God had a plan
for me

My name is Riccardo. I grew up frightened of living a boring, predictable life, like a film I had already seen.

I threw myself at sport, school, work and love, and all of it tired me quickly. Life made me anxious: nothing was ever enough. Then I fell in love with the street, a world of parties, psychedelic drugs, fast money and whatever it took to get it.

I ended up full of acquaintances and without a single real friend. Self-centred and completely sure of how I looked, completely unsure of who I was.

The tunnel

Then the drugs took over and I fell into a dark tunnel: loneliness, withdrawal, pain, no sleep. It was that crisis that finally made me listen to a friend who kept telling me, Jesus can help you and change your life.

I thought God was for old people and for the pious. I pictured someone distant. I gave Him a chance anyway, and that day I invited Jesus into my life.

What I did not expect

I knew I did not deserve His help, and what I felt instead was a love for me I still cannot explain. I will never forget the first time I felt His presence, and the first words He said to me: do not be afraid, I will be with you.

In that light everything took a completely different shape. The emotions I had been chasing, the fake friendships, the obsessive hunt for the next adventure, all of it suddenly looked thin and superficial. He gave me a life that is more surprising and more full of adrenaline than the one I left.

I found out that miracles exist and that you can live one on an ordinary day. I have dreamt things that then happened, prayed for illnesses that were healed, heard His voice say things to me I had no way of knowing. And I met real friends: the kind who do not disappear when the party is over, but help you put your head back in order.

We travel telling people about this Love that changed our lives, with one aim: to heal broken hearts, the way mine was, wherever they are.

We work in earthquakes and in war zones, because His love is ready for anything. My life is fuller, more adventurous and more mad than I ever imagined it could be. Simply: thank you, Jesus.