INSIDE VL Magazine - Mike Seals: Brand New Start

Hey iFam, this is Ashley and I'm on the team with Victorious Living and welcome to Inside VL Magazine. So all of you, I'm hoping, have gotten this magazine in your facilities and maybe you've read it. Not this particular one, but we have lots of different ones, some old, some new coming out. And so here we're just going to a deeper dive. You're going to hear from some of our authors and our writers and just how they share their story. They're going to read it to you. They're going to share some deeper, in-depth thoughts about what was going on in their mind and how they felt a certain way. And so our authors are true stories of real people sharing with you kind of where they got to the point where they surrendered to God. And so we're excited for you to be with us on this journey and we hope it inspires you to also take a step closer to God. So in today's episode, we're going to hear from Julie Seals and she's going to read her husband, Mike Seals' story. I think this is what's really cool is that she has that close relationship to him to be able to share kind of what he was going through for him to have a brand new start and all the things he went through in order to get to that start. And I'm hoping that you listen to this today or maybe you've already read it in the magazine and you want to listen to her read it. And hopefully it gives you some encouragement and challenges you for what your brand new start could be. Hey there, I'm Julie Seals and I am the Creative Content Manager for Victorious Living magazine. And I am really excited and honored today to get the opportunity to read you one of the testimonies in issue two of 2026. And the reason I'm so excited about reading you this testimony is because this is my husband's testimony.

His name is Mike and the article is titled, A Brand New Start. And there are some special things that I want to say to you because I know him personally and he's my husband. So I've asked to read this testimony and I've got some questions at the end. But stay with me and let me know as I'm reading if you can relate to Mike's story. I fell to the floor and curled up in a ball unable to stop crying. My wife was gone and it was too late to tell her how sorry I was for 20 years of anger, cheating and coming home drunk. I was a United States Navy Senior Chief, but at that moment, I was just a broken man who had lost everything he thought mattered. And that's when I felt the presence of God descend into the room. I knew I was undeserving of his love. I had given my life to the Lord as a teenager, but rebelled and walked away. Yet here he was comforting me in the moment of my greatest loss. I even sensed that he was not angry with me and that he loved me deeply as I heard him speak to my spirit and say, this will soon pass my son. I have plans for you. Then, just as God poured his grace out on Saul, a murder of Christians, and you can find that story in the book of Acts chapter 9, verses 1 through 19. And God transformed Saul and set him on a new path. God poured his grace out on me when I was least deserving, Mike writes. His immeasurable grace set me on a path, a new path for my life. And today I work as a chaplain teaching men about Jesus, but my journey here was long and painful. I went through much darkness before finally finding the light. I grew up in rural central Florida in a home marked by much unrest. My father was an abusive alcoholic who made life difficult for the rest of the family. My mother loved us kids and did her best, but our lives were full of struggle. Praise God, my father eventually gave his life to Jesus, but that did not undo the pain he caused.

By the time I was 17, I was buck wild, drinking in the same bars as my dad. My mom, unable to control me anymore, sent me to live with him. During this time, a new friend from school invited me to a youth event at church. I had decided I wanted God in my life and I went to the altar to ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life. But I didn't understand what that meant and no one followed up with me or taught me how to build a personal relationship with God and live as a Christian. A month after that decision to follow Christ, I enlisted in the United States Navy to start a new life. And let me tell you, life as a sailor was not the ideal setting for a brand new Christian. And there's actually a picture here of Mike in boot camp. Exciting ports, foreign women, and lots of alcohol grabbed for my attention and I quickly chose a lifestyle far from the one God desired for me. Four years later, I met Trina, a beautiful woman from the Philippines. We married after seeing each other for only a few months. I wasn't ready for marriage though and I'm ashamed to admit that I was not always a good husband to Trina. I had serious anger issues and I took my frustrations out on her. Not only that, but I had a gambling problem too. I was in a casino gambling away Trina's paycheck while she was in the hospital giving birth to our daughter Susan. I loved my family the best I knew how, but I was a broken man who didn't know what a functional, healthy family life was all about. In 1999, after 14 years of marriage, Trina was diagnosed with stage 3b breast cancer. I was terrified. All I could think about was our 13 year old daughter and how could I possibly raise Susan alone. As Trina's disease progressed, I became very aware of my need for God, but I felt unworthy to ask him for

anything because I turned my back on him. Nonetheless, I prayed and I begged God, please don't take my wife, but if you must take Trina, please don't take her until Susan graduates from high school. God, in his great mercy, answered my prayer. Trina was healed and after one year of chemo, radiation, and a mastectomy, the cancer was gone. I was grateful to God, but I didn't surrender my life to him. Still, he continued to pursue me. That day and every day, I would carpool in the Navy to Camp Pendleton with friends who I worked with and they listened to Christian radio. They were Christians. God used his word that was being preached and taught on that Christian radio station to tug at my heart and I would sit in the back seat of that car wearing sunglasses so that nobody could see the tears rolling down my face as the word of God was piercing my heart. In the late summer of 2004, I heard a voice inside of me say, Mike, you better get your family into church before it's too late. I knew it was God talking to me, but I kept dragging my feet. About six months later, my daughter called me at work and she said, Dad, mom's eyes are yellow. I didn't believe her, but I came home from work and she was right. We discovered that the cancer, Trina's cancer, had returned and it had metastasized and gone all throughout her body. A few days later, my wife of 20 years was gone. I was completely broken, lost, hurt, and desperate and I knew exactly where I needed to go. You see, I had seen a church sign near my home during my carpool rides to the Navy base and after Trina's funeral, I went to that church. I sat in the back row crying like a baby saying, Lord, why wasn't I the one to die? Why Trina? All she ever did was love me even when I hurt her and now it's too late to say I'm sorry. As I sat there in that church, I knew

that God was giving me one last chance to come back to him. And then I thought of Susan, my daughter. My daughter needed to see that Jesus was real in her father's life. My daughter deserved a godly father. At that moment, in that church, in that back row, I surrendered my life completely to Jesus Christ. I repented of my sin, asking him to forgive me and to help me move forward. God did not remove my pain and grief overnight. Instead, he entered my grief with me, and he faithfully walked me through it, teaching me that when life is dark and circumstances are hard, he will always bring me to the other side. And if you are in the middle of circumstances right now that are dark and hard, God may not remove those circumstances, but he will enter into them with you, and he will faithfully walk through those circumstances with you and bring you to the other side. You can look up Psalm 23 and verse four, and Isaiah 43 and verse two. That's your homework. Look up those two scriptures. Eventually, my grief began to lift as I walked with God daily. I read his word, and I fellowshiped with other believers and attended church regularly, and God ended up exchanging my grief for his joy,

and that is a promise in Psalm 30, verse 11. I never thought I'd be able to laugh again, but God gave me that gift. He also gave me a second chance at marriage. I met Julie at a church conference, and the Julie Mike is writing about is me. Not long after that, the pastor had us over for dinner. Julie tried to scare me away by telling me about her past, but when I learned how God had radically delivered her from a 17-year addiction to alcohol and meth and kept her through 22 months in federal prison and various health issues and saw the incredible joy she exhibited, I was attracted to her even more because God had truly transformed her. He had rescued us both, and here's another verse you can look up about God rescuing. Look up Psalm chapter 18, verses 16 through 19, and God had brought Julie and I together, and I wasn't going to go anywhere. I fell head over heels in love with this kind, smart, beautiful woman. Julie sang in the church choir, she got straight A's in college, and she was on fire for God. We dated for six months before I proposed, and she said yes. That's right, I said yes. After the wedding, Mike writes,

I began feeling that there had to be more to being a Christian than just going to church on Sundays. I told Julie how I felt, and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She told me that she had promised God that once she was released from prison, she would spend the rest of her life going back in to tell others that Jesus loves them and would rescue and redeem their lives. We prayed and we asked God for open doors, and one week later we met a woman who had a prison ministry. She invited us to attend a women's minimum security event and share our testimonies. I felt a spark of excitement I'd never felt before, and I knew that God was up to something big. The first prison chapel service changed my life. The minute those women walked in wearing their faded orange uniforms, carrying their worn Bibles and eager to hear about Jesus, I knew I was right where I belonged. Ephesians 2 and 10 says that you and I are God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do the good things that he had planned for us since before time even began. That scripture came alive in Mike at that first prison ministry service. And he writes this, what a sight to see 35 women raise their hands to heaven and worship God with tears streaming down their faces. I shared my story, Mike writes, and they cried even more.

Some chose to place their faith and trust in Jesus after hearing my testimony. Immediately, I remembered. words in Matthew 25, where he writes, I was in prison and you visited me. That's Matthew 25 verse 36. I knew that day that my calling was to the incarcerated and to those that Jesus calls the least of these. Matthew 25 and 40 is where Jesus says, the least of these. Today, I serve as a chaplain and I also run a discipleship group teaching men about Jesus. Julie and I have been married for 20 years now and God has done amazing things in our lives. We have a wonderful relationship both with my daughter and Julie's son and their families. You know, when Trina died, I thought my life was over. I was filled with regret knowing that I could never go back and make right all the wrong I had caused. But God's mercy and grace are bigger than my mess. I couldn't go back but I could move forward with him and as I did, God restored the damaged, broken, and lost things in my life. He can restore all of those things in your life too. Maybe today you think your life is over. That you wasted all your chances and there's no way you can go back and fix what you've destroyed and humanly speaking, you might be right. Some things in life can't be fixed but that doesn't mean that it's the end. God in his great mercy can plant a brand new garden. Let me do that again. God in his mercy can plant a brand new garden in the soil of your life. He can help you rebuild your life into something beautiful. Something with purpose. He can give you a brand new start and rewrite your story just like he did for Julie and me. The question is, will you let him? Now, I asked Christy Overton Johnson and the Victorious Living team if I

could be the one to read Mike's story and the reason I did is because I firsthand as his wife of 20 years can look at you and tell you that the man I am married to is not the alcohol drinking cheating man with an anger problem who is mean to his first wife. That's not the man I'm married to. I'm married to a man who is not just a better version of that old man. He's a new creation. I can tell you that my husband Mike is my very best friend. I love him. He is gentle. He he is funny. Sometimes he's sarcastic, but but he's a wonderful, humble man of God and I know that there are some men in prison who are watching this video right now and maybe you relate to Mike. Maybe you have at one point in your life been that man who drank too much who was unfaithful and committed infidelity. Maybe you're that man who had anger problems and you took them out on people that you loved who you were supposed to protect. I want you to take heart. I'm not telling you this to judge you. I'm telling you this to tell you that there's hope in Jesus. You see that's not the man he created you to be and my Bible says in second Corinthians 517 that therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and behold all things become new. I want you to know that I have seen this verse this scripture this promise of God alive in my husband and it can be alive in you too. You may not be able to go back and fix the things that you have messed up, but God if you will let him can plant a brand new garden in the soil of your life and he can do a brand new thing and give you a brand new start and I believe that and I want you to believe it too. So I have a few reflection questions that I want to share and I want you to consider these.

The first one is this. Mike knew that his daughter was watching his life. Who in your life needs to see a real transformation in you? In our own power, we cannot bring about real transformation in our own ability and power. But when we surrender to God, He will transform us. It's a spiritual miracle. When we surrender our life to Jesus, He puts His Holy Spirit in us and then we start on a journey. Surrendering our life to Jesus isn't the end of the story. It's the beginning of a brand new story. And He will walk beside you. He will teach you and through His Word and He will help you to become the man and the woman of God, speaking to women in prison too right now, that He created you to become. How? Second question. So first question, think about who in your life needs to see a real transformation. Now they may not see it all at once. They may not jump on the transformation and believe it all at once. So you have to be willing to give them time. I know that Mike's daughter, there was a few years that she didn't speak to him. But then God restored their relationship and now we are all closer than ever. So you have to remember, you've got to trust God. You don't get to write your own story when you give it to Jesus. You have to trust Him to write it and to do things in His timing. And His timing is perfect. Now here's the second question. How could your story become an encouragement to those watching? How could your story of God's restoration, restoring you and making you a new person, become an encouragement to those you love who are watching your life? And the third question is, how might the things you are most ashamed of become the foundation for your purpose? Mike was not a man who was a good family man before Jesus. He provided financially because he was in the Navy and he was a senior chief. But he also had issues with anger and alcohol and infidelity. But those very things that Mike was most ashamed of when he came back to Jesus Christ and gave his life to Jesus became the foundation for Mike's purpose. Because today Mike is a chaplain and he disciples men and helps them to become the dads and the men of God and the husbands that they were created to become. And they do that by getting into the Word of God and learning how to become a man of God. And for you women

watching, it's the same thing. We women who give our life to Jesus in prison, I'm one of them, we need to get into the Word of God and see who God says we are. See what God says about us and let Him do a life-transforming work. And so now what I would like to do is I want to pray with you. So Holy Spirit, I pray right now for every man and every woman in prison watching this video. For those who have identified with pieces of Mike's story and said, oh man, he's reading my mail, his story's my story, as Julie's reading it, man, she's reading my mail, she's talking about me. God, I pray that right now in this moment that those who identify with the brokenness of Mike's story would also feel your presence and your love just encountering them right now, right where they are in prison, and encouraging them in a way that causes them to put their hope and their trust in you. God, I thank you that you make them a new creation, that you make us all a new creation when we put our faith and our trust in you. And I thank you, God, that nothing they have done, nothing I've done, nothing any of us has done, is something that is too evil, too bad, too dark, too ugly, that you have not already paid the price through Christ's shed blood on the cross to redeem their stories. You've redeemed my story, you've redeemed Mike's story, and God, you are well able to redeem the story of every man and woman in prison watching this video. And I thank you God, I'm asking you to redeem stories, I'm asking you to restore family relationships that are broken, and I'm asking you to give men and women the patience and the trust to trust your timing and your ways. And it's in Jesus' precious holy name that I thank you for all that you're doing, that they can see, and even all that you are doing that they cannot see. Help us, God, to follow you, to put our trust in you, and to keep going. And I pray that you would give men and women joy, give them joy in the journey on what society calls the wrong side of the razor wire fence, because it is your joy that is our strength.

And it's in Jesus' precious name that I thank you for answering this prayer, I thank you for touching the men and the women watching this video, and I just give you all the glory, Jesus. In your name I pray, amen. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondents, PO Box 2751, Greenville, NC 27836. To view Victorious Living magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098, or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living magazine free of charge, in bulk, with or without staples.