Comments on: Share Your Story

By: Gwendolyn V Edwards

Gwendolyn V Edwards — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 02:52:11 +0000

Tell your story! I so vividly remember many aspects of my life which molded me into who I am today. The story would be too long if I gave details, so I will say that I had a godly father who was removed from my life through circumstances, and am convinced that his prayers kept me from destroying myself. I developed a lack of self esteem at an early age, maybe seven because of levels of molestation. At 6 my mother left me with caretakers who abused my younger brother and me. My mother returned after 6 months and left again when I was 11. I felt I wasn’t good enough to have parents. I struggled through school, graduated high school at 16 and became pregnant. I was a mother at 17. I had to leave the child with his grandmother. My mother sent for me but verbally abused me, thus cementing my lack of self esteem. at 21 I was failing nursing school and my professor sent me to a Psychiatrist. I heard myself tell him I couldn’t sleep. He prescribed sleeping pills. That night I took the full bottle and left the gas on near my bed so I would definitely die. I woke up as though I didn’t do anything. The devil said to me, You can’t even succeed in killing yourself. You’re a failure! I dropped out of Nursing school in the last semester before graduation, but took the Practical Nurse exam and went back to being a bank teller. A few months after, a teller was transferred from another branch and was labeled a trouble maker. I was told to stay away from her. The opposite happened, and she was the person The Lord used to help me think and talk more positively. Over the years, I yearned for The Lord because I was introduced to Him at a church when I was 11. He eventually took away all my suicidal ideations, surrounded me with Christians who spoke life into me. For the last 10 years, I am an international missionary nurse, helping in any way I can to relieve human suffering. I’m eternally grateful to An Awesome Father Who gave up His Son so we could have the life He has for us. Isaiah 41:10.

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:31:39 +0000

In reply to Sherrie McCollum. You're welcome Sherrie! When we turn to Jesus, He truly turns things that were meant to destroy into things that point to Him and are life giving. Such an awesome God we serve!!

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:28:25 +0000

In reply to Nombila. Thank you Nombila! God is so good!!

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:27:30 +0000

In reply to Matshediso Dhlamini. Amen Matshediso! The Lord is so good to us!!

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:26:21 +0000

In reply to Gwendolyn Smith. Praise God! There is great power in our testimonies! God bless you Gwnedolyn!

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:24:32 +0000

In reply to Denise Mundy. Amen Denise! God is so incredibly faithful and full of mercy for us!

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:22:44 +0000

In reply to Debra K Kornfield. Thank you for you kind words Debra! I pray that God will continue to strengthen your faith and reveal Himself to you in such a tangible and personal way. God bless you!

By: Paul Holway

Paul Holway — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:19:24 +0000

In reply to Michelle Ruiz. Amen Michelle!

By: Debra K Kornfield

Debra K Kornfield — Wed, 06 May 2020 13:02:37 +0000

In reply to Paul Holway.

I so appreciate this emphasis on telling our stories, and the encouragement your story brings us, Paul. Because you told your story, I have a deeper appreciation of God’s love and power and am praising him today with deeper faith. Thank you.

YES, Tyndale! Every believer has a God-story to tell. Twenty-four times in the Psalms God says, “Remember and tell.” Remember what God has done in your life, and take the time to write it down or record it in some other way, for the benefit of others. “Tell everyone about God’s wonderful deeds,” (Psalm 105:2).

I wrote part of my story in the book Karis, All I See Is Grace. Yesterday, on Karis’s birthday, I discovered a letter written many weeks before, jammed down in the bottom of our mailbox, wet but still legible. It’s from a friend we haven’t heard from for many years. God can use our stories even when we’re not aware of what he’s doing!!

“I read your biography of Karis twice, Debbie. Once a couple years ago, and again last month. I have two copies and loan them out to others. A beautiful book. A beautiful story. A beautiful daughter. I wish I had met her.

I have never had a real solid faith in a God, or any type of organized religion. I have always felt that if a gorgeous sunset or a beautiful baby are proof of a loving God, then a horrible mudslide or Adolf Hitler are also “from” God. I have never been able to reconcile this, so I have chosen to not believe in a powerful, involved God.

Your book changed that. When God took Karis’s mind into his own so she would not have the horrible nightmares she had been having, and when the friend asked who Michael was, I finally, finally came to accept that there must be a God. One who interacts with us.

I still need to figure out the horrible stuff that happens. Perhaps I will.”

Thank you, Lord. Please bring people into this friend’s life who will nurture the seed planted by the Holy Spirit in his heart. Thank you for your whisper to me through this letter, that telling Karis’s story was worth all it cost me. Please bless Paul today with that same confidence. Amen.

By: Sherrie McCollum

Sherrie McCollum — Wed, 06 May 2020 10:58:25 +0000

What an incredible demonstration of God’s grace and love for us. Thank you for sharing.