Former Of Mice & Men frontman Austin Carlile shares a powerful testimony of physical torture and mental anguish, and the supernatural healing that set him free. This is one of the most powerful I Am Second stories we’ve ever heard.
When Austin Carlile was just 17, his mom suddenly passed away leaving him angry at the God he thought to be good.
“I threw my hands in the air and I cursed God for the first time in 17 years.”
Music became his god and his outlet for the pain. When Austin was 22 he formed Of Mice and Men, a metalcore band that was extremely popular in its genre. Austin’s ‘god’ gave him fame, money, and a chaos that fed his personal demons.
Years after his mom’s sudden passing, Austin learned that her death was not due to cardiac arrest as the doctors first thought, but a genetic disorder named Marfan Syndrome. His mom never knew she carried the mutant gene or that she passed it on to her son.
In the years that followed his diagnosis, Austin suffered tremendous pain that kept him in a constant cycle of self-medicating just to be able to sing. He had preventative open-heart surgery to replace a valve in his heart but even after the successful surgery his health was rapidly deteriorating. But still, Austin pushed through the pain, ignoring the warning signs…
Austin recalls a conversation with his father where he asked his son, “Where is God in your life?”
That question stayed with him and the Holy Spirit began to do His work. Austin went on a journey of finding God again. His lyrics started to reflect this search for Truth.
“I couldn’t write about anything other than what God was doing in my life and this change that I wanted and was craving so badly for. And I remember putting down the pen and saying, ‘You know what God? I want to come back.”
Watch the I Am Second video for Austin’s full story and hear how he was radically healed by missionaries!
Source: I Am Second