An Abusive Childhood Left Him Abandoned, But God Found Him Here!

Austin shares, “They ended up locking me in their goat barn overnight where I slept with the goats, cried and screamed.”

Austin Legg was four when he landed in a foster home. It was no better than the home he’d been taken from.

Austin remembers, “The foster dad, he never called me by my name. My name was bastard. It just reminded me or made me feel unloved.”

After two years, Austin went back to live with his mother where violence, neglect and drugs ruled the home. Then, at 8 years old he experienced another life-defining moment. His mom was murdered by her boyfriend.

Austins says, “My grandma looking over at me, just tears all in her eyes. And she said, ‘Honey, your mommy's dead.’ It was just like every bit of emotion within me just died.”

Sent to North Carolina to live with his aunt and uncle, Austin spiraled into rebellion. At sixteen, expelled from school, entrenched in the gang life and addicted to pills and alcohol he tried to kill himself.

Austin recalls, “I was in my room one night and I grabbed a bandana, and I tied it around my neck as tight as I could until I felt like my Adam’s apple was in the back of my spine. And at the very, very last minute before I faded out, I whisked out.”
Austin’s aunt and uncle checked him into a mental hospital where he was diagnosed as bi-polar. The sedatives they prescribed became his escape from the pain inside.  
Austin shares, “I would save them up and I would snort 'em or I'd pop 'em and I would stay high. I was so angry at myself that I didn't do anything for my mom. I was angry at myself that I didn't protect her.”

Austin’s mental issues, and rebellious behavior escalated leading to him being placed in a group home. While there, he caught a felony assault charge for fighting and was put on probation. He soon joined a gang, started selling weed, and popping pills – until his drug use landed him in rehab. By the time he turned 18, Austin had aged out of the system and was left with nowhere to go.
Austin says, “I'm sleeping in alleyways. I'm sleeping on staircases in, apartment buildings. And this one day I'm walking the streets and I'm just angry. I'm, I'm hollering at God. I just wanna die, ‘Lord, please take me out. I don't wanna live anymore.’”

Even then, Austin would wander in darkness for another ten years – living a life of addiction, crime and violence. He also had two sons by two different women. He knew he was destroying his life but felt powerless to change it.

Austin recalls, “When I would look in the mirror, what I saw was darkness. I saw a sad, miserable, angry, evil young man who just was lashing out at everything in anybody that would come near.”

Then at 28, he landed in jail after taking a plea agreement for domestic violence.  One night, a cell mate had a question for him.

Austin remembers, “Well what do you think about God?” And I looked at him and I says, “I know that there's a God. I know God's real.” I says, “but lemme tell you something. God doesn't have anything for me, and I don't have anything for God.”
Over the coming weeks, Austin says he heard God’s voice.

Austin says, “And I can hear my name in my heart being called like Austin, like a very small still whisper, peaceful and quiet Austin. And at first, I'm like, oh my goodness, I'm finally going crazy. I've been in here for almost 45 days. I am going crazy.”

The whispers, however, continued and Austin felt God compelling him to read the bible. 

Although resistant at first, he finally started reading and came across Matthew 11:28.
Austin shares, “Come on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And when I read that verse and the old King James version of it, I broke something inside of my heart, just broke. And tears were running down my face. And at this moment, I hit my knees, I threw my hands in the air, and I told Jesus I needed him, and then I gave my life to Christ On August 23rd, 2021, in the middle of a jail cell. In that very moment everything within me changed everything. Everything. I stopped cussing. I stopped desiring pornography. I stopped desiring drugs. I stopped desiring alcohol. I stopped desiring the evil of life.

Even then, Austin remained haunted by the life he’d live. Soon after he had a dream, he was chained in a prison cell with other inmates when Jesus walked up to him, unlocked his chains, and washed his feet.

Austin remembers, “He was renewing me, who's setting me free. And the Lord was telling me, I have forgiven you of all of these things, and I don't remember one of them. And it was that moment that I realized that he deemed me worthy of forgiveness. So, I'm worthy to forgive myself.”

Austin says God told him to read the new testament three times. It was late at night when he finished. Moments later, the guards called his name. The charges had been dropped, and he was released.
Austin recalls, “Legg pack your stuff, you're free to go with nothing less than a miracle.”

For the first time in his life, Austin was free from the pain that had ruled his life. 

Today, he’s a devoted husband, works a steady job, and shares joint custody of his second son. He’s also a youth pastor whose brand, “4-given skateboards,” spreads the gospel to the skateboard community nationwide.

Austin shares, “God will never give up on you. You could run a thousand miles over again. He'll still be right there beside you, waiting for the day, faithfully for you to come back. His arms are always open. He can and will forgive you. And He wants you to come and accept that love, the real love that you've been searching for. It resides in Christ.”