Through many tragic events and being raised in an abusive alcoholic home, I, too, developed a drinking problem. I have fought it all my life. When I could not receive immediate relief from the pain of life, I would close myself up from the world and I would drink. It seemed to numb the pain somehow.

I was not abusive like my father. My mother was like an angel. She never drank. I never heard her say anything bad or negative about anyone. When we were small, she took us to church. Everyone knew of my dad and there were whispers that I even felt at a young age. I remember one time a little girl in Sunday school asked me, “What are you doing here?”

Whatever the situation, I never felt we belonged and I feel that is why my mom stopped going. My friend Carolyn Williams always had faith in me and kept asking me to visit White Station with her. I have been fighting my disease for some time. I visited the church and was welcomed with open arms and love I felt was so real. Jim Perdue was sending me cards weekly and touched my heart. He brought me to tears a couple of times.

I was always talking to God and asking him to please help me, even when I was drinking, but I just could not seem to stop. Then one day when I awoke, I was laying in bed wanting to die and not knowing how. Knowing how my children’s father had destroyed our lives when he took his life, how could I do such a thing? I walked by the mirror and it was like I saw myself for the first time. What I was and what I had become. I was a drunk. I got down on my knees and I humbled myself to God. I looked back at each event in my life. I gave it to Jesus and asked him to forgive me. I got myself dressed and went to an A.A. meeting and picked up a white chip.

A miracle happened that day. I completely lost the desire to drink. That was seven months ago. I started going to church with Carolyn. I rededicated my life to God and began going to the Singles class. I became active in A.A. and found a beautiful Christian friend who would help me work the 12 steps. I told her I could not let my friends know at church that I was an alcoholic. She said she felt the same way at first but one day it will not matter because that is who you are. It is true. I felt it was time to let my Christian friends know so they could accept me for who I am. If someone does not, then it is between them and the Lord.

Everyday I give myself to God and it is all about him today for me. I don’t struggle. I know there are many people who do and I pray for them. I work with other alcoholics to let them know God can do for them what he did for me and that they can’t do it for themselves. I don’t ask “why” he let me get the disease, now “I know.” It is so I could help others who are still suffering.

I love my church and my class. You can see the love in everyone’s eyes and upon everyone’s faces. I thank God almost everyday for all of you because you helped me whether you knew about me or not. I believe God puts certain people in your life and he has put me among a group of people who will help me to grow in my new life.

-Jacque Hignite

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I was eleven when my father walked out. My mother went to work full-time. I suddenly became responsible for my then three year old brother. My brother and I both survived my becoming a surrogate parent at the ripe old age of eleven.

Fast forward 25 years. This same brother, now twenty-nine years old, still lives at home with my mother. He has not worked more than a year straight in his entire life. He dropped out of school in 9th grade after failing the three previous grades. He has been an alcoholic for over ten years.

I know that although in many ways I failed in my feeble attempts to parent my brother, I did the best that could be expected from a child. I read books to him, played games with him, fed him and got him to school on time. But I also screamed at him, ignored him, resented him, and shamed him.

No matter how much I loved him (and I truly and deeply loved him), I could not translate that love into good parenting.

Earlier this summer, the guilt and shame of my failures in my brother’s life came crashing down around me. I was swallowed with grief and sorrow and fear. God sent me a series of dreams in which he revealed to me just how deeply entrenched were my guilt and shame at how I failed that sweet little boy.

As I was sharing this with a friend, she looked at me and said, “You know Christine, you are right. When you were eleven years old, you were not a very good mother. But you were a fabulous sister. You cared for and nutured your brother more than most sisters. And you fought with him, yelled at him, ignored him, and generally did all the other things a good sister does to her brother. You did not fail Brian - your parents failed Brian. And you are not his parent.”

I was stunned. She had hit the nail on the head. Although I knew in my head that I was not his mother, I carried the guilt and shame as if I were...as if I was the one who had walked out on him - forgetting, of course, that I, too, had been walked out on.

The day after this stunning revelation, Mark, the boys and I left for our annual trek to the mountains. I felt such freedom - freedom from a burden I had shouldered for two decades. A burden that was never mine in the first place.

With me went an amazing book that God would use over the next six weeks to take that healing and truly bring victory into my life. In her book The Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Carmelite nun, envisions the soul as an interior castle. The castle is glorious and has many rooms. In the most interior of the rooms, she says, is where God, His Majesty as she calls him, dwells. To arrive at this place inside where God dwells, she says, one must first traverse the other rooms. The first room of the interior castle is the room of self-knowledge. Here is where the vermin of the world reside attempting to distract us from our journey towards God. Here is the place where we come to know those vermin and defeat their distracting ways.

I love my boys. Nothing in life brings me joy and plain old fun the way they do. We love to laugh and cuddle and joke and hike and learn and watch movies and read together. But at the same time, motherhood has been the area of my greatest struggle. My lack of patience coupled with plenty of frustration has tripped me up far too many times to count. I have yelled at them and been irrational with them. I have missed chances to nurture them and taken chances to push them too hard. For years I have cried out to God for help. Help to be more patient, nurturing, or at least forbearing with them.

Two weeks after returning from the mountains, Aaron and I left for a week in Rhode Island. This was an amazing week. Suddenly, I was the mother who never spoke a cross word, but disciplined in love and patience. It was not the absence of conflict that was so different, it was the absence of strife in the conflict. One of the first things I noticed was I was less demanding and gave Aaron more freedom than before. We had gone to serve the small church in Blackstone Valley together before. Many times I found myself doing the “dirty work” alone while Aaron ran and played after the fun part was over. About halfway through the week, I noticed that not once had I lectured him about responsibility, the importance of work before play, etc. Rather, I had let him act his age rather than demanding he act mine! The tone of the entire week was very much like that as well. I kept thinking how badly Aaron and I needed a trip like this. We were so alike in so many ways that we were always butting heads. Now, we would find a new way with each other.

Then we headed back to Memphis. By the time we were halfway home, I could feel the more critical, demanding mother coming back to life. I realized my mind was adjusting for reentry into mothering as I knew it. Only now, I discovered a new way of mothering - but with every critical or irritated word, I realized this was beyond my power. For the next two days, I agonized over this.

Finally, Sunday night I picked up The Interior Castle again, and this is what I read: “It is a shame and unfortunate that through our own fault and because faith tells us so, we know we have souls. But we seldom consider the precious things that can be found in this soul, or who dwells within it, or his high value. Consequently, little effort is made to preserve its beauty. All our attention is taken up with the plainness of the diamond’s setting or the outer wall of the castle; that is, with these bodies of ours.”

In this paragraph, written 500 years ago, I found my answer. To truly rid myself of the vermin of intolerance and impatience with my boys, whom I love so deeply, I have to enter this room of self-knowledge. So I said to God, “Okay, I will go in. I have been in there before. I have come face to face with many of the vermin in my life. Please, just show me this one so we can fight it.”

The next morning I woke up, nursed my morning coffee, and took a shower. As I was drying my hair, it hit me. Just as I had confused being a sister to my brother with being his mother, now I was confusing being a mother to my children with being a sister. I was still very good at the caring and loving and teaching and fun part that was mothering. But I was also still good at the yelling, impatient, angry, shaming part of being a sister.

That was not an excuse - I am not blaming my past for my present. Rather, I am learning to understand my present sin in the light of my wounded past - a process which will help me overcome that sin. I will never be the perfect mother - no amount of insight will do that. But I don’t need to be a perfect mother. What I do need to do is be fully mother to my boys and fully sister to my brother and learn to differentiate the two.

God spoke his truth directly into my life. He introduced me to another one of the vermin in my soul and assured me we would fight and win together. Once again , in his exceeding abundance, he did more that I could ever have even thought to ask.

-Christine Parker

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I guess if I could claim Victory of Faith at any one pivotal event, it would be overcoming the despair and mind-numbing grief following the murder of my mom.

Although there wasn’t any single moment of epiphany for me, there was however, a gradual strengthening of faith that got me through the first hours, days, weeks and so on, without falling apart. In retrospect, I know that our Father God was guiding us through all the difficult tasks we had to perform in the aftermath of this crime, even though at the time, I just didn’t know how I could continue putting one foot in front of the other.

There have been many blessings since that day; for example, one of the members of my neighborhood association committee happened to be the chaplain at Methodist Hospital, and he informed me of the faith-based group “Victims to Victory” for families of victims of violent crime which helped me to know that I wasn’t alone.

There have been other “trials and tribulations” (as my dear sweet German aunt, now suffering from Alzhimers used to say). The wheels of justice turn very slowly. Even though 5 suspects were indicted within 6 months of the crime, the trial of the fourth suspect won’t happen until October of this year. My uncle, my dad’s only surviving sibling was diagnosed with terminal lymphoma, then died a year later. His first cousin succumbed to throat cancer. My sister-in-law was plagued by a mysterious illness that even the experts at UA-Birmingham couldn’t diagnose. As a result of the terrorist attacks, the hotel industry was affected and I was laid off from the job I had held for 8 years. The list is longer but I don’t want to focus on the negative.

This past year I have faced the diagnosis of cancer and have been very frightened. I thank God every day for leading me to find a church home at White Station and for the wonderful people who have all been loving and supportive since day one. I know I have been blessed by and am very thankful for the favors and many, many prayers offered on my behalf.

My number one inspirational verse is Matt. 19:26: But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

-Anonymous

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I’ve buried this bad bit in me for over 30 years. Each time it came to the edge, I pushed it back down – trying to ignore it. You see, when it surfaced, it brought up the question of “Where was God? Why didn’t he protect me?” I was only a child.

I’ve finally moved beyond the questions and answers – they don’t really matter. They are just Satan’s way to confuse me – to reinforce an underlying feeling that I’m not good enough – that’s why God didn’t save me.

The testing happened in December 2006. I was so exhausted from the pain and the memories. I found myself on my knees, leaning over the edge of the tub, calculating how long it would take for me to pass out from exsanguination. It would be so easy. The knife was in my hand and I was so tired. Tired of praying and feeling no presence of God. Tired of feeling abandoned. Tired of being alone. Tired of feeling like a failure. Then a thought came to me – this moment was the most selfish I have ever been. For six months I had been reading the writings of Paul, Mother Teresa, St. Catherine, Ghandi…all of them talking about getting rid of self. Death to self – and here I was about to choose self over everything else.

I could choose the easy way and let Satan win the battle, or I could fight to live, rejoin the kingdom – be on the winning team. The important thing was the realization at that time that I had a choice. I looked Satan in the eyes, saw his ugliness revealed, and turned him down flat! At that moment, I really did feel like I had stepped out of the darkness into the light.

So, this is my testimony, my story, my Victory. God did answer my prayer when I needed it most. He steered my life along a path that led me to encounter people who taught me about selfishness and at the critical moment reminded me about those teachings. I haven’t put death to self completely, but I am convinced that I love a God who loves me back, even when he allows evil to happen.

-Anonymous

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A Reminder that HE cares!

I sat at our breakfast table looking out on our beautiful back yard. The yard is full of trees and the sun shines in on the breakfast table only for a few minutes each day during the summer through a small gap in the tree cover. That morning there was also cloud cover so there would be no sun shining in. I noticed the cloud cover and rather than sitting in my usual chair, I decided to sit where I could see a different part of the yard.

My wife picked up a bulletin and began to read the article on the front page. Later she commented how good the article was. “This is a good, simple, summary of crisis counseling”, she responded and left for work. As I began to eat my breakfast, I picked up the article and began to read....For some time, I had been struggling with some personal problems that had begun to really get me down. It seemed that I could not get a grip on the situation, and instead of God being in control, the situation was controlling me. Two days earlier a series of events had helped me to put things in a much better perspective, and I was beginning to feel really good about my determination to allow God to really be in control of my life.

I had from time to time gone through this same type of situation, and that morning I began to wonder if my allowing God to control my life would last. The big question was, am I going to allow my own selfish desire to take control again and take away the freedom I had found in allowing God to be in control? Was this going to be only a temporary thing like so many times before? I so wanted it to be permanent this time. Had I truly repented, had God changed my heart, or was I doomed to let Satan have his way again? My prayer life and my time in the scriptures had changed but had I truly changed?

I had come to a place in the article that was a list of things we should do when a person comes to us in a crisis situation. I was the one who had been in crisis and was thinking how nice it would be if someone had approached me like this during my need. Suddenly as I read one of the phrases, the sun came from behind the clouds and literally blinded me. I ducked and covered my face. For a couple of seconds, I could not se anything. Then, just as quickly, the sun went behind the cloud and never reappeared. As my eyes adjusted back, the thought came to me, now I know how Paul felt on the road to Damascus. I looked down and reread the phrase I was reading when blinded - “To express belief in the capabilities of the struggler.” For me it was like God putting His exclamation point on the statement and this was his answer to my question. Coincidence? Not to me.

The above happened many years ago. Yes, I still struggle with sin in my life, but from that day the struggle has been on a different level. I occasionally look back on the original document I wrote that day and am reminded that God does believe in us. He made us, and as we struggle, he wants us to rely on him. He would like for us to “lay our burdens on him” for he cares for us.

-Anonymous

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The company I currently work for is downsizing trying to save money across the company; so many have lost their jobs without any notice. About a year and a half ago I bid on a Business Analyst position. The interview went great; recommendations were top notch from several people in management. One of these persons giving me a great recommendation also bid on the job after giving me the recommendation for the position. Needless to say, she got the position over me when it came down to the person with the most seniority. I was very upset. I prayed to God to please allow me not to be angry/hurt and to move past this situation.

Today she called my team leader looking for a job. Her department will be phased out at the end of August. I am so thankful that I had the heart to pray and ask God to help me not to have an ugly heart. I am thankful that God saw the bigger picture for me to be able to still have a job today. I am so glad I serve and worship a God who can help me have a humble heart and spirit.

My department is currently one of the many areas of the bank that is staying put with the hope of growth. Yes, we are hiring, and yes, I pray that she will find employment.

I thank God for my Victory in having a humble heart and staying faithful to HIM.

-Subrena Conley

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In my youth I was a selfish man. All my pleasures came from controlling others around me. I was driven to manipulate those around me to get what I desired. This applied particularly to my relations with women. My heart was filled with all kinds of depravity and guilt.

Then one day God called a man to challenge me. He knew, as I did, that he risked all by calling me out. He knew that I would either give up my destructive path or fall forever away from the church. God softened my heart and I began a blessed journey. Six years have passed and my relationship with God is stronger than ever. I am now a minister in his service. My lust and depravities are cut from my life and only remnants remain. I know that there shall always be temptation to return to the old ways, but God has empowered me to always resist and live a life of righteousness and piety.

As I reflect on my transformation, I am convinced of God’s love for even the worst and least of us, for surely in my youth, I was the lowest form of evil and depravity. Now after so long, I rejoice over all that God has done. He has used little and done much. In such, King David and I would surely agree.

What a mighty God we have that he should save us from the world and even more mightily, from ourselves.

-Anonymous

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I had never experienced anything more devastating than what I was forced to face 16 years ago. My former husband, an openly gay man with AIDS, accused us of child abuse and sought custody of my two sons who were 11 years old and 9. We sought prayers and help from our church family and to the credit of my Ladies’ Bible Class, who helped pay for a lawyer, but there were no elders in our home or ministers crying out for us with arms around us. Our earthly families seemed to be just as helpless to comfort. The lawyers, social workers, and judicial system failed us. My sons were swept away from our protection and given to their father without the allowance of visitation for us, even though no proof existed and the prosecutor dropped the case. We were told that if we would admit to the alleged crime, we could get counseling and be allowed visitation. It felt like God had left the building, and for the first time in my life, I was no longer puzzled why people committed suicide. I felt horror, rage, and total isolation. I couldn’t listen to the radio or watch TV. The only person who had been my mentor and spiritual guide slipped into dementia. Every attempt we made to have our sons returned failed with the added twist of now being asked for child support.

I became depressed, but I tucked it away with my feelings of rage and helplessness. “Surely”, I continued to think, “something will happen and my sons will come home.” I don’t know what kept me believing in a merciful God except the teaching I’d received since infancy.

Everyone wants a happy ending, and I’ve waited all these years for God to provide me with a reunion, but God in his omnipotence gave me something even better than my sons back. He gave me a real relationship with God himself – he opened my eyes and heart the day I cried out (Finally!) and said, “I can’t do this any more! I don’t care if I am a Christian and know all the rules, I cannot overcome this sadness that robs me of my strength and steals my joy! I can’t live like this. Please help me – I have no help but you!” That is exactly when God began to heal my broken heart. He led me to Bible studies that implored Christians to believe God and stay in his word daily. I know God better and love him more than I ever have.

My happy ending is not the return of my sons, but Victorious Living in Jesus, having no strength of my own, but being filled with the Holy Spirit who allows me to rejoice. God’s love is the only explanation – there is nothing in me to bring about this result. I’m not on drugs! I am not in therapy. Therapy is useful if the therapist instructs you to surrender your heart to God.

The bonus, the more than blessing is our son James, whom God allowed us to adopt in spite of Satan’s attempt to prevent us by once more raising up my ex-husband as an enemy. Satan did not prevail. Praise the Mighty Power of Jesus! I no longer underestimate the power of God’s words or his presence in my surrendered life.

-Susan Owings

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In my youth I was a selfish man. All my pleasures came from controlling others around me. I was driven to manipulate those around me to get what I desired. This applied particularly to my relations with women. My heart was filled with all kinds of depravity and guilt.

Then one day God called a man to challenge me. He knew, as I did, that he risked all by calling me out. He knew that I would either give up my destructive path or fall forever away from the church.

God softened my heart and I began a blessed journey. Six years have passed and my relationship with God is stronger than ever. I am now a minister in his service. My lust and depravities are cut from my life and only remnants remain. I know that there shall always be temptation to return to the old ways, but God has empowered me to always resist and live a life of righteousness and piety.

As I reflect on my transformation, I am convinced of God’s love for even the worst and least of us, for surely in my youth, I was the lowest form of evil and depravity.

Now after so long, I rejoice over all that God has done. He has used little and done much. In such, King David and I would surely agree.

What a mighty God we have that he should save us from the world and even more mightily, from ourselves.

-Anonymous

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My children were kidnapped when they were 3 years old and 18 months old. Nineteen years later, after the FBI had closed the file on my sons, I received a phone call from my oldest son. He was now 22 years old. My phone number was unlisted at that time. How did I receive the phone call? Only God.

I saw my son for the first time after nineteen years on the Fourth of July weekend. I had a Christmas tree up and had a present for him for every year we had been apart. He accepted Jesus Christ before he left that weekend.

Only God, by his power, could have done this true miracle. I had claimed God’s promise of bringing back the sons from the East. He is faithful beyond compare. He truly gives us the desire of our hearts. He desires the reconciliation of broken families and broken lives.

-Cheryl Lee (niece of Frances Pounds)

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Edward’s recovery from brain surgery was a victory for many family members, Christian family, and friends. My personal restoration of faith in the Lord during Edward’s illness and progress.

-Hattie Isen

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I have been a Christian since I was 10 years old. There have always been challenges along the journey, but a real test to my faith came at age 39. After being married 15 years, my wife informed me that she wanted a separation, causing my life to unravel. A year later we were divorced; something I never dreamed would happen to me. Our two children were also devastated. At the same time I suffered through a major job change. Much of the fault of the failed marriage was mine. All of this soon led to an unbearable accumulation of shame, guilt, and frustrations which resulted in a period of deep, dark, depression. Satan used the opportunity to speak despair and hopelessness into my heart and mind.

By God’s grace, and with the encouragement of my mom and my daughter, I managed to survive. During this time I began to question all the fundamental truths of Christianity. It was very hard to see God’s hand in my life. Therefore, I decided to begin an in-depth re-study of the Bible truths and lessons that I had always grown up with. I asked God to help me find the truth. Eventually, I came out of that study with a much deeper faith, even though my circumstances did not improve that much for a good while. Through it all, as I look back, God was always there. I praise God for the valuable lessons about life that he has taught me, especially when things appeared very dark. I believe it is imperative that all Christians do their own soul-searching, so that their faith becomes very personal and real.

And please encourage all Christian husbands to love and cherish their wives. Broken families are a heavy price to pay. All praise and glory to God for all he has done in my life!

-Anonymous

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I grew up an only child. I was very lonely a lot of times, but I had my daddy whom I adored. He was always special to me. I was a grown woman, married with five children, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was grief stricken at the thought of losing my precious daddy. My prayer to God was to heal him, but when it became obvious that was not to be, I prayed fervently that he would not suffer.

My mother and I kept a steady vigil at the hospital for two weeks. Even though lung cancer can be a terrible death, God answered my prayers. My daddy slipped slowly and quietly toward death. A few hours before he went into a coma, my quiet shy father put his hands together and prayed the most beautiful prayer I’ve ever heard. This is from someone who was too shy to say anything more than grace over our food. In that instance I felt the presence of God and his angels. My daddy slipped into a coma and went quietly home to God. I am forever thankful for God’s mercy toward a very special person in my life.

-Loretta Pounds

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In March 1988, I gave birth to a precious 2lb. 7oz. baby boy. The problem was he was three months premature and struggling for every small breath. The doctors gave us no percentage of hope; it was more like his life being just a matter of time. After staying in the hospital a couple days after his birth, I went home without my baby and without much hope or faith. For the next few days, I stayed in the bed, depressed, crying and wondering why this was happening. My dear mother stayed with me a lot during this time. She finally let me know I was making life worse for me, my husband, our families, but most of all, that precious new baby. She told me to get up, clean myself up and go spend as much time as I was allowed with my baby that day and everyday; to pray over him, to love him, to talk to him. I was shocked she could talk to me this way. So now I was mad at everyone in my life, but most especially God. Because I knew Mom would not leave me alone, I did what she told me to do.

I was so afraid to fall in love with this sweet, tiny, frail baby that I knew God was going to take away from me. I just couldn’t find any hope or faith in my heart. But with my mother’s love and tremendous faith, I realized my presence with this baby was healing both him and me. Almost five months later we finally got to bring home our sweet, precious bouncing baby boy. He was truly a miracle and blessed me with a stronger faith in God, a stronger belief in prayer and a closeness to my mother that only I could appreciate. This same exact story played out again three years later in November ’91. I gave birth to a sweet little girl. She was 3lbs 12oz and was two months premature. She stayed in the hospital almost two months before she got to come home. Because I know for a fact that faith and prayer work, and with the continuous encouragement and example of my sweet mom, I am the very proud mom of two grown, healthy Christian teenagers, Kevin Blake and Brandy.

We lost my sweet mom a couple years ago, but she would have her very own story of victory to tell if we could see and hear her now. She lived her life from sun-up to sun-down with one goal in mind: to live a life for Christ and to spend her eternal home with him one day.

-Greta Richardson

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My story of victory began right before the summer (in the months leading up to it). Working for a church is NOT easy, especially working with college ministry. It’s a ministry that is so raw and real. It’s a ministry for people who are TRULY SEARCHING. It’s a ministry for people who have questions, and I was one of those people.

So many things had transpired over the last year that left me wondering who God was, if he was even real at all. It’s hard to “spread the Good News” when you don’t really believe it.

We made the decision early on that Lance Morgan would be an intern for the College Ministry this summer. Now most church interns have traditionally been somewhere in their early twenties, in college or recently graduated, unmarried and just now getting their feet wet in the work world. Well Lance…he was 30, out of college, had a wife and child, and not only had he been working for years, but HE HAD MY JOB SIX YEARS PRIOR! I was a bit concerned.

Lance and I started meeting to discuss summer plans and during one of those meetings I revealed my questions and unbelief. We prayed. We prayed together. We prayed separately.

I’ve always believed that if God showed me something miraculous, I would completely commit my life to him. I realize now that God is ALWAYS trying to show us amazing, miraculous things, but in our pride and refusal to admit that we don’t have all the answers, we can’t see them.

The amazing thing that God has shown me IS me, with him living inside. For the first time, I feel the Spirit’s power working through me, and it’s also happening in College Ministry throughout the city!

Defeat is afraid to question, VICTORY seeks truth!

-Justin Jamerson

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I’m 10 going on 11 and I’m real close to being baptized. I’ve learned if you believe and trust in him, you will go to heaven. You will live forever!!!!

-Anonymous

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As I thought about God’s Mighty Works of Power in my life, I kept coming back to the thought that my whole life is a result of God’s Power. I am not the man I could have been – I am much more because of him. There have been so many decision points in my life that have determined who I am and where I am.

Because of Godly parents, I learned at a very young age to include God in all of my decisions. In addition, because of a godly wife and Christian brothers and sisters, I continued to include Him. I clearly remember “calling out to Him” for direction and guidance in:
1. Choice of career
2. Choice of schools
3. A godly wife
4. Test scores in school and professionally
5. Choice of my first job
6. Having children
7. Serious illnesses of my children (Hodgkin’s Disease, brain surgery)
8. Serious illnesses of my wife and myself
9. Job changes, career moves (including some opportunities that would take me into temptation’s path)
10. Death of my parents
11. Service to him as a Bible teacher, deacon, and elder
12. Many, many others

I see God’s Mighty Power being more than sufficient to keep me on the right path – to make me into more than I could have been. I see friends that have made decisions that have taken them down the wrong path and end in sad lives of pain and sorrow. Some have died as alcoholics. Some have spent time in jail. That could have been my life. So, as I look back, God has shown his Power in many “small” ways that have proven to be “mighty” in their effect on my life. However, it must be said that his most special Mighty Act is giving Jesus as Savior, his perfect example and teacher. In the end, that is what changed my life and allowed him to produce those Mighty Acts of Power. He will take us where we are and start us on the road to an end that is so much better than anything we can think or imagine.

-Rick Haynes

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I started smoking cigarettes when I was around 15, then was hooked by the time I was 18. I have tried to quit many times in the past. When my children were born, I did not smoke for five years, but I went back to smoking, and back…

Last year, October 25, 2006, I stopped smoking again and I’ve just passed the hardest hurdle, a weekend with my girlfriends (our 16th annual summer trip). So now it’s been nine months, and I can’t explain it, but this time feels real. This time I feel like I’m going to make it and quit for good! And it hasn’t been that hard, so it must be that God is really helping me this time (not that he hasn’t always watched over me). So there is great hope in my heart that I will continue the Victory over nicotine and my addiction to cigarettes.

-Deborah Mason

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Dear God, please help me to let him go. It’s wrong for us to be together, but I feel like he is the only one who loves me. We have a child together, but he’s married to someone else now. I’m not strong enough to let him go by myself. Please send me someone to help. In walks Susan Rubio. “Why are you crying?” “Is there something that I can do to help you?” I explain the situation to her and she says, “Let’s go out to my car and pray about this”. We sit in her car in the parking lot for two hours, praying and crying together, praising the Lord, thanking him for the deliverance that he is going to give me from this situation.

It’s been six years since that fateful Sunday. Not only has Susan lifted me up and helped me be strong about this situation, there has been J.P. and Jennifer, Leah Kourvelas, Sybil and Carl Kennin, Robert Adams, Debbie and Brian Forsman, Janet Whitworth, and so many others. Thank you God for delivering me and giving me so many others to help me stay strong.

-Anonymous

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For three years I have had the opportunity to do things, such as drink underage, which I know in my spirit are wrong, but I have resisted. Now I know it was not me who was resisting, but God in me. This power has saved me from trouble I would never imagine.

-Anonymous

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It has not always been easy to let God control my life. I was a poor student, unwilling to submit at all times to his divine purpose for me; having never outgrown my childish trait of “Why?”. As a young Christian, I often attempted to bargain with God – I’ll do “this” if you’ll do “that”. He knew I was going to be a very difficult child to control, so… He set about altering my stubborn will. Losing my third child (at full term) was a heavy blow that actually flattened my tender, young faith. I was very angry and sought purpose. At that point, my faith was very threatened – I wanted “reasons.” God allowed me to wonder – and wander. I floundered at the outskirts of faith, feeling very insecure. Still, I was allowed to survive a severe heart attack (straight lined, twice), and I still didn’t get the message God had intended. How I now regret causing him such concern.

Since I was obviously making no progress, I was in need of yet another humbling lesson. It came in the form of my life mate’s slow demise, over a couple of years. At first, I asked God to erase the record of my past and to please let “this cup” pass from me (still trying to “run” my life). As time passed, I became aware my husband was not going to improve, so I changed my prayer to “please shorten his time of suffering.” After a few months, knowing he could not survive, I changed my prayer again – this time to the seat of my problem, and beseeched God to give me the patience and endurance for whatever his plan was, and he carried me gently through giving my husband up and returning to God’s ever open arms. Time passed –

A year ago the younger of my two daughters was called home. God was my refuge – he lifted the load of human grief and was my strength as I let her go. This year my other daughter who had been slowly declining over five years (in a nursing home) was also called home. By now, my accepting faith has grown strong enough to “let go and let God”. I now face the loss of my only son (and last child). God has not only strengthened my endurance to withstand this added test of my faith, but he provides for the obstacles I will encounter, often, even before they beset me. (Mary’s son Smitty was called home on Tuesday, March 4th.)

He is my rock; my comforter, and I submit my life to the plan he had for me from the beginning. Miracle? I think so. A miraculous VICTORY!

-Mrs. Mary Smith

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I had serious cancer (carcinoma) in 1997. I do not look the same but am doing well today.

In 1989 I had serious thoughts about my son, Robby, going on a poorly planned trip to Florida. I also wanted him to go to Millbrook, Alabama to my nephew’s wedding. He finally told his friends he was going to Alabama with his mom and if they wanted him to go to Florida, they would have to pick him up at his aunt’s house. At around two o’clock that Sunday morning, I began to think they (the friends) had gone on when I heard their horn blowing! I went out and spoke to them and wished them a good trip. I went back inside and tried to sleep but only tossed and turned. I finally got up, made coffee, paced the floor, praying all the time and drinking coffee. I had drunk about a pot of coffee when my sister got up. As she is an early riser, this was a feat! I told her, “Joyce, I just do not have a good feeling about this trip.”

I drove back to Memphis by myself and worked all week. I called the boys throughout the week and checked on them; also prayed and prayed all week long. On Thursday night, I ate out with friends and thought, “Oh good, they will be home tomorrow.” I had just gotten home (still in my suit), sat down to read the paper when the phone rang. It was Halifax Medical Center in Daytona. Robby had fallen from a third story balcony, fractured his skull when he hit a palm tree, had scrapes, bruises, and depressed breathing. Somehow my daughter and I got to Daytona and went to the hospital. Robby was already in telemetry and looked good. By the following Thursday, I was driving him home. Shortly later, a young man fell from the third floor and died.

Robby finished college, has his PTA degree and does home healthcare physical therapy today.

-Carole Nellums

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In the year of 1999, April 13, back then it was Friday 13th, I had a stroke at my job. I was working at a nursing home. Thank God a nurse was there that day. What had caused my stroke was that a family member had put something in my drink, which is called a mickey. During that time I went through rehabilitation for two years. I couldn’t walk or talk.

Thanks to my husband, son, and daughter, I wouldn’t be here. They really encouraged me not to give up. Still, it is hard for me to forgive her to this very day. Every time I see her, I get angry and walk away wondering why did she do such an evil thing to me. I really want to talk to her and ask her why. When we have family gatherings, she comes around and I won’t show up because of her and of the anger I have toward her. My family has swept this under the rug, as if I am the evil one and she’s the good girl, and point their finger at me as if I did something wrong.

My victory is that I learned to put God first. I hold my head up high toward the sky and praise him because I am a living testimony. I need help to forgive her so I can move on with my life. Because I am a child of God, please pray for me to forgive my cousin.

-Rosalyn Willis

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I’m a drug abuser/alcohol abuser in recovery. I’m attending HopeWorks and my career choice is Medical Records Clerk. I’ll graduate Aug. 16th and be working at Trezevant Manor. I will attend college, get married, have a better relationship with my mother, children, sisters, and brother. Lord, most of all I want to grow stronger in your word. I trust in you, I believe in you.

Lord use me, use me.

-Gloria Chapman

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The Lord has led me through cancer for 14 years. Each day is a victory. The Lord is answering so many prayers for me. I am so grateful and blessed for the Love of God. The Lord is leading me to Victory day by day.

-Anonymous

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I was the Black Sheep. I got in trouble in high school and was disillusioned with the response of the Christians around me. Since they were telling me I was bad, I set out to see how bad I could be. I experimented with drugs and alcohol; all the while pretending to be a Christian. I fought with my parents constantly.

God led me into an environment where I knew people who were REALLY bad, who repeatedly told me that I was good, and I should give up trying to be bad. He led me to discover that I didn’t like to be controlled by substances. He led me to a new relationship with my parents. I came to understand that I didn’t have to agree with them or even like what they were doing, to love them and enjoy their love. He led me to a woman who encouraged me to live a Godly life, who wouldn’t tolerate anything else.

God led me to be victorious over my rebellious self. He led me to accept forgiveness, to understand that even when people do something bad, through him, we can be good. He has taught me that he can do amazing things through any of us, no matter what we’ve done, or where we’ve been.

-Ralph Williams

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In 1983 my Dad was murdered and my Mom was stabbed and left for dead. This occurred in their home late at night. The intruder was caught and tried but was acquitted even though his fingerprints were positively identified and was agreed to by his defense attorney at the trial.

The victory that God gave me was to take away my bitterness, which was very great. My father was an elder in the church and the most God loving, God fearing man I ever met. Thank you God, for your Great Love.

-Buddy Braswell

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When I was a teenager, I would attend Christian Camp for the Deaf, the National Workshop for the Deaf (like we held here in 2004), and various Deaf retreats with my Dad, as would my sisters and several other children of Deaf ministers. This was a time when those of us with such common backgrounds could be together in one place and talk and truly feel comfortable with each other.

At age 14 there was serious concern among our group when two members died within six weeks of each other – one from an aneurysm, the other from complications following a car accident. I was afraid I would be the next to die. (I later found out all of us had the same fear). I cannot tell you how many hours in the following weeks and months I spent reading the scriptures and praying for my friend’s families and my group of “DPK’s” (Deaf Preacher’s Kids). No one else died during that time of our lives.

As I look back, I can’t help but think that God used that time of my life to prepare me for what I would experience at age 28. I had just left active duty in the Air Force and had almost completed school in Biloxi retraining for my new job in the Air National Guard, when my appendix ruptured. I spent six weeks in the base hospital, endured six surgeries and went from playing 2-3 hours of racquetball 4-5 days per week to having to have three people help me walk a lap around the nurse’s station.

Doctors were so afraid that I would die that they made sure that each commander in my chain of command on base came to see me, as well as my future supervisor from Memphis. From my earlier experience, I never felt it was time for me to die, and that positive attitude and the more than 100 cards I received from around the country left a lasting impression on the hospital staff.                

-Marty Leavell

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I was sick for some time. I had a constant pounding headache for about five weeks, so I went to the emergency room. They found a blood clot between my brain and my skull, so they operated on my brain. It took four surgeries to get me where I am today. This is due to the mighty power of God. The whole congregation was calling on God to heal me and He did. This is the mighty hand of God at work. He is our shield.

-Edward Isen

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I am a simple man, or at least I try and keep things simple. I could probably write down all the details of my journey, of how I got to the point and place I am today, but it would take up too much space. So I will try and keep it simple in saying that God has, through his grace and love, relieved me of the burden of self. I pray every day that he keeps providing me with this wonderful gift. The victory is his. Thank you God for daily providing me a measure of your will, not mine.

-Pat Peery

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I’m a Nigerian who was planning to come over to the USA to visit my brother in-law. The American Embassy invited me for an interview on the 31st Jan 2007. It happened that on the 29th Jan 2007 at night, I was still ironing clothes for my family and realizing that my last baby’s clothes were still on the line, I decided to go and collect for ironing. On my way back to the house, as I was about to climb the steps, I noticed my legs were held up for some seconds. Since I was still praising God, I looked down and there was a black snake. If I had stepped on it, I wouldn’t be alive to attend the interview or be here. I give God all the Glory.

The second mighty act of power of God is on my brother Edward Isen, delivered from death to life. Indeed, God is a prayer-answering God. Blessed be his name.

-Mrs. Mayen Isen

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Victories – An Observation
My story of victory is written on this page, but is a victory for any age – God comes first; then you and me.
Victories come in minutes, hours, but as they pass, pick only the flowers.
Sometimes the flowers are watered by tears, joy, sorrow, so pass the years. If we are fortunate, we see God’s face as we help others to run the race – but please when you run, don’t run too fast for you may miss the prize…God’s love…

A smile – the joy may be great or small, or for a little while not at all. In any case, take the chance to learn…you may find that your life for you and others is ONE long wonderful dance; planned by God for all of his children.

Prose or poem, however you wish to use it, not lightly written, when sleep doesn’t come – time well spent to reflect on the Lord’s beautiful desire for all of us when we read his book – Joy of Joys!!

-Anonymous

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