God's Enough

My mom has shared her story. It's miraculous how God works in others lives. God is enough for every situation.

I remember how life was when my mom was saved but she had gotten away from God. Let me just add, when you get away from God, it affects everyone in your life, not just you.

It was really hard on me. I was 20.  My mom had left again. I did not like the guy she ran off with. He even tried to tell me he was a preacher of some sort. I never trusted him.

I recall the day she got voted out of church. I cried so hard. My mom had fallen into the devil's trap and I was broken hearted. Whether the church tried to help her or not, is irrevelant, she needed the church. She was low and didn't have anyone to help her.

We were all living together, until my mom left and then I stayed with my sister, her husband, and their children.

I was so worried for my mom. I didn't see her much. But I knew that guy had such a big control over her. It was like she couldn't break free from him.

Sometimes I would bring her a few groceries at a motel if I knew where she was staying. I didn't want her going hungry. I missed her and didn't want anything to happen to her. But I couldn't see her without that guy being around. I said he was controlling.

When she got arrested, I cried. I wondered when she was going to come back home, and come back to God.

Those were some rough years. I had Christian friends that helped encourage me and really helped me. I'm thinking of a family right now. God knew I needed some special friends in my life.

I'm just thankful that my mom got right with God. I'm so thankful that God brought her home, back to her family. God is very merciful and He is very forgiving. He never forsakes His own.

Guest Post- My Journey to Christ part 2

My girls and I would go pass out tracts between church every Sunday. When I was reading or studying the Bible, I could feel God with me talking to me. It was like I could see His light shine on me. As I read the Bible , He would tell me, 'this is what I'm saying.' I loved typology. It was just the best thing to me. I learned Bible verses. Anyone that knows me, knows that I don't know what I did yesterday. But God's Word was so alive in me. I was really growing alot spiritually.

We went to every revival we could find. It was never a question of 'do we want to go?' because we always did. I knew I was so close to my Father.

One day we were all eating out. As we were leaving we saw a homeless man walk by. I didn't think much about it. My grandson got sick and all I was worried about was getting him to the truck. As we were leaving my daughter said, "There's that man, let's stop and give him a Gospel tract." It was so natural for us to hand out tracts. We loved sharing God's Word. But this time, I didn't want to. I said, "No, let's not." After talking to my daughter, I decided to go back and give him a tract.

I invited the guy to church. He said, "In the morning, I'll be waiting here for you to pick me up."

We went the next morning, but didn't really expect him to be there. He was there and he went to church with us a few times. Then he didn't want to go back. I invited him to my house so he could shower and I washed his clothes. All the time doing this as unto God.

I somehow fell for this guy. When I got saved my husband left and went back to OK. I left my kids, grandkids, and a job I had for ten years to go live in the woods with this guy. I started smoking weed again. Within three months, he cost me everything. My kids were so upset and angry at me. My grandkids were my world, and they didn't come to my mind anymore.
I lost everything I owned. And I didn't have a job.

One-day, he wanted to go to Goldsboro to get a friend.  I heard him talking to his sister about getting his boat back. So we went to Goldsboro. My son went with us to Goldsboro. They got the boat on the truck and I couldn't see what they were doing. They broke in the house and came out with an arm full guns. My sister was murdered so I was scared.

The next day when I took them to work, the police was there and we went to jail. I was a felon, even though I didn't do anything. I was with the wrong people at the wrong time. 

This all started by trying to show Christ to someone. In three months, I was so far from God. I tried going back to church but I just knew God didn't want me messing up His church. Someone told me, I'd never do anything for God again. That discouraged me and after that, I got worse. I was so low I believed them.
The guy went to jail for four years. And like a nut I was there for him. Then he started hitting me. I knew if my son found out he'd kill him. So, I got away from him, or I tried. He was very controlling.

My husband came back, he knew what had happened, but he was here. The guy finally left me alone. I kept trying to get close to God again. As much as I tried and as much as I cried, it didn't happen. I was so depressed. I wish I had someone to talk to. Cause the talk I was getting was just small talk. People don't really want to know what you have done or what you are going through. They didn't really want to help me get close to God again. They just seemed to want to cast judgement on me or cast me aside. This went on for years.

I would look in the mirror, I'd look straight at my eyes and I could not lie to myself. The more I looked in the mirror the more I disliked myself. I didn't know if I would ever find peace again. I had to let it all out. I finally found peace and forgiveness with God. I was still saved through all of this, I had just gotten so low and so far from God that I couldn't feel His presence anymore. I got back in church and started living for God again.

In 2015, I fell off of a 6 foot ladder at work and hit my head on a steel beam. I was happy I was alive. But I had to ask God what was I supposed to do now. I thought I was doing what He wanted. I was a wreck. I have been through a lot since the fall. I have serious problems from the fall, that won't go away. I don't have a life now. My whole life has changed. I am constantly in pain. It doesn't go away. I'm still asking God when will it be over. I have to remind myself that 'no', is an answer. I have not got back where I used to be with God. I want to be in church all the time, but the pain doesn't allow me to. It's a journey.

With all of this and more, I know God reached way down and got me out of the sin. When you get saved, God goes everywhere you go, and He hears everything you say. If you go somewhere bad, He goes with you.
I've learned that it doesn't matter how many times you go to the altar and ask God for forgiveness, you must also forgive yourself. This is hard for me because I knew better and I did all the things anyways.

I said all that to say this. I could have got saved at 8. I do believe God was calling me. But I let family stop me. Yes I was 8 but I didn't need a building to get saved or live for God. I went through some pretty bad stuff growing up like skipping school, running away, drugs, drinking, my 1st marriage.

  I got saved at 41 which is late in life. God won't force His will on anyone. He will let you do what you want. But His will is always better. If you follow His will for your life, there will be less heartache and less scars from sin. Sin is not as glamorous as it looks. You always see the good side of sin, but no one ever shows you the wasted lives and the scars that don't go away. The price of sin is not worth a ruined life.

When I was living away from God, He did not leave me or anyone else. If you are saved you will always be His child. You might not always be in fellowship with Him though. It's just how much do you want to share your life with Him?

I'm so thankful God let me live after my fall. That was and still is a bad time for me. He is not done with me yet.

I had made plans to go see my mom in Florida, June 26th 2015. Well instead of a vacation my mom died that day.  Oh how I miss her. It shook my faith. It's been hard.

Everyone thinks they are having fun parting and carrying on. But they have a void in their life that only God can fill. You don't have to clean up your life before you get saved. You don't need to dress right, smell right ,or stop parting. Come as you are God will let you know what is wrong in your life. When I got saved right on the spot, right that second, I was clean so very clean.

All my wants for parting was gone I saw people as lost souls needing a Savior. So listen to that still small voice. You will be glad you did.

Guest Post- My Journey to Christ

I've shared my testimony and that of my sister's in separate posts. I am continuing the guest post series with my mom's (Vicky) testimony. Her testimony is hopefully going to be a two part series. My hope and prayer is that these testimonies show forth God's amazing grace and love. I hope her testimony can help others who might be in similar situations. Here's her story. 

The first time I went to church. I was about 8 years old. We lived about a half a mile down the street from church. I went to VBS. We made a paper mache volcano. I don't remember going back to church. 

I told my dad I wanted a Bible and a diary. I remember him putting them in a bag on the table. My dad told me not to touch them. But I did, and I felt so bad that I never touched them again. 

Fast forward six years. Alot of stuff happened to me during those years. I started stealing pills, smoking, and grinding Tylenol and smoking it. I was crying out for help, but no one helped me.

 I met my first husband at a vocational school. We married in 1979. I already had a son when we got married. My marriage went well for a while. We had two daughters, Jenny and Jessica. 

I started doing drugs again. I'd go to the next door neighbors house to get high. That went on for a while. My children didn't know what I was doing. Or so I thought. 

When Jessica was a young teen, I left and moved out with my boyfriend. He and I moved to NC, we were originally living in OK. 

We couldn't find anyone to sell us weed, but we did find someone to buy crack from. Crack was now my drug of choice. I went to work high and came home high. All I wanted in life was to get high and stay high. We lived in a policeman's trailer but that didn't matter. I'd still leave the trailer at all hours of the night to go buy more drugs. 

I'd meet strange men on dirt roads. I'd go to run down houses and where ever I could to buy drugs. 

By this time, Jessica came to stay with us. I continued doing the things I did. After being out buying drugs late at night, I'd come home and Jessica would grab me and hug me. The hugs seemed like they'd never end. And she did this over and over again. All I wanted was for her to go to bed so I could go out again. 

Jessica got saved. I was thankful she had nice people to go to church with. She asked me all the time to go to church. There was no way, I was going to church. If I went to church, I would have to quit my drugs and smoking. I'd also have to quit living with my boyfriend. No one actually told me this, but I knew it was wrong, but I didn't want to stop. We didn't have much food. I didn't want Jessica to eat cause that took away from my drugs. 

Jessica was apart of the church youth group. She was doing good. The youth pastor wanted the youth to learn Bible verses. Jessica had to tell me the verses. I could not wait for her to be done. She had to say them word for word, so that meant I had to read them. I did not like that at first. After a while it was really starting to get to me. But remember I was a hard case. 

The day Hurricane Floyd hit NC, I was driving around smoking crack. I could not see where I was going. I did not know where I was. But I was still smoking and driving. At one point, I said to myself, "God if you get me home, I will go to church in the morning." All of a sudden, I see the trailer. When I went inside, I told Jessica what happened. When said, I had to go to church then. There was still no way I was going. In the morning, Jessica came and woke me up. I got up an got dressed. I went to church and I had drugs in my pocket. I didn't go anywhere without my drugs. I looked rough. I had no clothes to wear to church. 

I believe God told Pastor Winstead the exact message to preach. It was all for me. Every word was right on point. I felt like I couldn't breath. I held the pew with a death grip. God told me this was my last chance, that He wasn't going to deal with me anymore. I took that first step down the aisle. Someone took me in a back room and shared with me the Gospel. 

I was a big sinner. Besides the drugs, I was also a cutter, I knew I was the devil's child. There was a great battle in that room that evening. It felt like I was being ripped apart. When I came out of that room, God had gotten the victory. I had a new Father. 

God changed my life. My dress changed, my mouth changed, and I was finally clean. I saw lost souls everywhere. My heart was broken for the lost. I had a heavy burden.  I began passing out tracts and going door knocking. 

I have been saved 16 years now. There has been lots of ups and downs. I have fallen flat on my face and got out of church. But one thing has not changed, God is still my Father. He still loves me no matter what and He's always been there for me. 

Lord willing, I'll continue my testimony in another post. 

I just want to say, that I'm proof that God can save anyone. No one is so low that He can't reach down and save. He can still work miracles in people's lives today. 

Guest Post-

I think it's important to share how God has worked in other people's lives. Testimonies, not only bring glory to God, but they help others. So, I'm going to be featuring a few people and sharing their testimony.

The first person is my sister, Jenny. God has truly done a work in her heart and life. And here's her story.


Growing up, I didn't really go to church. A local Baptist Church picked my friends up, but I wasn't allowed to go. 

Most of my childhood I felt alone. I searched for something to fill the emptiness I felt. I thought other people could fill that emptiness. Because of that I had tons of boyfriends. That only made matters worst for me.

 As a teenager, I became a mom. I was still lost and unable to give hope to my child . It wasn't until my oldest was around 2 that I started going to church, 

I repeated a prayer from a preacher to get saved. But I walked in lost and walked out just as lost. I knew nothing had changed and I was the same. 

I have no idea why God didn't save me then. I had no peace for a year. The first thought that came to my mind each morning was, 'if I die today I will go to hell.' I tried pushing that thought from my mind, but it never eased up. 

The last thought on my mind before bed was the same, 'if I died tonight I would wake up in hell.'  Those thoughts wouldn't go away, and I didn't have any peace for a year. 

On May 9, 2002, I went to hear my favorite preacher, Phil Kidd preach.  He was preaching about going to hell. I knew this was my chance to make it right with God. So that night I walked down the aisle toward the preacher and told him I was lost. I asked God to save me that night, and He did. The thoughts of going to hell were finally gone. I finally had peace. I knew Heaven was one day going to be my home. 

Thank God! 

The Power of Prayer

If we would grasp the power of prayer it would ultimately change things.

If we realized that we have direct access to God, it would be revolutionary. We can talk to the One who created the universe. He made the tiny ant and sculpted the glorious mountains.

There is nothing too hard for God. If we went to God when problems arose instead of worrying about the situation, how much more peaceful life would be.

God is still working today. All around us, there is a rapid increase in wickedness. But God is still saving souls, He's still performing miracles and He's still changing lives.

The problem isn't with God, the problem is with us. We have forgotten the power of God and how He answers prayer.

We've given in to the lie, that we are just in the last days, and this is how it's supposed to be. We may be in the last days, but even now God needs Christians to rise up and prayer like never before. We need to stop being callous, and talk to God.

I believe God wants to do a great work in our day, but we've lost faith. We don't think God can.

We've somehow in our minds limited God. But God is limited by no one. There's no one stronger or mightier than He is. So if we are facing giants in our lives, let's go to someone who is bigger than every giant.

Look back in your own life and remember how God answered prayer after prayer. And rest assured, that God has not changed. He is the same God and nothing worries Him.

I don't know about you, but I think our marriages, children, homes, churches and communities can't afford us to casually pray. We are under attack by the enemy and it's time we fight through prayer.


Let's remember we have an open invitation to go to God in prayer. Let's not take that lightly. God can still do a work in this age.

God's Amazing Grace

Recently, I wrote a post about my son getting saved. I mentioned briefly about my own salvation experience. I also mentioned a little about how life was back then. I'm going to take a few minutes and go back in time right before I got saved.

 I was 15 years old. I had months before  moved to North Carolina. I had grown up in Oklahoma. I went to public school and just became depressed. I cried all of the time, I didn't want to go to school or do anything.  I didn't know what was going on.
 I know now that God was bringing me to a point where all I could do was look up.
My dad worked a lot and wasn't home much. My mom moved to NC. I seemed all alone. I had friends, but they weren't that good. They were bad influences.

I decided to visit my mom in NC to see if that would help. My dad wasn't even there to tell me bye.

I didn't really like being around my mom because she and her boyfriend at the time smoked alot, he drank alot and they did drugs. It just wasn't what I wanted to be around.

In school my friends did drugs, but they never did it around me. And I never tried any of that. It was because I didn't want to turn out like my mom. It's a rare thing having friends and not being like them. I'm thankful that I was so against drugs and alcohol because I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't despised that stuff so much. They asked me all the time if I wanted to try drugs. And I always said, 'No.'
That was definitely God protecting me, even when I was lost.

When I visited my mom, things seemed to get darker. There were a lot of people in the trailer we were staying at. I slept on the floor, I didn't have a bed. We didn't have much food. They did things that I didn't like even as a lost girl.

I didn't want to be there, and life seemed hopeless. What was the point of life? I wondered that a lot. It was like I was trapped in a bad dream with no way out.

One day I found a Bible and I was flipping through it and my brother saw me and dared me to go to church with my grandma.

I, of course accepted the dare and I went. I hadn't been to church in a long time. When the Sunday School bell rang I thought church was over, but it hadn't even begun.
Even though I didn't like sitting for so long, something about that place touched my heart. The people there were real. There was something about them that was different. I couldn't figure out what it was.

I kept going to church. I went to a lock in at the church so my cousin would go. I remember talking to the youth pastor and his wife. I told them about my mom and how she was on drugs. They really seemed to care.

One Sunday night I realized I was a sinner and on my way to hell. There was such conviction. But I left the service and in the car my grandma asked if I needed to go back to church to get saved. I told her yes. I thought if I didn't get saved that night that I'd never have another chance. I went back to church and the youth pastor's wife lead me to the Lord.

The emptiness inside was finally gone. I had peace that I never knew existed. I was different. Jesus had filled the void in my heart, and He gave me hope.  But I was overcome with sadness after I got saved. Because I realized my mom was lost and on her way to hell. I remember crying as I sat in that class room talking to Mrs. Sandra (The youth pastor's wife) . I had a burden for my mom, my sister, my brother and my mom's boyfriend.

After I got saved, I still had the same home life. Nothing physically had changed. But I wasn't alone any longer. God showed me in the darkest of nights that I could trust Him. He proved Himself over and over to me. I wasn't in despair because I had God.

My mom and her boyfriend would get angry when I mentioned God.  James ( her boyfriend's name) had a bad temper when he was drunk. He would break things and just be crazy.

I was so concerned for my mom. I remember at night when she was gone looking out the window over and over again, seeing if she was home yet. I didn't know if she'd get arrested or what would happen. Normally it's not the child waiting and worrying for the parent. But I did.

At bedtime, I'd hug her over and over again because I didn't know if she'd die in the middle of the night and go to hell. I didn't know if I'd ever see her again. I wanted to hug her and not let go.

I prayed so hard for her. I didn't give up. God didn't answer my prayers right away.

My youth pastor and his wife took me in. They were like another family to me. I did homeschool at their house and they picked me up and brought me to church every service.

They extended their love to me. They really influenced my life. They didn't have to, but their love for God changed my life. I used to ask them so many questions about the Bible. I was so hungry to know more about God and the Bible. I'm so grateful for all they did for me.

Whenever I'd go back home, I was in the same environment. Sometimes I came home and my mom's drug friends would be hanging out in our house, and she wouldn't be there. Other times her drug friends would knock on my window in the middle of the night, asking for something. It was crazy.

I was the only teen that didn't have parents at church. I remember being sad when I saw dad's praying with their daughters, because I didn't have that. At women banquets, I didn't attend with my mom like my friends did. The church never made me feel left out. There are some amazing people at that church. They've all touched my heart.

God was definitely working in my life and in my home. I memorized Bible verses for Sigma and used my mom to tell them to. I didn't know how God was using that to work in her heart, but He was.

There's so much I'm leaving out, because this is already a long post. But two years of praying for my mom to get saved and she finally did. She surprised me by showing up to church, and she got saved. God has answered my prayers. My sister got saved too,  I can't remember exactly when. James was still lost and as hard as ever. I really thought that my mom and especially James were too far gone, that they couldn't be saved. But God can save anymore.

My mom was saved and that was so sweet. But James was still a drunkard and trying to make things difficult. My mom had married him when I was away visiting a missionary family. I was upset. I told her she should not live with a man that she wasn't married to. But I wanted him to leave.

Years passed. James seemed so hard. I was married and had a few Children before he got saved. He got saved during a Christmas play at church. My little girl told him he needed to be saved, and she prayed for him.

So, I say all of that to say this, that God's grace is amazing. There is no one so far into sin that He can't save. James and my mom seemed hopeless, but they weren't.

If there's someone in your life that seems so hard and unreachable, don't give up hope. It might not be today or even a year from now, but God still answers prayers and He still saves souls. He can take that sin scarred life and make it new again. He can change the vilest, hardest heart. He's God and nothing is too hard for Him.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my third child's Birthday. Samuel is 4 today! He's such a sweet little boy. He makes me laugh all the time. God has so wonderfully put everyone in my family. I remember hoping that Samuel was a girl. I wanted a few of the boys to be girls. We have one girl and four boys. I am so glad God knows better than I do. I would not trade any of my boys for girls. I love them so much. (I love my little girl too.)

Children are such great gifts from God. I'm going to look back over the years with Samuel.

Samuel was my first natural labor. We went to the hospital in labor and he was born shortly after that.

                                            

I thank God for this little guy. He's such a blessing.