord. After the service, Kevin's like, "Come here, man. I want to show you something." I'm like, "All right, what's up?" He goes, "I was praying last night and while I was praying, he says, "The Holy Spirit has moved me and said to me that I need to give you this apartment until you can get back on your feet again." So I stayed in that apartment for like six months. Don't have any friends. I don't have any family. I don't have much community. I have the Salvation Army Church, but only on Sunday praying to God saying, "God, I'm really, really lonely." I'm just out trying to have interaction with people and feel a connection to people. I'm at this place and there's this girl over there and she's like super nice, you know? So we're talking and I'm like, "Listen, I want you to know something that's important about me." You know, I'm a believer. God believe in Jesus Christ. That's the most important thing to me. If you're not okay with that. And she's like, "Really?" She goes, "I'm a believer too." So you know, we hit it all. Things are going great. And I'm like, "Why don't you move out of that apartment?" She comes and moves in with me. The next morning I wake up, I'm feeling really convicted about this. We can't be living in sin. Either we're going to have to get married or we're going to have to like move back out. Let's not wait that long. Let's not put it off for a ceremony. Let's just do it right now. We get two witnesses. We went down to St. Thomas Reformed Church and we did it. God's blessed us tremendously from that point on. We've started our own business doing HVAC and it's a very successful business. You know, in all your ways acknowledge God and He'll direct your paths. And that's what I always take away from my testimony. And no matter how bad you think that you are or what you've done or where you're at in life, God can turn it around. And all you have to do is fully surrender to Him. Your heart will be changed and your mind and your thoughts will be changed from who you are. The old person won't be like that and you'll want to become a new person. You'll be a new person. Even when things are going good and our lives are blessed, we have to remember to still get up and spend time with God. And it's about a relationship. I finally found what was missing. The only thing that would satisfy and heal me from all that hurt was Jesus. That was the only thing that ever finally took the pain away.
My stepdad, he would come back drunk, and he would just go on a tirade. If I made a mistake, he would just whip me. At those times, I would just cry to God, "God, why?" I remember that week when I was born again, looking in the mirror and knowing that that wasn’t me anymore. [Music] I was born in Erling's Village, St. Mary’s Parish, in Antigua. Little countryside hamlet—more than a village—very tiny. As a little baby, my mother moved to the Virgin Islands, and I grew up there till I was about three years old, then went back to be raised by my grandmother. When my grandmother died, the responsibilities of my grandmother were shifted off to one of my aunts. At that time, my mother had my little sister with my stepdad. My mother would send all these things for us so we could have a good life—clothing, food, and all these products—and it was never passed on to us. So I was literally… my sister and I, these kids in rags, while my cousins had our clothes that my mother sent for us. I was probably about five years old at that time. Eventually, one of our neighbors wrote a letter to my mother saying how we were being mistreated, and my mother came back to Antigua to get us. I remember seeing my mother, tears coming out of her eyes when she saw us 'cause we were filthy. We moved to St. Thomas and grew up in a house where my stepdad was really not a very nice man. My mom… very strong, 'cause she had to be. She had an abusive man as her husband. I remember learning my times tables, and if I made a mistake, he would just whip me. He’d go play cricket, and he'd come back drunk, and he would just go on a tirade. At those times, I would just cry to God, "God, why?" The abuse had gotten so bad in my house that I moved out and lived with one of my aunts. My senior year, I moved back home, and it was just horrendous. I remember at one point my stepdad went after my mom, and I just stood between them, grabbed him by the shoulders, and I just shook him. I said, "Don’t touch my mother again." And that was it. I think he knew at that point that it was like—you can’t do that anymore. Days after high school graduation, I packed my essentials in a gallon trash bag, and I just left. I never looked back. My first year of high school, I was walking downtown, and these two guys came up to me and said, "I want you to read this," and they opened the Bible to me. Then he asked me, "Do you want to accept Jesus in your heart?" I held their hands, and I prayed on that sidewalk and accepted Christ in my heart. I'll tell you—for days I felt like I was walking on air. So much of what was in my heart, the burden I carried, just fell. Lo and behold, there was this big revival in North Texas. Me and a brother from here, Lewis, we went to Texas to this revival thing—not knowing what was ahead but trusting God—'cause I felt, like I still do, there’s a call to ministry on my life. That was the first step—going to whatever that looked like. Within a short time, I went to the school, and I ended up going to Christ for the Nations for two years. It was such a good time, it really was, 'cause everyone there, we were all focused on Jesus. I was like, "Okay, I’ve got the foundation now." You learn how to study the Word, you learn how to actually preach the Word. One of the friends I met while I was at Christ for the Nations was Don Scriber. We became really good friends. He graduated a year before I did and moved to California. We stayed in touch. There’s a brother, Steve Genovisi, and Steve and I proceeded to drive across Texas into California—like straight. So Steve and I get out there, and Don comes over the bridge and takes me back to Long Beach. And that begins my adventure in California. I got a job with McMillan Publishers. I made great money, but I also lost touch with the church. I was doing all this stuff—drugs, just done, I was getting tired. Don and I decide we're gonna go to Yosemite just to kind of ease off the city thing. We get up to Yosemite, and there’s a youth revival going on. We’re on the peripheral of this thing, and I'm wearing this white shirt. He said, "You're in the white—come up here." And he starts to prophesy over me. You know, the Lord just spoke this in my heart— "You're off track. You need to do this, this, this, this..." And I’m just like, "Thank you, Lord," because You’re still looking out over me. But man, it sends chills down your spine. You’re like, "Okay, God..." I was in California for just about four and a half years. At that point, it was time for me to move on. I decided to come back to St. Thomas, which is where I felt I needed to be. I got here, I take the safari bus, and I met the woman who became my wife. I met Huga, who I love so dearly. I was still kind of knowing God but not walking the straight and narrow. Eight months after we met, we moved in, started our first business that following summer. That was late fall, 'cause I came back in October. By December, we’re up and running our restaurant, and I knew I wanted her to be my wife. I look back, and I’ve not been perfect. But you know, God has given us perfect grace. We’ve been in the valleys, and we’ve been on the peaks, and in all of it there’s been a consistency of our commitment there—and just the love and grace of God. As we’ve gotten children, I came back to a real deep faith and understanding with God. We ended up coming to the church that we presently go to through a pastor from this church that would come to our restaurant. I must say that in my conversion, God became my first Father. Me entering into fatherhood gave me an opportunity to be the father that I didn’t have. Anything—my kids, if they did sports, I was there. I mean, I’d have a packed restaurant, and I would say, "That’ll be there when I come back. I can clean up that mess." I thank God, as I look back at my life, that He protected my mind and really guarded my heart. While all of us come into this world and are born in sin, while we were there, God, in His foreknowledge, made a sacrifice for us in His Son, Christ. I only have one son, and I think how painful it would be for me to lose my son—to give my son away for anything. And for God to do that for everyone, for all the sins of this world, is the ultimate love. The Lord is good. He’s so good to us. And whomever is listening to this, I just want you to know—if you don’t know that love, it’s free, and it’s available in Christ Jesus.
Signs and Wonders documentaries showcase inspiring personal stories of change, healing, and new purpose. Each story reveals key moments when people overcame challenges, found hope, and achieved breakthroughs.
Discover these true stories and witness how love, strength, and resilience can make a difference. These films provide insight into tough times, showing that light can shine even in darkness.
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