Three and a half years ago, Jeff Ansorge had reached rock bottom.

He was working as an executive chef at a high end downtown eatery in Minneapolis and on the outside seemed to have everything in order.

But inside he was suffering from clinical depression and was in the midst of a crumbling marriage.

Shortly after that he had a spiritual reawakening.

He quit his high paying job and started cooking meals at a Salvation Army soup kitchen, making just one-third of his previous salary.

He also found love again and uncovered a deeper meaning and purpose for his life.

Mr Ansorge will be on Island next weekend sharing his testimony at the single’s conference ‘Living Single ... In Faith’, held next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Although he will be speaking to both men and women, he hopes his message will resonate particularly with men in Bermuda.

“Men don’t tend to share their feelings and emotions with other men because it’s not the macho thing to do,” he explained.

“They feel they need to take care of it and work through it themselves.

“Whereas women have more support groups built in where they can get together and talk about things and share their issues and problems, but with men it’s really helpful to have those relationships with other men. You can bounce ideas off of each other and work through them, which is crucial.”

He said his life changed drastically after letting God guide him to the right job and relationship.

He used to be on depression medication and found himself drinking a lot and watching pornography; he also described himself as being “super selfish” and “emotionally unstable”.

“I no longer have issues with those things and just my priorities in life have totally changed,” Mr Ansorge told The Royal Gazette.

“Before I was preoccupied with fulfilling my checklist of having a high paying job and everything that society places value on and tells you that you should have, but it’s not like that anymore. I am a lot more fulfilled now for sure.”

Mr Ansorge remarried around 18 months ago. He said dating used to be more “sexually driven” for him, whereas when he met his wife it wasn’t about that.

“It was a more holy approach to dating and more biblical and scriptural based,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I was dating a fellow believer and tried to take those sexual activities off the plate.”

From his experience, he said singleness can be a lonely place, but his advice for singles is to be patient and ask the Lord for guidance and to direct you to the right person.

“I would also encourage people to look at what God has to say about relationships,” Mr Ansorge said.

“He has a lot to say about it in the scriptures about how you should act and seek a mate out and I don’t think you can go wrong if you are coming at it from a Godly or biblical perspective.”

One thing he’s learned about marriage is that you shouldn’t go into it solely to find happiness.

“You get married to share life with someone. There’s going to be ups and downs and pain involved with that, but the point shouldn’t be to go into it with the idea it’s going to be all roses and like a beach.”

He said men also tend to be more driven by “what women look like or the materialism around that life”, but said you can’t elevate things or even people to the status of idol, where they become more important than God.

“That’s when you run into problems because people and things will let you down,” Mr Ansorge said. “You can’t expect for that mate to be the answer to all your issues, questions and problems because it’s going to end up being a let down by that person ultimately. Only God can fill that void.”

He said he hopes men walk away from the conference with a stronger faith and a renewed outlook on their singleness.

“For those who are non believers, I hope that this conference would trigger something inside of them and the information they gather would lead them closer to Him, so He can help with the situation and challenges of life they are dealing with.”

Living Single ... In Faith is a faith inspired weekend, packed with entertainment, panel discussions, workshops and interesting conversation, taking place next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

To hear more of Mr Ansorge’s story, you can purchase tickets to the single’s conference online at www.bdatix.bm.

For more information on next week’s event visit: www.spiritualbydesign.bm