FROM HOPELESS TO POWERFUL

My oldest daughter had put up with mental, emotional and verbal abuse from her biological father. My daughter was lost and hurting. She didn’t know who she was. She stayed in her room and hardly spoke to anyone. Her beautiful smile and spunky spirit were gone. In that moment I felt God speak to me. He said that I needed to get my family back together and for us to come together through Him. On Wednesday, April 24, I sat at work looking online for churches in my community that offered youth as well as children services. I called the first one that stuck out, Waterhouse Church, because they also offered women’s bible study. I could go to church with my children instead of just dropping them off. I called to find out if they had nursery for the baby and the most wonderful lady answered the phone. Something about her voice was comforting. I asked questions and she answered and she told me they would all love for my family and I to come. We hung up and I decided we were going whether they had nursery or not, I would just hold him if they didn’t. I went home that evening, quickly cooked dinner and told the kids that we were all going to church. To this day I feel God has His hand in it all. I tell everyone that He drove us to the church. From the moment we walked in, we were accepted and welcomed into their family. So many pieces fell together instantly. We were home. We went again that Sunday morning and we also went to the church picnic. My ten year old daughter asked if we were going to keep going to church there and after I said yes, she said “good, it feels like home and they are our family”. I told her I felt the very same way. From them on, God truly moved through myself and my kids. Especially my oldest. She wanted to be there every Wednesday and she hated when it was over. She started smiling again and she got her spunky spirit back. She started reading the Bible and doing devotionals. She invited others to church. She prays about everything. She’s her again but so much better. God has worked through me as well. He’s moved in my life in ways I would have never imagined were possible. I’ve always known Jesus and that he loved me and I loved Him, what I’ve learned is that I can continue to fall in love with Him and that He loves me greater than I ever knew. Me. A girl who got pregnant at the age of 14. A girl that had three children out of wedlock. A girl that experimented and ignored what God wanted from me. I only spoke to Him when I needed Him and ignored Him when I wanted to live my life the way the world wanted me to. God still chose to love me and bless me beyond measure. God has pulled me out of my shell and has used me to bring others around me to His amazing love. He talks to me. He pushes me to speak out to others and when I feel scared or feel that I don’t know what to say, it’s like He takes over and speaks through me. I now trust God with everything in my life and I pray daily to tell Him that I surrender it all to Him. I ask that He put people in my life so that I can allow Him to work through me. Everywhere I go, I look for a way to spread the word and the promises He has for anyone and everyone around me. Ask my family and people I went to school with, I was never that social! God has a plan for me and with the love and fellowship of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, I’ve been able to fully allow God to make a way in my life. I can’t imagine my life without Him being in the center of it!