Hello everybody, my name is John Smith and I am the boy that fell through the ice, on January 19th
2015. I was dead for over an hour and my mom came in and prayed and instantly I had a pulse.
16 days later from the time, that I felt through the ice, I walked out of the hospital completely
healed. There is a movie called 'Breakthrough' maybe you've seen it, there are also two books
'Breakthrough' and 'Breakthrough to your miracle' that the team and I have wrote regarding this
amazing experience. I'm here today to just tell you a little bit more about me personally,
I have traveled across the world, I have traveled across the country, I have spoken on news, tours,
movie tours, book tours, I've been all over the place but the real miracle behind the
story is salvation. I was born on May 23, 2000. I was born in Mexico city, Guatemala. I do not
know who my birth parents are, I was adopted at five months old by Brian and Joyce Smith
and they brought me to St Charles, Missouri. I was born, I say, I was born and raised there
but I was raised there in the same home with two loving parents, I had a private school education
all throughout high school, I loved sports, my dad worked hard to provide all those training
sessions, everything, lack of a better term, I was a very spoiled kid. But there was a lot going
on within me that I was struggling with, like I said, I was adopted and that was very hard on me.
I grew up in a predominantly white area and I remember one time when I was in kindergarten, one
of the kids asked, why I was quote unquote burnt or why I wasn't the same color as my parents,
and that really brought a lot of emotions up because I was wondering, why am I different,
why don't I look like my dad, why don't I look like my mom, my siblings, it was very hard for me
and so the spirit of abandonment really just came over my life and I was just so frustrated on what
was going on. When I reached about fifth grade, I had fallen away from the Lord, now keep in mind I
was born and raised in the church, when the church doors were open, I was there. I participated in
the kid zone and the Royal Rangers and all of the things, the church camps, led worship for the kid
zone. When the church doors were open, I was in the front row and I loved it but by the time I was
in fifth grade, I completely fallen away from all of this. I really felt that I had a calling young
in my life to pursue ministry and by the time that I had reached this age, I was done with the Lord,
I was done with everything He had for me and I ran away. This led to an addiction of
pornography of you know, me getting into things I shouldn't, substances at a very early age and it
led to a road of destruction and falling away from the Lord. So when the accident happened,
a lot of people get this idea of me that I was this perfect kid, that I was this church-goer and
when the accident happened, I came back to life, they thought, well you're John Smith, you're the
second coming, you're the next Lazarus, you must be chasing after God, you must have this title,
you must have this x y z so on and so forth, and that just wasn't the truth. The reality of it is,
if I would have passed away that day, I would have gone to hell because I wasn't saved. I wasn't
following what God had for me. I should be in hell today but God had a different plan for my life.
When I came out of the accident, a lot of people assumed that my heart would have changed
immediately, that was just not the case. I was still running from the Lord, I wanted nothing to
do with the story of breakthrough or the story of the impossible. I did the news, you know, videos I
did the interviews, I did everything, that they asked me to do but I did it with a bad attitude
and it was very obvious that I didn't want to be there, that I didn't want to take place in it
x y z and so I remember, it was about freshman year, when we started discussing the book in
the movie and I was still running away from the Lord, my heart was still not
all in it and so, when I did that, it just kind of led me down this path of destruction.
I was still doing the same things, abusing the same idols, worshiping the same idols,
not living for Christ at all and I remember that I really loved the game of basketball and I truly
believe that, that was one of my big idols, it was something that I wanted to do for me and I didn't
want to do for the kingdom and so when I did that, I remember that I got hurt three times and when
I got hurt three times, it wasn't I believe that God was hurting me on purpose I believe that God
was getting 'my attention' and every time that I got hurt, I heard God's voice just say to me,
'John why are you running?' 'Why are you running?' And that really stuck with me and I ignored it.
I kept ignoring it until finally I remember that, because of the accident, I had three major
brain assaults and they said if I get one more concussion then I have to quit playing high school
sports and I remember that, I was playing that last game and I had another concussion
and it ended my career, my dreams were all gone and I remember that when that all happened
I just didn't know what to do with my life. I had a headache because I had a concussion,
I remember being in my room and I remember just getting on my knees and being God
whatever You have for me, I'll do and I'll do it to the best of my ability and ever since then,
it has been an amazing journey of just seeing what God has done through the 'Story of Breakthrough'
and people think, that I had an easy path going down this road and that just wasn't the truth. I
still had to deal with the spirit of abandonment, just really questioning God like, 'You saved me,
then why can't this just be easy?' And I really believe that just ties into what God is doing for
all of us. You know, He sacrificed His own Son, so that we could have a chance to chase after Him and
it's not an easy road, it's not. I'm only 22 and I've done a lot of cool things but I still have
the same struggles, and the same battles every day the enemy just wants to tear my family, to tear me
down all of it and it's one of the biggest struggles and battles that I've ever fought
but in the end I know, God is going to still be on the throne and God is in complete control.
I'm not a perfect man, like I told you in the beginning, I'm just a kid from St Louis
and that's what I would've been known as, what God has done in my life is truly a miracle but
it's not who defines me, what defines me is what God has done for me. So, like I did that night,
all those years ago in my bedroom by myself, I remember there was like this blue
tent in the room, it was really weird it was like a very light shade of blue
and I didn't have anything in the room, it was pitch black because my head was hurting.
And my room filled with this blue color and I remember just getting on my knees,
on the left side of my bed and I remember just raising my hands in the air and just saying, 'God,
whatever You have for me, I'll do and I'll do it to the best of my abilities', and like I told you,
it was the best decision I ever made in my life and it's a simple prayer of saying, 'God
I'll do it, I'll chase after You if you have me stay in this stage of life,
I'll stay there if you have me run forward and take a leap of faith, I'll go but that is the
best decision that I ever made and I encourage you to make that decision, I encourage you to
take that step of faith because what God has for you is so much better than we can ever imagine.
I just became a father, my son is five months old and looking at his life and getting to see him
I can only imagine the sacrifice that my mom went through.
And I'm human, I can only imagine what God went through sacrificing His only Son.
And so, if He's willing to do that, I'm willing to sacrifice my life for whatever He
has for me. So if you wouldn't mind saying this with me, 'Dear Lord, I thank You for today and
I thank You for this opportunity at life, I thank You for guiding me and loving me, and Lord I give
my life to You and like pastor Jason always says, Lord, You drive and I'll ride, my life is Yours,
I give it to You today and I pledge my life to You, it's in Your Name I pray, Amen.