At my husband’s funeral, we played “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)”. My mom had to physically hold me up, but I raised my hands in worship. I didn’t know how it was going to be okay, how this could possibly be in God’s plan for me. I didn’t know how I was supposed to keep being a nurse, when I couldn’t see an ambulance without having a panic attack. I didn’t know how any of it was supposed to work together for good. All (and I mean all) I knew in those… Read More
One week before I surrendered my life to Christ, I was riding my motorcycle home from the gym late at night. Glancing at my phone for a text notification, I didn't see the truck halfway in my lane until it was too late. The collision at 60 mph left me unable to walk for three days, but by God's grace, I escaped with minimal harm. Exactly a week later, I attended a prayer meeting an hour away from home. Through the prayers of others, God supernaturally healed my legs, prompting me to commit my life to Jesus. Repentance, I realized, meant more… Read More
Growing up in a Christian home, I was familiar with the faith. I had many encounters with the Lord as I earnestly desired to be close to Him, but something changed soon after. As I stepped into my teenage years, I became more accustomed to sinning without feeling bad about it, and steadily started to desire everything the world had to offer. There were several moments when I realized that God was still keeping me close, protecting me from going deeper into sin, regardless of where I was. When I turned 18, I had a sobering wake-up call as I ended up… Read More
I didn’t feel like a mom. I had seen my baby for what felt like two seconds. When I saw her again, she had lines and tubes coming out everywhere, and I couldn’t even see her face under the CPAP mask. It would be nine days before I could hold her. I felt sick. With my stomach scarred from the cesarean, and my hands raw from “scrubbing in” to see her, I felt like my body had failed. My daughter was born at 28 weeks as a result of pre-eclampsia. We then spent 53 days in the NICU. She was my third pregnancy,… Read More
It's easy to get comfortable doing things we shouldn't. Well, I got comfortable going in and out of jail. I didn't sell drugs to make money. I sold to support my drug habit. Cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, you name it. There just wasn't enough out there for me. For over 30 years, my lifestyle was my way or no way. Eventually, though, a parole officer almost caught me drinking at a halfway house. I was on high-control, so that would mean an automatic return to prison for me. Normally, I never got scared to go back into prison. Just a few days before that,… Read More
When my husband and I found out I was pregnant, we were so excited that our prayers had been answered. It wasn’t until our 20-week anatomy scan that we found out our baby boy had a kidney disease. We discovered he had a multicystic dysplastic kidney, meaning he only had one functioning kidney. This required us to have ultrasounds every month to measure the growth of his right kidney and make sure his left kidney was still functioning. This was a difficult process for both my husband and me. All we could do was lean on God and trust in His… Read More
