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
Thank you so much for your beautiful story. You so laid everything right out there. Every time I’ve read a post of your it brings me to tears. Praise be to God and to you for having the courage and strength to know you needed HIM! Thank you for your full out honesty – it has been a treasure to be invited to your story.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing that. Our Lord is amazing and you are such a testimony to that.
Gay,
I’ve not commented before, but have eargerly awaited and read each of your installments of victory in Jesus. We all have our own addictions and bondages. Learning how you were delivered from yours gives insight to all of us. Thank you for putting yourself out there like that for us. Your statement, ” People love to hear that Jesus still saves even today” is SO true! I DO so love to hear how He is still working today. You are such a blessing and encouragement and I celebrate and exalt the Name of the Lord with you over all He has done in your life.
Dear Gay, I am sitting at my desk at work trying to slow down and thought about Beth, then I saw her blog site and came on here to see what was going on,and as I read came to your story and while sitting here tears streaming down my cheeks, trying not to be seen by anyone, I said to myself, “who is this writing this”? I looked and saw your name,and I thought you were Beth’s sister because she talks about you all the time. I want you to know you have inspired my heart and even as I leave this comment my eyes are filled with tears. I just want to say be blessed continually and know that your journey was with purpose. I pray for you, and your family for continued happiness!:)
Thank you for sharing your beautiful story, it is such an inspiration of how our wonderful God will use our brokeness to bring His name glory.
I pray His rich blessing to you and your family.
I look forward to more praise reports of the next chapter he writes in your life.
Oh Gay…..your story has moved me to TEARS! THANK YOU for telling your story! What a humbling reminder of who we are and what we are. Praise God that HIS mercy is new every morning. Because Jesus is good, your beautiful story has inspired me and hundreds(if not thousands) of others who read it here. Only God!!!
I can’t wait to meet you one day. Until then I am sending you a virtual HUG, with tears rolling down my face, and my heart and knees bent before our amazing SAVIOUR. To GOD be the GLORY FOREVER!!
Thank you Gay for sharing your amazing story!
I admire your honesty and vulnerability. You are quite a lady and what a strong witness for Christ! I know He is sooo very proud of you!
Thank you for being real, and giving us some courage to be real too.
Many blessings to you and yours.
Your testimony has indeed been SUCH an encouragement. THANK YOU for taking the time to share it with us here. What a blessing and a privilege to hear it from you. I love the way you described how you imagine what was happening in the heavens the moment, or even before the moment that you cried out for help. Your words reflect a profound, vibrant, radiant, Jesus-glorifying intimacy with God. You are living proof indeed. And so am I. You’ve reminded me to remember that. And to shout it from the roof-tops! Thank you Gay. And thank you Jesus!
Gay,
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing story, I have been so blessed by it. We look forward to seeing what God has for you in the future. God bless you
Thank you Gay for sharing your story. You are a testament of God’s love. I have just lead a group at my church of around 40 woman through Beth’s bible study “James – Mercy Triumphs” and since her study was dedicated to you, I told them that you were sharing here on the blog. I know God is going to use you beyond anything you or I can see and His Glory will reach to others because you have been faithful to share your story. If I were with you now, I would give you a huge hug and say God Bless you even more.
WOW!! I have eagerly awaited each of your posts. To say you have blown me away is an understatement. GOD IS GOOD!! and you sweet sister are LOVED!!
Gay,
Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful story..I couldn’t wait for the next email to come. It is amazing how much God loves us and waits patiently for us to come to Him.
He is truly the lover of our soul!!!
Blessings
Marilyn your sister in Christ….
Gay, thanks for sharing your story with us! What a great testimony to God’s faithfulness!
Thank you for sharing your story…really it’s all of our
stories in one form… or another.
May you be greatly used on Mercy St.
Amazing grace, Oh how sweet the sound !
Gay,
What a mighty God we serve!!!!How I praise Him! Thank you for sharing your miraculous story! You are an encouragement to all of us!! May the Lord Jesus continue to be glorified in an through your life. I will be praying for you!
In Christ’s love,
Lisa
Gay,
I have so looked forward to each of your posts and have been blessed to read your beautiful story. Thank you for sharing your life with us.
HALLELUJAH!!!!
Gay,
Thank you so much for sharing the amazing work God has done in your life!!
Thank you Gay! I am so glad to have intersected this life with you! God is awesome and I’m so grateful to Him for you girl, so grateful. You have done my heart good! Praise God for daily victories, that’s all we have anyway; today! Keep on Gay, keep on! God Bless you in all your steps!
d
I am struggling now…need help…
Dearest Wendy…I just want you to know….I saw your comment, and have prayed for you, and I will keep praying! I may not know why you’re struggling, but Jesus does, and He loves you so!
Kelly
Wendy I am praying for you now. Please hang in there. Patty
Hi Wendy! — I’ve been off for a couple of days and hate that I missed your comment. I know that it took a lot of guts for you to simply write that you are struggling and need help. Sometimes those are the only words we can get out and it takes all the courage in the world to do THAT! I want you to know, over and above anything else, that THERE IS HOPE. If I can overcome this thang, YOU, my sweet sister, can too. It takes a lot of work, encouragement from others (a support group), and a God as big as the universe. We’ve got that!!! We do what is put in front of us to do and He does the rest, He does the hard part. I am with you, girlie, in prayer and partnership. Contact me if you need to but you will need to contact someone in your city eventually. I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!!!
Loved you are,
Gay
Dear Gay,
Reading this last installment was sort of bittersweet for me. I have looked forward to reading each one of them, and they have been so powerful I didn’t want it to end.
Thank you for being so honest, open, and obedient in sharing your life. What a blessing and testimony to countless others. What a glorious God we serve!!
Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future. You are a very talented writer.
Blessings to you.
Hey Gay–
I’ve thought and thought of one thing you said–funny small somthing that really meant something to me. You were watching your boy in a play and crying for reasons unknown. And that really hit home for me. Of course to understand you’d likely have to have MY perpective and history but this much is true–its surely just as redeemed as yours is. I have a 6 year old daughter and it happens when I try to read her almost anything (sentimental or not) that I get a huge lump in my throat and can barely speak for the impulse to cry and the fighting of tears that come to me at the sheer magnitude of the opportunity I have to be her mother and the grandiose joy of doing something so simple as sitting and reading to her and the enormous knowledge of how greatly I have failed and…and…and…who knows what all. I just know that she looks at me in the oddest way and I have no excuse but to push past the impulse to tears. It just really really touched me that you said that. And I thought I’d share.
Thank you for sharing your life so openly with us, Gay!!! Every installment has brought tears! What a WONDERFUL blessing & miracle God has done for you!!! I know it must still be hard work -one step at a time – but you describe such a sweet relationship with our Savior – how AWESOME-what VICTORY!! Tears of Joy and yes, Hope that similar ‘retrievals’ & victories can happen in my family – most especially for my daughter (right now), who is struggling with life & searching but not in quite the right places-yet. May God continue to bless your ministry!!! Love & prayers!!! 🙂
God is truly wonderful, we all have so much to be thankful for. I know that I am one of many that are touched in my heart by your transformation. Congratulations & to God Be All The Glory!!!
P.S. If I could give away a book, it would be a Beth Moore book, but I have too many favorites to name just one!! It would be wonderful to help lift someone up w/Beth’s enthusiasm!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us! It gives me great hope for my loved ones that are struggling!! Nothing is too hard for God, Right? He gives us all the strength we need each day and I pray that for my family members too! I had tears in my eyes when you talked about your boys! I have 2 “litte” boys also. My oldest is 20 and youngest 17. I am so happy you have restored your relationship with them! Please pray for my oldest as he is one of God’s prodigals sons!! I have faith he will come back to God, so reading your story only strengthens that Faith!! Thank you so much! And I pray God continues to bless YOU each day!! Isn’t it amazing how He gives us extra blessings for the time we missed out on??? He is so Great!!! Isn’t He??? 🙂
Thanks Beth for sharing your sister with us!!
Thank you Jesus for this sweet sister!
All I can say is PRAISE THE LORD!! And welcome to His family, Gay! With tears, I thank you for sharing your story.
Gay,
Thank you for your transparency. I think I heard your sister once say, “People are not looking for us to have it together. They are looking at what happens to us when we don’t.”
I praise Him for allowing you to share your brokenness with us and ultimately your redemption. Whatever the brokeness, we all have it. And you are right, there is hope in hearing the testimony of someone who has been saved by the Almighty.
I pray to see you around these parts more often 🙂
Mighty praises being sung today for your sweet, sweet testimony and your courage to share it!
Dear Gay,
All I can say is: Amen, amen, amen!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I have been blessed!
Gay , I just wanted to thank you for sharing your journey with us. I am so excited at what God is doing in your life. I pray that He will shower you with blessings and sweet things for your willingness to openly share the good , bad and ugly.
Dear Gay,
Your sister said this last installment would be pretty incredible and she was not kidding! That gave me such chills while I read, not to mention the tears..I was reading a poem I wrote recently and it made me think of you. Hope you don’t mind if I share it.
A Single Rose
If you look closely you will see
A single rose stands alone against the dark
The rain pours down and drips along the fragile stem.
It seems to know all with the world is not right.
It’s been closed and shut tight
hiding the beauty inside.
Keeping it all locked tight.
Waiting for the sun to appear
the warmth of it long forgotten.
Standing alone against the wind and rain
feeling so fragile against the strain.
Still it stands there waiting for the sun to appear,
waiting for the dark clouds to clear.
There it is I see the sun
it’s breaking from behind the clouds
and slowly the rose opens as the sun
basks the rose in it’s embrace.
We begin to see the beauty of the rose
unfurled shining in all it’s beauty and grace.
The fragrance bursts forth so strong
and rises up to the God
who gave the rose it’s very life.
There it is the rose shining beautiful and bright.
For it is the Son and His Father
that make everything allright.
You are a beautiful rose Gay, made whole by the Savior shining beautiful and bright. The sweet fragrance of His love so fills you and overflows it has not only drifted up to the Heavenly Father that adores you, but has burst forth and touched so many lives here. Thank You! Thank You! Blessings to you my dear sister!
Gay –
Thank you so much for you story. I looked forward to reading each installment and felt so many emotions as I read them. I appreciate your candid accounts and your complete reliance on Christ. I lost my dad to alcoholism four years ago…and still have so many questions about the trappings of addiction. He went to church when he was young and was baptized, but walked away from Christ a long time ago. I have so many theological questions about his faith and death.
Do you have any advice about places to connect or things to read?
Thank you again for sharing your story!
Well I’m in awe! I’ve been thinking lately about the blessing that God gives us to actually enjoy our lives and am so thankful that is the case with you (and me). Gay, you were the angel that I asked The Lord to bless me with today…thank you! And please know that I will pray for you whenever the Holy Spirit brings you to mind. Thank you for reminding me to be thankful for my sobriety…I have nine months and I’m forgetting what life was like for me before. God bless!! xoxo
Dearest Gay,
You have been a gift to so many through your sharing. So many are struggling with addiction, and can share the heart wrenching stories. Your walk with Christ is such a powerful testimony.
Thank you from a mom who’s son is struggling. You will be in my daily prayers. Please remember how much you mean to all of us when the devil comes to your door.
May the blessings you have given be multiplied and returned to you.
Thank you for sharing your amazing testimony. God is so powerful and compassionate toward us! Definitely passing these segments along to my friends and family. Living proof it is.
Thank you Gay, for sharing your miracle story. God is good.
Thank you so much for sharing your story! It meant so much to me.
I remember Beth sharing at a Living Proof event a few years back that she had someone close to her who was, at the moment, homeless and at the bottom of a pit due to alcoholism. You have been on my mind for years, yet I didn’t even know who you were or your name.
I look back at all that has happened in my own life over these past few years and it seems like an eternity ago when Beth spoke of you. My life has been fairly smooth during this “eternity”, I can’t imagine how long and difficult it must have been for you with all of the challenges you faced during your own “eternity”. It must have seemed endless.
Since then, you have been climbing out of your pit, hand over hand, step by step, one day at a time. You have made it to the top and are a testimony of the beautiful grace of our Living God! I know there are still so many others, like you, who have not realized yet that they, too have that beautiful grace. They are still in their pits, thinking there is no way out. I will continue to have them on my mind and in my prayers as you were so many years ago.
God Bless You!
-Jodi
Thank you Gay for your testimony! It reminded me of this passage;
Revelation 12:20 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
You have overcome! Thank the LORD for his faithfulness and to God be the Glory!
P.S. It’s actually Revelation 12:11! I didn’t know how to correct it:)
Hi, I’m Michelle and I’m a grateful recovering alcoholic. I have almost 2 years of sobriety and they have been the best 2 years of my life. It took me a long time to understand people when they said, “grateful alcoholic”. But I can hear it in your voice, you are also a grateful recovering alcoholic. Thank you for your testimony and your service to offer hope and encouragement to another alcoholic.
Dear Gay, thank you for sharing your miraculous transformation with us. Praise be to God for his many blessings!
Gay,thank you so much for sharing your story and most of all your love for Him. What a glorious ending, one that is also a beginning, my favorite kind. ♥
I couldn’t wait for the next installment every week. Your testimony is such a miracle and such an encouragement , please consider publishing your story. Thank you so much for sharing your heart and your struggles and being vulnerablle. It is a powerful account of the miraculous. And I believe needs to be shared with the masses. Thank you again .
Gay,
I can’t even put into words the hope your story has given me. I have been sober since 1995, when I first got saved. I have not fallen, but was sliding. Satan had convinced me that one glass of wine at bedtime was OK. I have sleeping problems and it really did help me to fall asleep. You have reminded me that Satan is just waiting to crawl back in and take this wife, mother to 8, grandmother to 11 precious souls, and slam me face first into the pavement, then drag me to hell. Thanks you and Beth and dear sweet Jesus for this wake up call.
And to Beth, Your bible study has radically changed my life. It has helped to heal some hurts from an abusive church my DH and I attended. I went to a new church for the first time today. We haven’t been in years. I saw some old friends and new friends and maybe found a new home. I wouldn’t have made it without the Tuesday afternoon ladies bible study through Hands of Love Ministry in Germantown, IL. Praise God, even when we are lost, He leaves the 99 to find the one!!!
He is faithful even when we are not.
Dearest Gay:
What a story. I’m sitting here 6:20am Georgia time, eyes full, thinking….wow, these Moore girls sure have been blessed. You, dear one, have quite the gift of communicating “a heart for God” like your sister, Beth. How blessed are we, who have been on the journey of reading your redemption story, after all the years of teachings from your sister, she never crossed the confidential, family line of telling us your pre-redemption story, but we could feel her pain for you none the less. Love has a hard time holding back joy and sorrow, and your sister has always loved you. Guess you know that, huh?! This lovely story should be published for more than just “us girls” to see. You have a gift…blessings and joy to you always. xo
Gay, thank you so much for being willing to share. I know it is not easy to go back and delve into the painful places of the past. Your story has greatly encouraged me. I needed to be reminded that Christ has come to set the captive free and that he does it, powerfully. My husband has struggled with an addiction to pornography for many years. Right now he has 8 months sober but I am so often afraid it won’t last. Your story has reminded me how present God is in our lives and encouraged me to trust and rely on Him more fully.
Thank you, Gay. My husband (alcoholic of over 30 years) was visited early morning December 4th (a Sunday). He said he spent hours with Jesus who told him to get into a Bible based recovery program. Almost 4 months later, he and I are not only attending the 12 step program of Celebrate Recovery but we are also attending the leadership program. Praise God! What I wanted to tell you that your story gave me insight into his alcoholism that I never knew. I have been with him 18 years and can only say that I am glad that God allowed me to help Him out through me and my family’s prayers for him. So much more I’d like to share because this miracle that has happened within my family has impacted not only us and the kids but so many people outside. Being Jesus’ hands and feet is the greatest honor we could ever be given.
I can’t help but go back to a theme in this story that really caught my attention (and my heart, for that matter). Anger at God….isn’t this the reason for many of our problems? We just can’t seem to let Him have the control we say we have given up to Him. It is amazing to me how many stories really go back to the foundational/fundamental issue of God not doing what we think He should have done. It makes us mad at God…at our family….at the world…and at ourselves for initially trusting Him…and then mad at ourselves again in the end for having not trusted Him.
How do we as human beings ever get out of this vicious cycle? I can’t kid myself…I have been a Christian for years and still catch myself not trusting Him. His way is right, but I sure don’t see the clarity until some of this mistrust has shown its ugly head!!
Gay,
Hallelujah. Sister, thank you so much for sharing your story. We all have one, and so many of us hide the chapters which are painful or shameful, when in fact, they give such glory to God in His rescue and provision. Thank you for being an encouragement to me in a time of struggle in my own life. Your story reminds me AGAIN of the Hope I am offered and the battle that this life will always be until we are Home. You are in my prayers. Thank you for your obedience.
I am late rading this …. an amazing story! Thanking you for sharing and praising God with you.
My nephew graduated from SCAD, several years before your son. He is a graphic artist and his commericals are Reese’s, Almond Joy, Mounds, Peppermint Patty and Ice Breakers. Small world.
Gay I am overwhelmed….praise God, praise God, praise God! Thank you thank you for sharing your story. Heaven will be a jubilee….if I don’t meet you here I hope to look you up over there!
Grace~
Keren