Singer Ben Fuller is experiencing a meteoric rise in the music industry, but his life wasn’t always so illustrious.
The Vermont native was once a drug user who looked for pleasure in all the wrong places, leaving him totally unfulfilled. But, as he likes to recount, he went from seeing “Jesus as a swear to Jesus as a Savior,” ultimately putting the Lord at the center of his life.
Today, Fuller is a Christian who openly preaches and shares the Gospel through music and spoken word — and his life has been radically changed because of it.
“I’m a whole lot more patient and I’m a whole lot more content,” Fuller told CBN News of his life in the post-Christian context. “The Bible says troubles will come … and it’s hard following Jesus.”
But Fuller, who just released a new album, “Walk Through Fire,” said his life has been illuminated by following the Lord.
“Once I learned and heard about this Gospel of Jesus and how He hung on a cross, and died, and rose again for me to have life, and I just started believing in Him, and saying, ‘Jesus, I love you, Jesus. I believe you. I trust you. Take my life. … I, I want to be with you everywhere I go.’ … He’s been blowing my mind,” he said.
Fuller’s passion for God is powerful, especially considering the 38-year-old spent 14-and-a-half years of his life relying on cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping around. All of these vices were attempts to “try to fill all the voids,” but the singer said “nothing ever worked.”
After coming to a breaking point, Fuller came to a conclusion: “It was just like, ‘Well, OK, I haven’t tried Jesus yet, so maybe I should ask Him.'”
And that decision — asking Christ to lead his life — changed absolutely everything. Today, Fuller is on a mission to openly share his past so he can help others navigate their way to spiritual freedom. By candidly sharing his struggles, he helps people grapple with their own journeys.
“I’m seeing freedom all around this country because people are like, ‘Hey, I had a gun in my mouth, too,'” he said. “And all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, thanks for saying that, ’cause that was me, and, so there’s freedom and there’s light. And then when that darkness comes out.”
But Fuller didn’t mince words when it comes to navigating struggles even after accepting the Lord. In fact, he said he has had to steer himself through some tough moments in recent years.
“There’s been some really dark times since I’ve said, ‘Yes’ to Jesus, where I feel like there’s a wool blanket over my head and I can’t breathe,” he said. “And I’m just like, ‘What is going on?’ And … I’ll just say the name of Jesus over, and over, and over, and over, and over again, and then the other beautiful thing is the Lord has put amazing people in my life that I can call, that I can text, that I can be in touch with, and they love Jesus more than I do.”
He said the “biggest attacks” he faces, spiritually, are nagging claims that no one cares about his story or that he should self-isolate — notions and lies he must fight. Fuller continues to persevere in his faith, and he has even spent a considerable amount of time ministering in prisons and to those in need.
Remarkably, he “never got busted” even after spending nearly 15 years embroiled in addiction. This has given him a passion to minister in jails and prisons, where people are serving time for their poor choices — decisions he, too, could have faced consequences for had he been caught.
But while he never faced legal ramifications, other forms of pain plagued him, including the death of his best friend, Ryan.
“He shot heroin and died,” he said.
Fuller is grateful that his own story shifted after he found faith. He reflected on some of the men he meets in prison who are facing time for lesser offenses than for what he was guilty.
“Some of these guys I’m talking to have done things — a lot less than what I’ve done — and they’re in there for years,” he said. “It hits me, and so … I pray, like, ‘Lord, send me where you want me … here I am.’ … And He’s just been sending me to prison [to perform and share].”
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Fuller said he often hears that there’s less violence and chaos in prisons after his visits simply because he and others are showing up and telling the inmates that Jesus loves them.
Fuller also recalled discovering his love for music at an early age. While his family would sell sweet corn, he would sing and hum the music his dad was playing from the tape deck of his old GMC pickup truck.
“[I] just really fell in love … with country music and the way it made me feel … and the heartbreak, but, also, the dreaming of it all,” Fuller said, noting he had already fallen for music before the age of 10.
Decades later, he’s now making music for the masses and inspiring people along the way. Hear Fuller’s latest album, “Walk Through Fire.”
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