Elder McCartney's Journey From Rock Bottom to Christ

Elder McCartney grew up in a home shaped by divorce, hardship, and scars that still show today. A 10-year-old boy on a playground in Atwater, California changed everything when he walked over and said: you're sitting here by yourself, come play with my friends.

That boy became Elder McCartney's best friend. His family became Elder McCartney's family. And the gospel they lived became the thread that ran through every hard thing that followed.

In this episode of Choosing Jesus Christ, Elder McCartney shares how he went from a convert baptized at 13 to four years of inactivity to a suicide survivor who eventually knelt before God and said: I'm done doing this my way. Here is everything. Tell me what you need me to do.

A Family He Did Not Have at Home

Elder McCartney did not grow up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His parents divorced when he was young. His mom's family was Catholic. His dad's side was Jehovah's Witnesses. Faith was complicated.

But his best friend's family was different. The moment he walked into their home he felt it. The spirit was there. They were warm, welcoming, kind. They lived what they believed. The deal was simple: Sunday is family day, and the family goes to church. If you want to be here, you come too.

He came. He went to activities. He made the ward his family. But the ward was careful not to push baptism because they did not want to scare him off. He attended for three years without anyone asking.

Then a new Young Men's president arrived who did not know the unspoken rule. At a mutual activity when the temple trip list went around and every hand went up except Elder McCartney's, he jumped out of his chair and asked why. The room froze. Elder McCartney looked at him and said: sure, let's do it.

He took the missionary lessons in a week. Got baptized that Saturday. Received the priesthood that Sunday. Was in the temple the following Saturday.

The Night Before Baptism

The night before his baptism he almost called it off. The adversary was working hard and he felt it. He got on his knees on his bed and prayed. He told God he wanted to do this if it was right, but he did not want to disappoint his grandmother, who was devoutly Catholic right to the end of her life.

What happened next he calls sacred. He does not share the details often. He says only that the veil felt thin that night, and he received the witness he needed. He went through with it.

He then went to high school, attended church, went to activities, filled callings. But he never studied the scriptures on his own. He never built the personal foundation that could hold when things got hard. When he turned 18 he and his best friend both had a choice: baseball or a mission. His friend left on a mission. Elder McCartney went inactive.

The four years that followed were, in his words, the hardest, most depressing years of his life. Moments of happiness. No joy. He became someone unrecognizable. People kept asking where the old him had gone.

December 17th at 4 in the Morning

His mom was his best friend and his rock through everything. On December 17th, at 4 in the morning, he said goodbye to her for the last time.

Lying in bed after that goodbye, one thought kept coming: families can be together forever. That was the only thing that was going to get him through. And then a second prompting: call your best friend. They had not spoken in about a year. He almost ignored it. The prompting kept coming.

He called. His best friend said: I don't care if you won't come to me. I'm coming to you. We are family.

It still took four and a half more months before Elder McCartney acted. But eventually he packed his car and drove to Utah to share a bedroom in his best friend's grandparents' house. The first thing his friend said when he saw him: I can't recognize you. You are not who you used to be. We are going to fix that.

That Sunday he sat in a random YSA ward in Utah. People he had never met. A chapel he had never been in. He felt the spirit for the first time in four years. The only word for what he felt was whole.

He got in the car and asked to talk to a bishop. His best friend already had the number ready.

Everything on the Altar

Eight and a half months into his repentance process, driving an Amazon delivery route in Utah, he looked up and saw the Draper Utah Temple. A feeling of longing hit him that he had never felt before. That night he told God he was done doing things his own way. He surrendered everything.

The next Sunday a sister in the ward stood up before her prepared talk and said she felt prompted to tell anyone who did not know what to do with their life: go on a mission. It changed mine and it will change yours.

Elder McCartney went straight to the bishop's office.

The road to a teaching mission was not simple. His papers were flagged because of a suicide attempt as a young person. He was called as a service missionary instead. He was angry. Then one night the prompting came clearly: you are going to want to teach a mission. Be patient with my timing and trust in what I have planned for you.

Two weeks into his service mission, through a chain of circumstances no one could have engineered, he was filling in as a teaching missionary. Miracles followed. Letters were written to the First Presidency. He was approved. He was sent to Idaho Falls. He has been here ever since.

Key Takeaways

1. Heavenly Father places people in our lives before we know we need them. A 10-year-old boy on a playground in California set Elder McCartney's entire life on a different course.

2. A testimony without personal scripture study cannot hold under pressure. Elder McCartney attended faithfully for years but never built the foundation that keeps faith standing when things get hard.

3. God never stopped trying to bring him home. Every step of the four years away, the hand was there. He just was not willing to see it yet.

4. Surrender is not defeat. The night Elder McCartney told God he was done doing it his way and put everything on the altar was the night everything began to change.

5. The cross you are carrying was made for you. No one else can handle it the way you can. And you are not carrying it alone.

This is Elder McCartney's story. Hear it in his own words on the Choosing Jesus Christ Podcast. If you feel like you have been away too long or done too much, visit ChoosingJesusChrist.org. The missionaries are ready for you.