Homeless and with his life in a huge mess of his own making, Fox News Network’s Kelly Wright found his way back to his mother’s home and the Truth he’d learned as a child.
“You can always go home!”
Richard Roberts will never forget the day God spoke those words to my heart. At the time, I had been reduced to peddling leather goods on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia. My life was a mess, but it hadn’t always been that way.
I had started out with a bright future ahead of me. After attending Oral Roberts University, I joined the U.S. Army. While in the military, I had opportunities to work in radio and television journalism, a career I aspired to. Naturally, I thought my life was going to be great.
Unfortunately, I made some mistakes and went through some hard times. Eventually, I couldn’t deal with my problems, and I ended up as a prodigal, running from the Lord.
During that time of my life, Richard Roberts didn’t entirely forget about God, and I often thought about an ORU chapel service in which Oral Roberts said, “Roses will bloom again.” (See Oral’s classic message on pages 16-17.) I wanted the roses of my life to bloom again, but I believed I couldn’t start over until I cleaned up the messes I had made.
Only God can clean up your messes
Proverbs 14:12 says that there is a way that seems right to man, but leads to folly. Although I didn’t realize it, I was operating under my own wisdom instead of the Lord’s wisdom. As a result, I plummeted from being a college-educated army sergeant to being a homeless, destitute street peddler.
I remember asking myself, “Why can’t I get my act together?” I wanted to clean up my life, but I didn’t know where to begin.
One day around Christmastime, I started thinking about my mother’s house. Her home was wonderful, especially during the holidays. You would walk in, see the decorated trees and the holly, smell the fragrance of Christmas, and hear my mother singing carols. Christmas at my mother’s house was special to me.
As I thought about home, God suddenly said to me, “You know, Kelly, you can always go home.”
Up until then, I had been living a life of folly. But I decided to listen to God. I packed my bags and went to my mother’s house. Honestly, my hopes were pretty low. I expected my mother to be disappointed and critical of me. But when I came to her door, she simply opened her arms wide and said, “Welcome home.”
I melted inside, and I suddenly realized that I had been looking for relevance in places where I couldn’t find it. I had tried to find answers within myself and in other people, but I couldn’t find the answers I needed.
Finally, I saw the truth about my life: I was a failure. I couldn’t clean up my mess. But God could!
That day, I got down on my knees in my mother’s den and gave everything to God, so that He could teach and mold me.
There’s power in coming home to God
Since then, God has completely turned my life around. It wasn’t long before I met the woman who would become my wife. We were married in six months. Soon after that, I began working for The 700 Club. Then I started working for stations in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, North Carolina. Doors have opened to me, but not because of who I am. My success has come through God and His faithfulness.
During my trials and tribulations, my ups and downs, God has been there in the midst of my life. I wouldn’t be sharing my testimony today were it not for God, who in His love said to me, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you, Kelly.”
It’s because He is with me that I am now working at Fox News. The essential ingredient of my turnaround and my career is my faith in God. The Lord has been behind my career my entire life, providing opportunities from unheard-of places. Journalism has been a calling for me, and God has ordered my steps to where I am today.