Welcome to today's inspiration. Thank you for allowing us to come into your living room today. I am believing for your breakthrough. I am believing for your deliverance.
I'm believing for your salvation. And I'm believing for your healing. You have seen in past episodes a testimony from a woman of God. Now you get to meet her husband, Deacon Terry Durham.
He has his side of the story. You know, we always like to be transparent. We're real and we're raw. Eagle Wing's faith ministry does not hold back and we don't sugarcoat.
So I do want to warn you, if you have kids in the room, you might want to let them go play because we're going to be transparent here. We're going to take you from, as I said in previous episodes, from a rags to riches story of learning identity, of being delivered, of finding out who God is in relationship versus religion. You know, in episodes we have talked about that if you're plugging into a church just to say you went to church, you're missing it. You're missing being able to access everything God has for you.
I am so honored because I not only get to serve with this man, I get to call him son. Him and his wife, both are our spiritual children. They have worked hard for the last three years to where they are today. The Eagle Wing's faith ministry is going to be having some major future announcements with these two being a key component in the upcoming announcements that you're going to be hearing about.
So I want to introduce to you, I want to get right to it for the sake of time. I want to introduce to you Deakin Terry Durham with Eagle Wing's faith ministry to bring to you his story, his side of the story from his wife's side. You get to see two perspectives of what they went through. So Terry, wow, a lot has happened in almost three years, hasn't it?
Absolutely. Absolutely. Where would you like to begin? First of all, I want to open up with a scripture because we're supposed to tell our stories.
It's a testimony that brings you deliverance. So I'm going to read the scripture and then Deakin Terry is going to elaborate. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, this is Revelation 11 verse 10. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.
For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. Verse 11 says, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to death. What does that scripture mean?
That means that no matter how much demonic influence comes against you, you can overcome it by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony. You can overcome anything if you surrender to God. Terry surrendered. He cried out that first night that you came to the first service you came to our house, you were broken.
You were searching. Maybe didn't know right then what you were searching for. You had a biblical background bringing in it. I want to touch on that a little bit of where your wife had a totally different type of background than what you did.
So give us a little bit of your biblical background and what you knew of God before stepping in to a whole different realm. Well, I was raised in church and understanding that we are born in Tucson. That's the key to it all right there. God knew us before we were performed in our mother's womb.
So understanding that we're born into sin, I was raised up in church. I knew what the whole aspect of church was. I knew how to perform the church life. I knew what religion was about.
I knew how to look the part. But I didn't know how to get into relationship. And that goes into family relationship. That goes into actually the whole part of my testimony and the identity crisis that I was in, not feeling loved.
If I had been taken down the road of relationship with God versus looking the part, playing the part, following the services, then it would have been completely different from me because I would have known how to tap into a relationship with God versus seeking that from anywhere. There was a lot of abandonment issues that I had to face growing up. I didn't know who I was because I never felt true love. So would you, even though you had a family and you had a mother and you had a father, they weren't together, would you say that orphan spirit really blossomed that made you feel abandonment and loss and who am I type of thing?
Absolutely. I was very confused as to why nobody stuck around. People would say, I love you. There was a point and now that God has done a lot of work in me and answered a lot of questions that I had growing up, I understand that there were key things that even God was in the midst of that.
I was saved at eight years old and I understood what salvation was, but I didn't understand what relationship was. So that orphan spirit really just played a big number on me. It took me under. There were things that happened in my childhood that caused my father to have to separate himself from me for a portion of time.
I blamed myself. I didn't understand that. And now that God has made that clear to me, I know why. But he returned.
He came back in and I was like, there's my dad. You know, he came back. So I wanted to build that relationship. And as a child, the only thing that I could think of that would prevent that from ever happening again is if I made that transition to live with him.
So if I go live with dad, then I can't lose him again. So I moved and when I made that transition shortly after that, my mother decided this was, this all took place in Kentucky. I'm a Kentucky. My mother moved here to Tennessee.
For seven years, I began to question again. There was times that I didn't see her, but maybe once a year, I didn't see her. But just Christmas, I believe was the time that I'd see her. I talked to her maybe once a month.
So that again, abandonment, that orphan spirit attacked me and really latched on. So you didn't even know what love should even feel like? Exactly. Because it didn't start, even though they loved you from a capacity of where they were at.
I think you could probably safely say that now knowing your relationship. But you feeling that love and compassion, it wasn't there that you were striving for. So would you say that then you had a distortion of how to love others? Absolutely.
Yeah. It was very unclear on how I was to convey love. I didn't know how to even present it. And for that matter, how to even receive it.
And yeah, I mean, it just made it completely impossible. Love was not a part of that. So let's fast forward your married to Ashley. And you're at the courthouse.
And you're trying. She's hearing audibly, let it go. Take us from your perspective that day at the courthouse the day of your divorce. Well, I have to kind of jump ahead or jump back just a little bit.
Because it started for me, you know, I was fulfilling every desire of the flesh. I didn't know what it was to deny myself of those things. You know, I knew that God was there. I had relationship.
I had conversation with God for many years of my life. I remember as a child talking to him, asking him questions, asking why the complications were there. So when I met Ashley, I quickly fell into what I thought was love, what I thought was love. And would you say it was lost?
I do believe. I do believe it was. There was an attraction. She had something that I was addicted to.
Come on. So I was seeking everything that I had been missing my entire life from this one woman that if you've heard her testimony, she didn't know how to give. So you know, at that point, when she wasn't able to fulfill those things, I would start to drink. I became an alcoholic.
There were many street drugs that I tried and I was addicted to fulfilling those things, trying to feel that void. And you know, it led me down at the path of I walked into adultery. I did everything. You name it.
I was there. So that day at the courthouse, prior to that, I had spent some time with a woman in that affair that I was having. And God was dealing with me even then. I didn't even know that.
He said he's so gracious that even in our sinful, yucky, nasty state of mind that he's still, that's my kid. That's my kid. I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to keep trying to get his attention in our ugliest moments that we can honestly say that if we later head down, we were going to hell.
Yeah. And see the thing was, is that I felt the drawing. I felt the wooing, but I had no idea how to deal with that. I didn't know what to do with that.
I knew that I had to get out of the mess that I was in. I knew that where I was was absolutely the wrong place, but I didn't know how to fix the issues. So when I finally made the decision, I was staying with my sister. I had gotten away from all of those things that I knew that was incorrect.
And I moved into my sister's house and I was staying there. And like I said, I've been hearing the Lord just kind of drawing me to a place of, let's fix this. Not knowing how to, but I did. So the only thing that I did know was, you know, I took me back to, because of that background of church, took me back to the Lord's prayer.
And that was the only thing that I knew to do. So I would get up every one. I would pray. I knew that I'd mess up and I wanted to fix this.
I wanted my wife back. I wanted my family back. I wanted to prove that those narcissistic, just the abuse that I was giving, that narcissistic manner of myself, that I could fix that, that I could conquer that. So I like how you use the word.
And I hope that our viewers catch it is I can fix it. You were trying to fix it in your own power. Exactly. That's a key word there.
We can't fix it in our own power. Continue. Go ahead. So I remember getting up every morning.
And again, I didn't know what to pray. So I would pray that our Father who are in heaven and I will be that name, that kingdom come that will be done. So not even realizing the words that I was speaking. I was asking for the kingdom to come down.
And I was praying the Father's will over my life. And I was also seeking that the Lord would restore those things that the enemy tried to steal from me, my family, my wife, my kids. And I did that for a portion of time. I think maybe two months consistently.
I began to listen to worship music rather than the stuff that I started making those steps that had been instilled in me through my youth. So that day that we went to court, and as she mentioned in her testimony, I had suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for a very long time, debilitating to the point that I couldn't even function in day to day life. So I'm sitting in the courtroom and she comes in and the first thing that hits me is sympathy because she had just had surgery and she comes in on crutches and I could tell that she didn't feel good and my heart just broke. And I think that's kind of what put me in that place of anxiety.
So as I'm sitting there and I'm shaking and under attack because understanding that panic and anxiety are attacks of the enemy, God did not create us to suffer from illness or infirmities or mental illness. God gave us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind. He created us to be whole. But I'm sitting there broken and the only thing that I wanted to do was just tell her that I loved her.
She had looked back at me a couple of times and I could see the hurt, the anger and frustration and I could see that at that point that she was kind of still angry. So I didn't really know what to do but she looked back at me at one point and I knew that I needed to get that out there. So I'm mouth-of-the-words, I'm sorry. And I saw that that even made her more angry.
And so she began and I knew that she was beginning to cry so she got up and she walked out and she's standing out there in the foyer of the courthouse. And at that point I believe I wasn't even supposed to be in contact with her but I didn't care. I had to get that. So I walked out and she's in tears and I got her attention and I just said I really am sorry.
I apologize for everything. Knowing that she didn't believe me, I wanted that opportunity to say that. So then she, according to her testimony she says, I will take you back. And fast forward she takes you back, you start to work, you've heard her side, you begin during the work.
Take us from there. So we got back together and though I had fixed what, on my own powers, by my own mind, I had fixed some of those things that were an issue. I had gathered myself to where I could manage to show what little bit of love that I knew how to do. You know, I had done some research on some of my traits, my characteristics and things that I was doing and I'd made a determination that with my strength I was going to try not to be the person that I was before.
And that worked but there was still a brokenness, there was still all of those issues that only Christ could. And did you find that when you were trying to fix it on your own and you said you studied to find out the things so that you didn't repeat, did you find yourself getting really weary? Oh absolutely, there was no peace involved. You know, you can do all the self-help books all you want.
You can do all of the research and psychological evaluations of yourself and see where you fit and fall in. But realistically, without the power of the Holy Spirit, there's no peace, there's no joy, there's no restoration. Amen. It just doesn't work.
So, fast forward. That's Sunday that you came to service. If I remember correctly, I think through your testimony you were high when you came in that. I was, I was.
I did. I walked in. I had just got done smoking marijuana and I didn't really know what to expect so I wasn't at it. You know, still drinking, you know, still doing all of those things that I thought was helping the situation, that was numbing the pain, that was filling the void, still filling that.
I walked in and from the moment that I crossed through the door, there was an overwhelming love that consumed me and blanketed my whole being. And from somebody who didn't know what love really was or have an example, what did that feel like, tangibly? What did it feel like to you? It was absolutely breathtaking.
To feel that much passion and that much love, it immediately brought tears from eyes and I'm trying to find the closest seat, you know, and I'm trying to rush past everybody, you know, wiping my eyes. I found myself, I found myself sitting there through the whole service, just continually wiping tears. The thing is, is that the week before I had called out to God and I was sitting on the front porch at my house and I was sitting there knowing that there was more, knowing that there was help and I asked God, I said, God, if there's any way that you could wrap your arms around me and show me that you love me, that's what I need. And I was sitting completely alone and I prayed that prayer.
Just a couple of weeks after that was when I was introduced to you guys. And during that worship service, I was sitting there with tears in my eyes and I was standing, at that point I was standing and I had received the first word from the Lord and it was to return to your first love. That's what he said to me. He said, to return to your first love.
I mean, you had spoke that to me. And as I'm standing there, I got lost for a moment and I didn't, I didn't, there was nothing around me but love and joy and Apostle Chris from behind put his arms around me. And I knew that that was the Lord answering that prayer and that was that Father's hug that I needed, that I longed for, that I really desired. That was that answer prayer.
I know you went to a service with us with us that night. You went to another service and of course when you got home, it was all about the high, the real high. Yeah. Was that the last time that you actually smoked?
You know, it's funny that you bring that up because as I walk through the door, and again, at this point my wife isn't at that place as she's not where I was, there was an ignition through that revival that night and through the love of the Father that morning, there was an ignition inside of me. It was like nitrous. It lit a flame and I couldn't even contain it. So as I walk in, I'm like, where's that stuff?
And she tells me and I guess at that point she assumed that we were going to smoke and I'm like, no. So she follows me and I go to the bathroom and it goes into the toilet. She said, you're going to regret that and I said no, not. So from that moment forward, never again.
And it's almost three years that he has been clean from alcohol and pot drugs, that type of thing. And you can see so far that once you feel the Father's love and you feel that you have that encounter, you can't turn away from that encounter. Even if you really want to and you get mad and you get angry and you think, because as I know walking with DeCinteri and his wife, there's been some hurdles. There's been some hiccups.
There's been some, now not hiccups as far as returning to drugs or alcohol or anything like that. But there's been hiccups on just learning how to navigate life and trust God through it. Absolutely. That when he came that Sunday, he didn't stop and he drug his family with him.
Whether they liked it or not, they came. But then his deliverance, him and his wife deliverance started. And that was a whole other chapter, wasn't it? Amen.
Yes, it was. In a few sentences, what would you say, what made you say yes to deliverance? What was that? I mean, you go to church and you feel good and you're surrounded by like believers.
You've stopped doing the drugs. You stopped doing alcohol. Most people stop right there. What was it that made you say, I have caught to be delivered or I'll never be set free?
For me, it was absolutely Holy Spirit. Like I said that day that that fire was lit, it was burning bright. It was burning strong. Feeling the love of the Father and that passion, that became my addiction.
That replaced every addiction that I'd had prior. And I knew that I wanted more. How long would you say you were addicted to substance abuse? I would say probably 10 years.
Wow. And from that encounter with God that morning, you've not returned to that. Absolutely. That's what overcoming is.
That is what deliverance is. It started in the altar. He had an encounter. But there was something in him that he became addicted to the Holy Spirit that he knew that there was more.
And to get more, you had to go through a process. Would you say even today, almost three years later, or three years later, I don't remember the exact date actually, that you know sitting here today that there's even more. Absolutely, yes. And how important is it to you to stay delivered?
It's everything. Maintaining your deliverance is a daily process. To think that it stops at some point that it stops. So do you hear that, thanks?
Those of you sitting in the living room right now, if there is something to this story, you want to tune in to the next one because we're going to continue. We're going to continue this process. But if there is something, don't hesitate to reach out to us. All the information will be at the bottom of your screen.
If you want to set a time to meet with him or his wife or with the both of them, we're available to serve you. We're available to wrap our arms around you and believe for your deliverance that you can walk in peace and joy once again. God loves you so much. He wants to see you set free.
So please take what you've heard today and in our future episodes and in past episodes. You may need to go back and rewatch to get an understanding of the goodness of God and how much he loves you. We love you. We praise you.
We thank you. God bless. I appreciate you all watching our show this evening. If there's anything, anything whatsoever that you have heard that has spoken to your heart and you feel the need to either rededicate your life or turn your life over to Jesus.
I encourage you to reach out to us. You would be more than happy to speak with you either on the phone or via email or however you can reach out to us. And it's easy. We can say a prayer for you.
Jesus says to Nicodemus that you must be born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So I encourage you to turn your life over. If you need to rededicate, that is also to turn your life back to repentance is simply turning from the direction that you were going to a new direction. You're no longer the old person that you are.
You become a new person through the gift of salvation. So I encourage you to reach out to us at egewingsfaith.org. You can click on the tab, contact us, and you can put it through the website or you can email us straight ewfmschurch at gmail.com. And we look forward to hearing from you.
God bless you and we will see you later.