Ex-Amish TikTok Star’s Stunning Encounter with Christ

“I was so smashed drunk. And she’d had enough, so she just starts praying…”

Eli Yoder was born into the quiet world of the Old Order Amish. But behind the peace and tradition, lay hidden abuse, rejection, and a desperate longing to be loved. Eli says, “you’re taught like this is the only way, being Amish, so I believed that, that was true, that the Amish was the only way, and so when I see abuse like that, physical abuse, and even mental abuse, well you start wondering, if we are the special chosen people of God, why does God allow stuff like this to happen?” 

His father’s drinking often turned violent. As a young boy, Eli, his mom, and his siblings endured beatings that left more than bruises—he carried the pain deep into his soul. Eli continues, saying “I always wanted to have a relationship with my dad. I always desired to have a relationship with my dad, but the fear was so great. I avoided him. Going through everything that I was going through, fearing my dad and seeing the abuse, I always wondered, is God real? I started questioning what everything I was ever taught.”

At 18, Eli made the hardest decision of his life—with only an 8th grade education, he left the Amish, his family, and the only world he had ever known. The freedom he sought brought more pain, and now addiction. A few years later he met Nikki and they married shortly after. They would also have a son, Jonathan, but addiction still ruled Eli’s life—alcohol and emotional abuse, plus now, pornography. For Nikki, life was a constant day-to-day struggle. Nikki shares, “I personally didn’t know how I was going to make it. Um, just being a first-time mom and a wife and I didn’t know how I was going to deal with a husband that was an alcoholic.”

Years later, Eli’s father would reach out to him, and they agreed that he would also leave the Amish, and they would start afresh.  Then, Eli’s hopes of reconnecting with his father ended with a phone call. Eli shares that, “I got a phone call from my twin brother that he had ended his life by suicide. And so at that moment I felt like everything that I had always wanted and desired was ripped, ripped away from me.  I couldn't cope through life. It was too painful.” Eli continued to spiral deeper into drug and alcohol addiction, while Nikki continued to struggle in her marriage. She says, “I wanted to leave him, but I couldn't. I prayed to God every day.”

For 17 years, Nikki endured— praying for a miracle. Then, in July 2016, God showed that he was not yet finished with Eli. Eli describes, “I was so smashed drunk. And she had, she had enough, and she just started praying.  I'm looking at the ceiling and I remember I just got out of bed, I'm like, I guess I'm done. So I just walk out to my beer refrigerator in the garage, and I just start smashing one beer after another.” 

When Nikki came to see what was going on, and Eli told her he was done, she describes: 

“I just started bawling. I'm like, God heard me, he's helping my husband. And I told Eli, I said, I've been praying for you all night and God has delivered you from it. And I cried and I held him. It was great.”

From that night forward, Eli’s deliverance began. Weeks later while working, Eli would surrender his life to Jesus Christ! He began reading the bible, praying, and allowing God to heal what years of addiction and abuse had destroyed. Today, Eli and Nikki share their testimony with their 1.8 million followers on TikTok! They share how Eli found freedom—not in Amish traditions, not in alcohol—but in the grace of Jesus Christ. What was once a story of pain and addiction has become a story of faith, endurance, and the unfailing love of God.

You can find Eli Yoder on TikTok here: @yodertoter40. You can also find his novel, Undeceived, at https://eliyoder.com/.