First Installment: Meet My Sister
Second Installment: The Functioning Years
Third Installment: The Maelstrom
Fourth Installment: Like Sunlight Burning at Midnight
Fifth Installment: Stepping Out On the Water
Sixth Installment: A Different Street
With a heart spilling over with affection and wonder, I hand you joyfully to my beloved sister, Gay, for her final installment in this powerful series. Don’t worry. I don’t believe this will be the last time you ever hear from her on this blog. I’ll get her to chime in here and there if she feels the leadership of God. But, still, this is a tender moment, watching her wrap up this gorgeous streaming testimony of Christ’s unfathomable grace. That same grace also saved and delivered me. Saved and delivered you, if you’ve let Him. If you do not know Jesus yet and you have never received the gift of His life offered for you on the Cross – a gift you cannot earn or deserve or be born into – and the power of His resurrection that strips us from our grave clothes and covers us in robes of righteousness, do not wait another day. Today is the day of your salvation. Get down on your knees, lift your face toward Heaven and express to God in your own words that, by faith, you willingly and earnestly receive His glorious Gift and desire to be saved, to turn from your own destructive way, and to follow Him. Believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. And, Child, YOU WILL BE SAVED. And nothing – I do mean nothing – will ever be able to take eternal life from you.
My beloved big sister, I will let you take it from here. Words fail me to express my appreciation. We are changed by what Christ has done through you here. He alone will be able to give you a precise account of the lives altered. “My brothers (and my SISTERS), if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:19-20 You, Gay, have been this “WHOEVER” to so many.
And, now, from her pen…
Hi Sisters!
My life is so sweet today both on the outside and on the inside. Much has improved since I walked off the concrete. Improved would be an understatement. Wildly improved, exorbitantly improved, inconceivably improved would be far more expressive. Gregg was right when he said that we cannot fathom the dreams and plans that God has for us. Paul knew it too when he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians. God might have told him about it but my guess is that he had experienced it after he fell to the ground on the dusty Road to Damascus.
“However, as it is written:
What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived
the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV
When I got here in mid-April of 2009, all I asked for was sobriety and a roof over my head. I’ve said many times to many people, “Sobriety is the best gift I’ve ever been given in my life and if it’s the only one I ever get, ITS ENOUGH!!” And it would have been enough, Ladies. Quality sobriety has brought great abundance into my life: trustworthiness, integrity, self-respect, meaningful relationships with my children and siblings, employment, housing, improved health, the ability to feel, etc. I am so grateful for it that I sometimes burst into tears and I always, ALWAYS thank God for another day sober in my every prayer. I am still very clear that it comes first, that the devil is not very creative and that He hasn’t forgotten how to tempt me and lie to me in the same old ways. So I keep it first on my priority list, always. I never become complacent to the fact that I have the disease of alcoholism. It’s in my brain and all I have to do is tip that celebratory drink and the beast will come forth just like it did the last time. It doesn’t have to prove that to me again. (Step 1, by the way.)
However, sobriety is not all I got! I have gotten, first and foremost, a continually healing and fully restored FAMILY. Although Tut and I did not reconcile marriage-wise, our relationship today is one of acceptance, trust and solid teamwork where the boys are concerned. We are today – and will forever be – very dear to one other. I know, I know, we girls like a Cinderella story but really, don’t fret. I’ve got my Prince!
The two little boys in Sugar Land? They are just WONDERFUL!! The three of us are wound so tight that they sometimes wish I would pop free. Not happening!! They’re not getting rid of me, not any time soon anyway. Zach is now 26 years old, a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Effects and has been gainfully employed since 3 weeks after graduation in 2008 as a 3D Render Artist. He is the best person I have ever known and never loses sight of his God-given purpose for this season of his life which is to take care of Josh. He has laid his life down for his brother and their souls are knit together as one. They will have that for a lifetime, long after Tut and I are called Home. God so wonderfully works all things together for good for those who love Him.
Josh is 17 years old and in his senior year of high school. I don’t know which one of us has enjoyed his senior year more, him or me. I’ve spent this entire school year with him soaking up every single minute trying to make up for years lost. I know that our days together are numbered now that he is becoming a man. There have been many miracle moments between a redeemed mother and a once abandoned child where I have so wished to press the pause button to freeze them in time yet a moment longer. He has grown so much inside and out, come out of his shell, become Josh apart from the rest of us. I have fallen head over heels in love with him as with his brother. One especially thrilling moment was during opening night of this year’s high school musical, The Wizard of Oz, on January 28th. I sat perched on about the 5th row of Rogers Auditorium as the curtain opened on Kansas. Josh had been cast as the Cowardly Lion just two months before. Although some of my family members have quite a stage presence, I certainly didn’t know Josh was one of them. I was impressed out of my mind that he had learned his lines. All of them! When he sprung onto the stage in all of his Cowardly Glory I squealed with laughter, cried for reasons unknown and cheered out loud all at the same time. I had seen him grow over the weeks but I was, in no way, prepared for fully Josh. He was confident, accomplished, ironically COURAGEOUS, adorable, funny and oh so entertaining. He was fully himself, fully Josh, fully alive. He stole the show and it took my breath away. I sat in awe during those miracle moments with my hands clasped at my chin whispering “Thank You, God” over and over again. I realized that God had not only healed me but that He was healing my son as well. Josh’s performance that night was brilliant with the absolute highlight being his delightfully humorous delivery of the song King of the Forest. How appropriate is that? Applause please!!!
One quick note: I haven’t had to preach to my children or grovel over my past mistakes. I have simply had to stay sober, be present and fully engaged, and shine the Light. God so masterfully takes care of the rest.
I also got the best job on the face of the planet, handpicked just for me. I work at Mercy Street! You knew that already. At around one year sober, I just so happened to be making my way through the still buzzing Mercy Street hallway that I had come to call home. I rarely got an opportunity to have a personal conversation with Gregg Taylor, most beloved, most popular “street” pastor. He most often has a captivated audience. But somehow (we all know how) I did this particular night. I was looking for a job, uh … an office job, and Mercy Street just so happened to have had their Administrative Assistant’s position come available that very week. Now, you might think that was mere coincidence but I have come to believe that coincidence is simply God’s way of remaining anonymous. That job was mine! I knew it from the minute Gregg spoke it and I cried all the way through the service that night. God meant for me to be employed at Mercy Street where I could most effectively carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers and to anyone who might have lost hope. I heard Beth say during the Esther series that our destinies cannot be severed from our histories. I was so perfectly placed at Mercy Street not despite where I had been but BECAUSE of where I had been, and where I had been delivered from.
When I got to New Hope 35 months ago today I looked long and hard at the steps hanging on the wall and my eyes rested on the words “a power greater than ourselves.” I was a weakling when I got there. I was beaten up, burned out and practically in a fetal position. The cat was a power greater than me! I didn’t need a power greater than myself — I needed a power greater than King Alcohol. I needed the biggest, baddest power of them all! I needed a great power with extraordinary muscle, strength and COURAGE. I needed the King of the Forest. I needed the King of the Universe. I needed the King of Kings…
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” Jeremiah 32:17
… so I set out to find Him through His way for my life that day and each day since.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:13-14 NIV
On the 20th day of next month I will have 3 full years of sobriety. Wow!! None of us humans, especially anyone who knew me before sobriety, would have ever dreamed I would have YEARS of sobriety. The fact that I am walking through this life, taking care of business, parenting, working, paying bills, doing laundry, laughing, crying (and everything in between) SOBER after a lifetime of drinking is, well … a flat-out miracle from God!
I try to imagine sometimes what exactly happened in the heavens that night under the bridge. In my limited mind’s eye, I see Almighty God in the image of man sitting at a grand oak desk drumming His holy fingers across the surface among dozens of beautiful, INCONCEIVABLE plans, drawings and designs. He’s waiting, whistling and waiting, drumming and waiting, patiently but not nervously waiting. He’s known it was coming since the foundation of the world but I like to think that He gets a hint of sweet satisfaction in being the Boss and whispering, “Hurry up, Gay, we’re waiting!” I think that even before the aching, desperate cry of “God, please help me” fully crossed my lips He had already leapt from desk to chariot and, with a loud trumpet sound, shouted to His angel armies, “She’s ready! Go get her!!” He knew, even though I didn’t know, that I had surrendered and that I would be willing to lay down my own failed plans and follow the ones He had custom drawn for me, just for ME. Upon His great command, the armies must have flown across the heavens in all of His Amazing Glory to the intersection of Sabo Road and the Sam Houston Tollway where the first appointed angel stepped through the veil as Tut in the flesh. Or maybe the first appointed was Zach who, knowing where I was, had asked his father to go fetch me for fear I would die that very night. Or maybe the first appointed was Jerry who had gotten us from Galveston to Houston in the first place that rainy Spring in 2009. Who knows? Only One. All I know is that they were all appointed.
I did not do this by myself, Sweet Sisters. An ARMY of “angels” wrapped in human skin have helped me and were strategically placed in my life by Almighty God Himself. There is no amount of white space for me to list them all and some names I don’t even remember if I ever knew them at all. From the street to New Hope to The Women’s Home to Mercy Street to Living Proof — from Southeast Houston to Pasadena to Montrose to Sugar Land — from a power greater than myself to Jesus, the One and Only. They were and are everywhere if we only open our eyes to see, our hands to receive and our hearts to feel. I don’t believe that any two of us cross paths by mistake or mere coincidence. I believe that the positive, negative and seemingly insignificant people, places and situations add value to our lives based on how we respond to them and learn from them. Its all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? If we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change — being transformed by the renewing of our minds. I only hope to have the most honorable assignment of being divinely appointed by Almighty God Himself to reach out to a friend in need, a fellow sojourner, a perfect stranger, a ragamuffin, the hurt, the lost, the seeking. Here am I, Lord. Please send me.
I stepped out on my back porch the other morning and in more of a casual talk with God rather than a prayer I cried, “Oh thank You, oh thank You, God, for not letting me die before I got this, before I got You, this sweet relationship, this rollercoaster of a ride, this ebb and flow of faith, trust and sheer awe that leaves me begging for MORE. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this. It would have been such a shame to have missed this. Thank You for saving me so that I could experience this … experience You. You are the Love of my life. You are the Great Love of my life. And I am Yours.”
I know today despite my shortcomings, failures and imperfections that to Him I am Beautiful, I am Redeemed and I am Loved. I have been seized by the Power of a Great Affection. I have been Saved. I have been Forgiven. I have been raised from the dead to walk in New Life. I have been Resurrected. Wow! It just doesn’t get any better than that, does it? Not in this life.
I have a CD of Travis Cottrell in my car that I like to listen to LOUD. Track 9 is an old hymn with a new and wildly improved sound. The ending words have never once failed to bring on the tears. They go like this:
The redeemed will sing forever,
The redeemed will sing forever,
The redeemed will sing forever
Jesus Saves.
Amen and Amen.
Dear Sisters,
I thank you for letting me share with you my story or, better yet, Christ’s story weaved into mine. It has been one of the greatest privileges of my new life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for each and every comment and word of encouragement. This divine assignment has been quite a challenge and I needed you all to charge me on. You became like my angel army in this endeavor. Isn’t that so cool? I have watched you minister to each other and pray for each other and pray for ME. I’ve experience many miracle moments sitting at this computer, reading and typing and trying my best to let God speak to you through my mumbling and fumbling to express the Inexpressible. Our testimonies have much power, don’t they? People love to hear that Jesus still saves even today. We love to see tangible evidence of it too. We love to see living proof! Thanks Beth, for giving us this beautiful venue and for giving me an opportunity that would have only lived in my dreams. You’re the best! I’m pretty sure that I’ll never be the same after this experience.
And again, thank You, oh thank You, my sweet Jesus for loving me and showering me with Amazing Grace. I love you with all my heart. I am Yours always. All of me.
Loved you are,
Gay
Gay, I’m at a lost for words and all I can say is WOW!! Your story is so magnificently beautiful & all who reads this will surely see our Savior’s gorgeous story beautifully intertwined in with it!! Thank you, lovely lady!! Thank you!
Gay…I have agonized with you, cried with you, rejoiced with you and celebrated with you…as I have enjoyed your story. Blessings to you sweet girl for keeping it real. What an encouragement for authenticity and transparency in a world where we pretend like we have it all together. May Jesus continue to be glorified in your life and I know we have not heard the last from you…this is only the beginning!!!!!!
Hi Kim! — Key word: Pretend. I don’t think any of us have it ALL together. I think the minute we think so, or ME anyway, something happens that shows us that we don’t. I’m ok with that. I love this needing Jesus in my life so desperately. I pray that my desperation for Him continues throughout this life and into the next. Nothin’ like it. As Beth says so often, “Ain’t no high like the Most High!!”
Thanks for your sweet comment.
Loved you are,
Gay
This has been one of the most beautiful stories of redemption I’ve ever read, or even heard. I love that an entire family has found JOY because you were brave enough to cry out to God for help and I LOVE that He rescued you as we know He will. Thank you for sharing. May God bless your willingness to share your broken road that was transformed through God’s healing grace.
Gay, thank you for being bold enough to share your victory in Jesus! “We will overcome, by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony, everyone, overcome”!
May God bless you richly as you approach your 3 year anniversary and your son’s sweet graduation.
The Lord bless you and keep you!
Melanie
Wow. I am just sitting here stunned. Gay, your story takes my breath away. One of my favorite things to think about is … that although it may have come as a surprise to us, it was no surprise to God. He has it ALL in the palm of His hand. There is comfort in that thought.
Gay, Bless you for sharing your story and what a story!!
You are so loved and appreciated.
Praise Him for His grace and power to save us all!!!
Goosebumps! Thanks so much for sharing!
Favorite installment yet, Gay! “The cat had greater power than me…” Big grin 🙂 But then came the “King of the Universe.” Whew!
I read a completely marvelous Jewish blessing recently in the book, “Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus,” by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg:
“Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha-olam.”
Blessed are you, LORD, our God, King of the universe. Isn’t that something? Isn’t He something?!!
Dear Gay, thank you so much for sharing your story! What a great God we have!!! WOW!!! Thank you for being so transparent and so real. I know it must have been hard! Thank you! You’ve encouraged me beyond words! All glory to Him who is soooo worthy!
Bless you, bless you sweet Gay. I have loved hearing your testimony of God’s redeeming grace and mighty power. I am so grateful you were courageous enough to lay your life out before us and allow the Holy Spirit to speak through you. I have laughed with you and mostly cried with you as I’ve read your words. You have been a blessing to this blog community and I am so thankful for you. You are loved dear sister.
Wow!
Gay,
I wanna be your neighbor and friend! ha ha!! Your joy is spilling over, my sister in Christ. I can feel it reading your typed heart-felt words!!
Congratulations. Congratulations on all of it!
I love my sons so, so much. My cup runeth over for them…and hearing that you get to be a momma who loves on her ‘babies’ and be proud of them and in their lives is such an amazingly, sweet blessing. It made my heart burst! I’m so grateful you get that!!!! YAY!!!
You’re a blessing because of your hard choices. Amazing what God does with our ‘mess’, isn’t it? He’s definitely THE Ultimate. He just SO is!!! 🙂
Hugs and Prayers and Happy Hearts,
Amber K
Gay, Thank you so much. Your testimony speaks volumes. Thank you.
Gay, God is doing amazing things through you. I am so amazed! He really still in the miracle working business and I love Him for it! We watched session 6 of Beth’s James study and one of her main points in not becoming cynical was that Jesus is still flagrantly changing lives. And you, my sister, are a testimony to that! We all love you here on this beautiful community blog. I sure do! And though I may never meet you here on this Earth, I look forward to the day that I get to hug your neck in the glorious Heavens! And so many people will be testifying that they are right alongside us there because of you and your testimony of what Jesus has done in your life. God bless you my sweet, beautiful, redeemed sister!
Ashley,
Your message to Gay brought tears to my eyes and these words from
The Cowardly Lion “Ain’t it the truth? Ain’t it the truth?”
I can’t wait to hug the necks of all the Siestas up there in that city paved with gold.
Wow wee, gaybee. I am overcome! 998 days behind you and I trust God that I will never pass you. Your surrender to the ultimate power is a wonderful inspiration for me.
Thanks, God, for the blood of the Lamb … and thank you, Gay, for sharing the word of your testimony. As bethie often says, “Glory to God … GLORY TO GOD.”
tone tone
Gay,
I have read every word you have written on this blog, and I just wanted say to that “Christ’s story weaved into [yours]” is a BEAUTIFUL story. I have rarely heard such a powerful redemption story as this one. I ended your final installment just now with tears in my eyes at the JOY and gratutide you exude for our God. Please know that at 1:50pm today, from a tiny little office in at tiny little house in Northeast Nebraska, I prayed for and celebrated with you! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Dearest Gay,
Thank you so very much for your courage to share, your courage to surrender to Christ, your courage to overcome. You are an awesome testimony for Christ and an inspiration for all of us. Your story has touched me deeply!
Thank you!
Thank you for glorifying God. I have been so blessed by your sharing, and I pray for His abundant blessings to continue to be poured upon you and your family. Love in Christ, Liz Baird
I have been blessed so much by your honest testimony. God does save us! I may not struggle with alcohol, but God can turn any of us around when we surrender to Him.
Love to you, sister!
P.S. Beth is not the only sister who can write well!!
Gay,
I have read all of your posts, and I just want you to know that your testimony has been such an encouragement to me. Thank you!
WOW! I can’t seem to get much past that throught the tears. Our God is so good! In my Psalm study this was the verse I read today. “The Lord is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne” Ps.11:4 PRAISE YOU LORD!!
Thank you Gay!
Sorry didn’t get this to you sooner, couldn’t get to the blog…some error occured.
Hope you know that you are precious to us, as you opened your heart and life to us – the readers.
Praise God for His Redeeming Power! My story isn’t as interesting, but amazingly it doesn’t really matter – only the fact GOD loves me too!
Keep your hand in writing, you are good to follow!
Love to you sister! 😀
Gay: I write this with tears flowing down my cheeks. My mother died 6 years ago today. She was an alcoholic. She knew she was and she was so close to doing something about it but sadly she fell and died in surgery. Her story never finished here on earth. My heart aches for all that could have been and sadly will not be for my Mom and our family.
It is with much joy I have read about you and Jesus. Where he has taken you and how you are following him. I loved walking alongside of you. You wrote things that gave me more insight into the struggle my Mom must have experienced. I knew that she must have felt those same things you expressed. Quite frankly, it has just been good for me to know and your words have been healing to my heart.
Thanks for digging deep. It is where the healing waters are. Not only for yourself but for others.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Amazing God, Amazing Grace, Amazing Loved and Cherished you! Praise His Name!
Oh, Gay, I just about can’t take it. It is too good. HE is too good. Why do we hold back? WHY do we hold back??? He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing. Who else can do that? Who else can satisfy the desires of every living thing, I ask you? Your story just makes he love Him more.
Thank you so much Gay for sharing your story. It blows me away that our God is truly our Redeemer. Nothing is wasted in God’s economy as proved by your story. May God continue to use you to draw others to Him!
May the Lord preserve your sobriety for that 3rd anniversary and many more to come. Thank you for this amazing testimony. I also sent the series links to a friend who doesn’t read this blog but needed the encouragement for her own loved one whose addictions keep landing him in prison. Thank you for sharing the hope that Christ still raises the dead.
God Bless you, Gay (and he has!)-what a beautiful testimony. I know that many will read these posts and cry out to our Savior for the healing you have received and He will grant it and much, much more!
Gay, I cannot tell you what your story has meant to me. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you Gay. You have changed my life 🙂 James 5:19-20 You, Gay, have been this “WHOEVER”
What a blessing it has been to read your story!! Thank you for sharing the emotion and sheer JOY that you now have. It has truly been a journey that has lead you to a wonderful life in Christ. Like others, I have shared this blog with a family member of an alcoholic. It has helped all of us to understand. I am sure God will use your words for good to help others. May God continue to bless you.
I am always in awe of God’s grace and mercy. As I read your story, I had tears streaming down my face. Some sad, but most of all joyful tears. God is always good. Thank you for being brave and vulnerable in sharing your story. You are bringing glory to God and inspiring so many. WELL DONE!
Miss Gay,
I am speechless, humbled, grateful and just want you to imagine my WOW face. Our Savior is so loving, kind, gentle and most important, patient. I loved your image of God patiently waiting for you to surrender to Him. Drumming his fingers, just hanging out, but then you cried out to Him and He leapt into action, like an EMT or Fireman or Police Officer, just ready to SAVE YOU. Thank you Jesus for saving our sweet Siesta Gay, thank you for her little sister for being courageous enough to let you share your story with us fellow believers. Gay, your story is so powerful. Thank you for sharing it with us and it has touched me in such an intimate way, I just cheered for you through your whole story. Our God is awesome, wonderful, tender, patient, oh the list goes on and on. Thank you so much Gay. Thank you. YOU are living proof that God is tangible, that He loves His children and he abounds in Amazing Grace. I love that hymn, that was the song I sang to my son at bedtime when he was a baby, he’s 14 now, but every once in awhile, he asks me to sing it to him, just precious. Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. I’m so glad you found Jesus and he found you. You are loved too, Gay. (((((HUGS))))) 🙂
Gay, I so enjoyed hearing your story. Thanks so much for sharing your experience, strength, and hope with the Siestas. I pray for you a lifetime of sobriety, one day at a time!
Dear Gay,
What an honor to have you share your story with us. I’ve been blessed and encouraged by your journey, as I know so many others have too. Thank you for sharing your heart, your joys and your sorrows with us. You are loved here so very much!!
With much love,
Lavonda
Thank you, Gay for sharing your story with us. It has had a profound effect on many of us!!
Thank you, Beth, for allowing Gay to use the blog to share her story. I know you have prayed for this miracle. I lost a sister to alcoholism, I remember some of the things she put my family through.
Look forward to updates in the future.
Beautiful.
My dearest Gay, WOW! and thank you for being an open book about your life, addiction and recovery! You are a present day example of God’s power and plan of redemption for our lives. Thank you for the encouragement you have been me.
Oh Gay….thank you sweet sister for sharing this beautiful story of Jesus Saves!! What a tremendous blessing you are….keep your eyes up and press on my friend!
Thank you Gay – what a testimony! I stand in awe of the One who before the foundation of the world, knew us, every step, every decision, and loves us enough to call us out and say Follow Me….to love us enough to rescue us…all I can say is Oh What A Savior! I’m praising God for His Mighty work in your life! May we all see Him, hear Him, and be willing to say here I am Lord, send me!
Love in Christ!
Wow, Gay. Thank you for your vulnerable sharing of your testimony. I’m praising God for all He’s done and is doing in your life. I’ve read all your installments but this one was particularly comforting and convicting all at the same time. As a parent of a young son, your words about not preaching at your children but being fully present, engaged, and shining the Light landed squarely on my heart. Thank you…you ARE a powerful light for Jesus.
Gay Wow what an awesome testimony!!! I’m on 4 years and a few days of sobriety from a drug addiction of the worst, methadone. My story is too long to share but when my GOD works he works!!! I felt the emotions strong in your writings and it is harder than people realize to admit to yourself you have a problem and then seek help for it.If God had not come to my aid I probably would not be alive today, but I am and I’m serving him with more zest than I severed the devil. I lost relationships but some are sweeter than ever and GOD IS GOOD!!!! Celebrate Recovery was there they did not judge and the recovery was with GOD all the way. Thank you for sharing it’s not easy to do that I have shared mine and the embarrasment you feel that you allowed something like this to rule your life is hard but God is greater, stronger and more loving and people need to know there is help… I will LIFT up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help!!! Psalm 121:1 AND HE COMES!!! I will be praying for you daily as I hope you will pray for me. It’s a beautiful thing to have sisters in Christ that love unconditionally!!!
Way to go Gay. I finally found the time to be able to finish your testimony.
You are so brave for sharing. While you thanked us, I am the one that should be thanking you for your inspiration.
“We have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Everyone overcome!”
Dearest Gay, thank you so much for sharing your testimony with us, with me. It’s amazing how you said in the end that God knew this was going to happen. He knew the end from the beginning. He was patiently waiting for you to trust Him-to surrender to Him. And God knew you had surrenedered before you did. There are no words to describe that! To describe God’s love for us, his mercy and grace. And you are “Living Proof” of God’s power. He is El-Sheddai! Your story has changed my life-since the first day I started reading your blogs! God has a great purpose for your life here on this earth. Many people’s lives have and will be changed because of you and what God has done through you! May God continue to bless you, Dear Gay! Thank you Jesus for your wonderful miracles!
Thank you my sister for sharing your story & your words. My daughter gave me this to read. At one time she & I went to see Beth in Laramie WY to gather where my daughter was attending college. After years and many disapointments, and living alone back in our home town I started drinking, and drinking way to much, too often (practically daily). I know it wont be easy but I am making changes to move forward and come back closer to the Father & our Lord. Please add me to your prayer list if there is one in place. And bless you for reaching out sharing & showing others that there are those out there that understand & have made it. Praise be to out Lord Jesus! love your sister in Christ “Andi”
Beautiful!
Thank you Gay. I loved your story. It was truly a blessing to me and others. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same. It’s good to know the we are loved by Him, just as we are.
I pray that the Lord will be with you and bless you and keep you safe, always.
Gay, I join so many others here in thanking you for sharing your story with us. I praise God for the way He has worked — and is working — in your life. So happy for your restored life and so happy that He loves us all!
I’ve been so blessed to follow Gaye’s (and God’s) story! Thank you.
On another note, I’ve been trying to check out Travis’s blog/website, but I’m getting an error message. Can someone please let him know that his site is down? 🙂
Gay, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your journey. Thank you for shining the light on Jesus, the beacon of hope, the One and Only who can rescue, save and deliver! Praise You Lord for lifting Gay out of the pit and setting her feet firmly on You! Please do the same for me.
I love this:
“Thank You for saving me so that I could experience this … experience You. You are the Love of my life. You are the Great Love of my life. And I am Yours.”
I know today despite my shortcomings, failures and imperfections that to Him I am Beautiful, I am Redeemed and I am Loved. I have been seized by the Power of a Great Affection. I have been Saved. I have been Forgiven. I have been raised from the dead to walk in New Life. I have been Resurrected. Wow! It just doesn’t get any better than that, does it? Not in this life.”