Skip to main content

Letting God In to Heal the Brokenness

Share This article

Trevor recalls, “Art became my getaway. Whenever things were a bit too much for me, I would go to one of those trains or to a building and I would paint. Just all my imaginations of happy things, good things. Things that I would want to see.”

Trevor Lucas was a young teen when he discovered art helped him escape the pain of his stepfather’s cruel forms of discipline and abuse.

Trevor remembers, “He would take dry rice and put it on the floor and I would have to get on my knees on that rice. I would just think that life shouldn't be this way.”

Then when he was 12, his mom died. He was there the day she was electrocuted while putting a TV antenna on the roof of their home. Now in the care of his stepfather, he was left to fend for himself.  

Trevor says, “I'm fearful. I'm nervous. Of course, I'm sad. My mother's gone. I didn’t think that I’d live past 16. I thought I’d be surprised if I made it that far.”

The money he had, he stole, using it for food and, eventually, drugs. Trevor shares, “I got around a group of people that made me feel like family. I would snort, I would smoke weed, anything to kind of get my mind out of the situation that I'm in.”

It was during this time, Trevor began drawing and spray painting his name on trains. Trevor recalls, “It just gave life to me. You know? It put a spotlight on me, and it made me feel like, made me feel like somebody.”

Then at 15, Trevor was shot while fleeing a man’s home he’d broken into. The man, using a shotgun, hit Trevor in his back legs as he tried to jump a fence. While painful, the wounds were mostly superficial, and Trevor went to the hospital. He knew it could have been worse.

Trevor shares, “He used a bird shot because the shells spray. So, it sprays these pellets of lead. If he would've been up a little bit further, it would've shot me dead in my spine. I'm alive. I could have died. There has to be something better.”

That same day he was picked up by police and eventually sent to a boy’s home. Deciding to turn his life around, he quit using drugs and, after high school, joined the navy. On his first deployment one of the navy chief officers discovered his talent and made him the ship’s artist.

Trevor remembers, “They asked me if I could paint something on one of the officer's doors. I painted that there, they loved it. Now paint some on the quarter deck. I paint shark teeth on the front of the boats. It encouraged my self-esteem and let me know that I could do more with it.”

At the end of his three-year commitment, Trevor left with an honorable discharge. Over the next ten years, he began selling his artwork at festivals and eventually started a custom clothing business. He also began searching for his identity and purpose in various religions of enlightenment even Satanism.

Trevor shares, “Everybody's pretty much saying the same thing. It's on, on your works and your merits, whether you got the strength or not. You'll find that you don't. There's no redeemer. There's no redemption. In a lot of ways, you just here and poof, you're gone.”

Still carrying the guilt and shame of his past Trevor asked Jesus to help him. Trevor recalls, “I said, 'Lord, forgive me for all those things that I've done in my past.' And not, not only for Him to forgive me, those people that I hurt.”

Trevor started doing all the “right” things, going to church and doing community work. He also married Vandelette whom he met at church. Over the next two years, he continued going to church and even joined the choir. Even then, Trevor says he still didn’t have peace in his heart and mind. He would find it one Sunday while singing in the choir.

Trevor shares, “I heard audibly a voice saying, ‘I need more from you. I have more for you,’ is what He said. ‘But you have to let me in.’ The tears started falling. I'm feeling hot, so the Spirit is on me. So that was the point where I said, I need to give him more of me. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior in baptism and in Word. That's when the peace started to come into place.”

There was one more thing Trevor had to do. Forgive his stepdad. He got his chance when his stepdad, who was sick with cancer, reached out to him to make amends. Trevor says, “I think the conversations we had and hearing him, say he was sorry that softened my heart to say, 'Yo, I, I forgive you. It relieved a weight off of me that I didn't see coming.”

Finally, Trevor was able to see God as his Father and know his true identity in Jesus.

Trevor shares, “What God says about me, it carries way more weight than the label of a thief or a drug addict or a nobody. God said I was made in His image. And if I was made in His image, I was made to be great. I was made to be somebody.”

Trevor is living a beautiful life with his wife and daughter. A full-time artist, he’s living out his purpose, painting murals on buildings and in homes across the U.S.

Trevor says, “God heals all wounds. For those out there looking for direction and identity. You don't have to seek for the instruction manual anywhere else. Go back to the creator, the person who made you, and that creator is Jesus Christ.”


 

Share This article

About The Author

Michelle Wilson
Michelle
Wilson

Michelle’s been with CBN since 2003 as a 700 Club reporter-producer. She’s an award-winning producer who’s traveled to seven countries producing life-changing stories on healings, salvations, and natural disasters, reaching millions for Jesus. She’s an entrepreneur and humanitarian who gives generously to those in need through Michelle Wilson Ministries.