-That’s not nice, God
Carl Fredrik’s problems date from when he was 14, when his maternal grandfather died suddenly and unexpectedly.
-I told God «That was not very nice of you. Now I don't want to talk to you anymore!» From then on my life started a downward spiral. I developed a hatred, and started thinking like a criminal, he tells.
He was in and out of prison throughout the 70's, until Carl Fredrik met Jesus for the first time in 1979. -I saw Jesus with his arms stretched out towards me in the living room when I came home from work. Then and there I had an encounter with Jesus. I remember I knelt for many hours and just cried, he says. Afterwards this hard core criminal went straight to the police and confessed everything he had done, and served a prison sentence of five years and nine months.
Saved but not free
After Carl Fredrik had served his time in prison, a new chapter of defeat started. This time he avoided crime. He explains that Jesus had done something with his heart. Instead he got addicted to alcohol. Eventually he got addicted to harder drugs such as amphetamine. He supported his habit by begging.
In 2002 he was admitted to a rehabilitation centre where things went well for him for a while, and he moved out to start a new life on his own. When things got rough Carl Fredrik cracked, and his drug addiction got more and more out of control.
-I had received Jesus as my Saviour, but I was not free of what had bound me, he says.
He was now living under a bridge in Oslo and eased the pain of having betrayed God and people by taking amphetamine injections.
Set free at the train station in Oslo
Right in the middle of this complicated situation he pondered the possibilities of getting away from Oslo and going home to Stavanger, where he figured it would be easier to seek help again. When he had started trying to save up enough money for the train ticket, he met Svein-Magne right outside the train station in Oslo. He had met Svein-Magne once before during his rehabilitation programme.
”Can you lend me 150 kroner for a train ticket?” I asked. Svein Magne answered that he didn’t usually give away money in that way. “Ok, but can you pray for me then?” I asked, Carl Fredrik tells.
Svein-Magne patted him on the shoulder and said: “I free you in Jesus’ name!”
God’s power came like lightning from heaven. It was as if electricity hit me, and suddenly I just knew that I needed to seek help again. Afterwards he gave me 150 kroner even though he had at first said no. He looked at me and said “spend it right”, remembers the former drug addict.
The money he was given went towards its intended use. That evening he took the first train to Stavanger where he got the help he needed to get back to the rehabilitation centre, where he finished his program.
A brand new life
Meeting Svein-Magne gave him a certainty that he was really free.
-No matter where I went during the time after I was prayed for by Svein-Magne, I saw him before me, and I just knew it was now or never, he describes.
The rehabilitation had to be completed for him to be totally restored. This happened in 2004. Since then Carl Fredrik has had a new life. He married the woman of his dreams. Her name is Wenche, and together they are soldiers in the Salvation Army in the city of Mandal.
-I had my sights set on her for a long time, but I thought that such a wonderful woman would not want a guy like me.
She still fell in love with him, and today they are together in God’s service. They have made a CD with their own lyrics and melodies, and they sing and testify at meetings and on the local radio.
Carl Fredrik is as of today a social worker for recovering drug addicts in association with the Salvation Army and the city of Mandal in Norway. In doing this he is able to utilize his life experiences by helping others.
-Many people have helped me, and they were used by God, but Svein-Magne had a great impact at a very crucial time in my life. He was sent by God at the right time, Carl Fredrik concludes.
