Saturday, June 13, 2009

This is my story, This is my song, Part I

I have been contemplating doing this for some time now. I have read the testimonies from others in the blogosphere, I have cried tears of joy for their victories in Christ, tears of understanding for the pains of others, tears of anguish for others who have been taken advantage of. I figured it was time I shared my story, because it just might help someone else out there. There is nothing I can do for anyone, but God has done some mighty things in my heart and my life and I know lives can be changed when HE works through His people who are willing to let Him. So, I'm going to attempt to begin at the beginning, or as far back as I can remember. You may want to go get some coffee or a beverage of your choice as this may take a while :)

A word of warning: I used to live in a very dark place and I am going to try to share some of that with whoever will read this. It isn't pretty and some of it could be quite blunt and will deal with a few issues that are of a sexual nature.

I am going to start around the age 5. I have memories from before that, but I will start here because I think this was probably a big factor that shaped my future. I love my family. They have been such a huge factor, outside of my own parents' relationship, in the way I see things. Having the family God gave me, I believe, has given me a strong sense of family. I have so many wonderful memories. But they are not what I would now call a very godly people. I do think they love God, but not enough to respect His name or His day. My precious grandmother was the one who took the children to church; my grandfather had some bad experiences with pastors a long time ago and will not attend because of them. So the discipling was mostly left to my grandmother. They had six sons, my father being the third-born. Well, for whatever reason, attending church was not something my father deemed very important, and to make a long story short, unless it was by my grandmother, and then only when she was warning us about where being bad would get us, was there much talk about God. We were basically being raised like secularists. And it should come as no surprise that if the holy name of our Creator isn't held as sacred, then not much else is. Movie-time would often include times to "cover our eyes" so we wouldn't see the intimate scenes, but that would do nothing for our ears. And there are scenes that have been burnt into my memory between my parents that were humiliating for me to walk in on wherever they decided to "partake" of each other. There were no lessons on how to react properly. So, essentially, aside from the embarrassment I felt during movie time, there were no real factors for me to know what was right or wrong. Children are lost sinners like anyone else, the nature at a young age is still sin nature.

This lack of Christian leadership would lead to many years of struggling within myself, my heart, and years of "make-believing" church. My first "interaction" came when I graduated kindergarten. I remember my uncles had killed a hog (that's when you know it was a big event in the south) and my grandfather's business at the time specialized in buidling farm equipment. I remember there were large metal tubes in the area. This is where I make a plea. Mothers, parents, if you are raising your children to be pure, if you want to spare them from horrible encounters, I beg you, PLEASE know what your kids are doing at all times. Especially if the other children are not being raised in a godly environment. It was in one of these big tubes I had my first "encounter" with anothe very young person. I think the saddest part was that this person was not much older than I was. I don't know how or where or who they learned this behavior from, and because they have passed away, I never will without bringing some horrible things out from others that I have no gaurantee would make any difference. I don't beleive children just pull these things out of the blue, but that they would have learned this from someone else, and that whoever got the whole thing started will have to answer for it eventually. So I don't pursue the answers. I don't need to anymore. Vengeance will be the Lord's and His alone. This experience stirred up unnatural desires. For the rest of my childhood and into my adulthood I would struggle with bisexual tendencies. Now, lest I scare anyone who might have any doubts about their safety around me: I never was one who could just look at anyone any "feel" things about them, of either gender. For whatever reasons, I have never been a visual person in the sense of lusting, it would always have to be a combination of things...later on that combination would more often than not include alcohol or pot. I do, however, feel the pain that men feel when a sister-in-Christ thinks it is just fine to wear clothes that a Christian woman has no business wearing.

I guess I should count that as a sort of difficult blessing, that I feel sort of like an insider to how a man's mind might work and how hard it can be for them to not feel anger towards a woman who would have no more love for their brothers than they do. And in the house of God! That is a soap-box I could stand on for a long time. If you had known me more than a couple of years ago, I would have been preaching, desperately beseeching to myself. I guess I should back up. See, I was "saved" at a young age...I would say around 4th grade or so. As a result of VBS and wanting to please my grandmother whom I looked up to very much, I walked the aisle and was plunged beneath the water. I cannot say that I was truly saved, because my driving need to please my grandmother overtakes any other memories about that day. There was no discipleship that I can recall. This false salvation, as I see it, led to lip service but no real change. I still had the unhealthy relationship with my "sexual" self, as some would call it. I was still shoplifting and occasionally stealing from family members. I still had the hateful thoughts. There was no rebirth; I was unregenerate. There was no hate of all things worldly and unholy and sinful. There was no disgust or shame. I knew these things were wrong because I was going to church and had a Bible, but I felt no real conviction.

So, what happens when you are unregenerate but don't even know it because noone has ever explained it to you? You continue to sin without real conviction. And every now and then, you hear a message or go to a young christian get-together with christian bands and speakers and classes and "get emotion", or as it may have been, a real call to salvation and you rededicate your life. Over and over and over again. I have thought before that perhaps the Holy Spirit had really been calling me to salvation those times before and I even had a re-baptism. You could say I am a double-dipped Baptist. But then I think, no. I'm pretty certain that when the Holy Spirit speaks, you know.

Well, I need to get dressed. Here it is 1 in the afternoon and I am still in my pajamas and I am hoping we can do some organizing here around the house. That requires a trip to Lowe's to see their ogranizer section. And that requires me to not be looking like I look right now :) I will continue my testimony soon, I hope. I apologize as well, I am not the best writer out there and I tend to run-on alot and rambling isn't always easy to read. So bear with me and hopefully I will finish this before Christmas :) I hope this hasn't scared anyone off, I hope God can use this. I know He can and whatever comes out of it will be for His purposes, as scary as it may be to put all this out there.

Until next time...

Friday, June 12, 2009

Honest Scrap




My dear bloggie sister over at Evening Shade Morning Latte has shared her cute little FYI award with me! This is such a fun little activity, I'm glad to be a part of it and that she thought enough of me to want to know more about me (y'know, aside from my crazy lady-on-the-hill rants I tend to have :] ). So, here we go!

The terms, should you choose to accept:

  1. Thank the person who gave it to you: THANK YOU ESML!! :)
  2. List 10 honest things about yourself: I am not going to promise this won't get messy...
  3. Put the honest scrap logo on your blog.
  4. Thank 7 other bloggers you think deserve this award: I am going to pick a few, but please feel free to join in if you'd like!
Ten things about me you may or may not want to know ;)

  1. I am a military brat; my father was a Staff Seargant before he left the USAF
  2. Because of my military brattiness I have lived in 5 U.S. states (Mississippi, Tennessee, Delaware, Indiana, and Texas) and have very fond but very few memories of living overseas in Germany.
  3. I know a little bit of self-taught guitar, and my senior graduation was a Takamini Jasmine acoustic guitar (not every kid needs a new car!)
  4. I used to wish I was Dr. Dolittle (the old Disney version)
  5. I still have dreams of being like Dr. Dolittle, with a complete menagerie :)
  6. I despise going to movie theatres, even if it is something I really want to see...which hasn't happened in a long time.
  7. When I was a "make-believer in Christ" I dabbled in Wicca, had a fascination with all things occult, played with adultery, and was a near-chain smoker and alcoholic. And that ain't all of it! SEE WHAT GOD CAN FREE YOU FROM!!?
  8. I like being a little bit dorky...
  9. I have a serious aversion to hearing people blow their noses or "hark things up" anywhere near me when I am eating. I have (rather loudly and rudely) told people to leave if they were going to regurgitate their lungs while I was eating.
  10. I love the smell of machinery oil and wood and even animals; it reminds me of my grandparent's home and Papaw's shop.
Now, since I have aired out some of my dirty laundry, I get to pass on the honor! No, you don't have to get personal if you prefer, but I figured my #7 was a victory to share! Please do not feel obligated to do this but if you want to join in, go for it!!

EDIT: I had chosen a few ladies to pass this on to, but after reading another post almost immediately after publishing this first, I have decided to come back and make a change. I am not going to single out a few blogs, for two reasons: 1. I don't want anyone to feel obligated to pass this on, I know life is busy and most of my sisters here are mothers who get little time to themselves and probably don't want to spend their free time doing something to keep from hurting anyone else's feelings. 2. I personally feel bad for just picking out a few and want to save others any grief.

Enjoy!!



Friday, June 5, 2009

Forgiveness and Love



“A certain immoral woman heard Jesus was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.” Luke 7:37,38

She washed Christ’s feet with the tears of grateful love. Jesus had pardoned all her sins, had absolved her from their guilt, and had released her from their power. How natural was the feeling of gratitude, how appropriate this service of love!

The most genuine contrition for sin flows from a sense of its forgiveness. Nothing breaks the heart so thoroughly as the experience of God’s pardoning love, love flowing from a sight of the cross!

Octavius Winslow from “The Disciple Washing Christ’s Feet”






I read this today and cried. "Would He devote that sacred head, For such a worm as I?" I was that immoral woman who could only weep at His holy feet. I was that woman He helped up from the dusty ground despite the Pharisees' stone-clenching hands. I was that woman. I am now that woman who still weeps, because it is so far from my feeble mind's ability to grasp this thing He has done, and continues to do, for me and in me. Thank you, Jesus.

"Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears;
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away-
'Tis all that I can do!"