This might be one of the most life-changing God-stories you will hear this year. It affected me to the core.
It was a chilly, rainy October night in northern Georgia. Close to midnight, Pagiel slipped quietly out the bedroom window of his trailer, avoiding the squeak of the front door. He retrieved the .38 revolver hidden in the glovebox of his car and made his way to the old, rundown barn. It would be quiet enough to muffle the shot and isolated enough to end his life without disturbance.
Pagiel sat on the hay-covered barn floor, the revolver heavy in his hand, the voices in his head relentless and convincing. They whispered lies, yet they felt so true: he was ugly, unwanted, worthless. The demons urged him, “Just end it.”
He pressed the revolver to his right temple and pulled the trigger.
The bullet entered directly behind his right eye, expanding violently, pushing the eyeball from its socket, slicing through the frontal lobe of his brain, and exiting the left side of his skull. Brain matter and blood spattered the century-old wooden beams. Bloody handprints, desperate imprints of a struggle to cling to life, remain etched into the wooden posts even today.
Pagiel’s body convulsed, fighting desperately to hold onto the life he had sought to end. His right eye dangled grotesquely from its socket; darkness enveloped him completely. Muted screams mingled helplessly with the soft patter of rain against the metal roof. Consciousness came in fits and bursts, each return to awareness cruelly reminding him that nothing would ever be the same again—not for Pagiel, not for his family.
This story begins with a young man’s tragic attempt to end his own life, but it is not ultimately a book about suicide. Nor is it a “how-to” manual on overcoming depression, nor simply a gripping true-life drama of survival. Though it contains elements of all these things—like a pinch of salt in a cake—this narrative is about something far greater.
This is a story about redemption. It’s about the Creator of the universe stepping into human brokenness to reclaim and restore a shattered life in ways that only He can. When you look at it closely, you realize this isn’t even unusual. It’s a story God has been writing ever since humanity first experienced brokenness in the Garden of Eden.
Take a moment to listen to this two-minute introduction.
This is an introductory discussion from Dave, this will give you some background before watching the video in Pagiel’s words.
The Pagiel book is available at Amazon
This is Pagiel telling his story in his own words in front of the barn where he was driven to kill himself.
Dave goes to the barn where Pagiel shot himself, where the demons were driven out, where blood still spatters the century old barn beams and tells the story about how Pagiel was delivered by the hand of God.