My life before Christ was a wreck. I had been cussing a lot and I knew something was wrong but I didn’t care.

My poppa was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. So he went into the hospital a lot. It was November 4, 2006 when he passed away. It got me thinking I wasnt sure on where I was going when I died. So I got saved in church. But on January 23, 2008 I was in chapel at my school, and Dave Walton was speaking. I reddidicatted my life that day.

My life since that day has been amazing. I have grown a lot closer to God. During school I started a 8th grade devotion time and I got a lot out of it.

I was raised in church, going as an infant through high school, every Wednesday, twice on Sunday, and every other time that the door was open for services, i.e. revivals. My sisters and I sang in revivals in our community and on a radio broadcast every other Sunday. I gave my life to Jesus Christ at a young age, but due to the beliefs of the church (and my parents), whenever I committed any wrongs (such as fighting with my sisters, talking back to my parents, etc.), I had to get “saved” again for we were taught that one could lose his salvation (backslide). When I grew older and left home I was so confused about salvation that I completely stopped going to church. After many years of drifting, married and divorced, and marrying again, I had a revelation from God in the form of a miracle. Now, perhaps some would question God’s healing power to a “drifting Christian”? However, it happened to me. While living in Florida, sitting by the pool one day, I began having the most terrific headache one could even imagine. I went inside, began walking the floor, considering calling 911, knowing something more than just a headache was happening. It had been a long time since I had really prayed, but I began to. At that time, I recalled many of the things taught not only by my parents, but in various churches and I knew deep within that my parents did the best that they knew how to do at the time. And where might I have been had they not even taken me to church, for the basics were there albeit fanactical. My husband came home and we decided to go to the hospital.

To make a much longer story short, in the ER the physicians decided that it was just a migraine and were going to release me. My family physician was called, and he decided to come to the hospital. I was told later by him that he had such an urge to come to the hospital that he left office hours to do so. He did not agree with the ER physicians and called in neurologists. Bottom line–I had a hemorrhaging brain aneurysm and they did not understand why I was still alive. My husband was told that if I made it through the surgery I would most likely have side effects which would be very detrimental to a normal lifestyle. My husband called everyone that he knew: family members (esp. my prayer warrior mother) and others to request prayer. Many were praying for me. I had the surgery. The aneurysm could be clipped, and I had absolutely no side effects. Other than the skull healing from being opened and missing hair, I was normal. When I had my first appointment with my family physician, he made a statement to me which I had never heard from a physician and might add, I have not heard since-he stated: “The only reason that you are sitting here today is that God has something for you to do, so I suggest that you find out what that is and do it.”

I have been privileged to testify to the power of God and His healing power in the worst of circumstances. He can and does love us even if we turn our backs on Him for a time, and in miraculous ways, He is always with us. I believe that sometimes small situations He gets our attention and drags us back to what might have been buried inside for too long–serving Jesus Christ must take priority in our lives. NONE other could have helped me during that time and many times since. I praise Him daily for His blessings, both small and great, and know that in all of us He has a purpose for our lives. The words of the song “Trust and Obey” needs to be our daily prayer AND action.