My Testimony

Wednesday, January 16, 1991. It is a day that I would LOVE to forget. It started out as any typical 19 year-old's day. I went to classes and then spent a couple of hours at work. I was dating a guy and had made the decision to "break-up". So, after work, I headed to his house that heshared with his grandmother. I gave him the news & he didn't take it too well. Not well at all! Finally, after a few minutes of whining, he left. I hopped into my car and drove away. Just a bit down the road, Derek was there standing in the middle of the street. I had two choices--run over him or stop. Silly me! I chose to stop. When the car stopped, he threw open my door & jumped in on top of me. He said, "I'm going to kill you" and began choking me. I struggled & he squeezed my neck, struggle, squeeze, struggle, and squeeze. Eventually, I passed out. When I regained consciousness I was in the passenger seat and he was driving. Frightened, I jumped out of the car and began running & screaming, "Help me". Well, it was Wednesday night & so everyone must have been at church :) & no one came to my rescue. Derek caught me by my hair & pulled me down to the ground. He picked me up by my lower jaw and dragged me back to the car. My mind was whirling about 90 mph and I was trying to figure out the next move. I noticed that my fingers and wrist were bleeding so I asked him to take me to the hospital. Instead, he started driving like a Baptist heading to lunch on Sunday and I was terrified. He started heading towards South Holston Lake & I told him that I really needed to check in with Mom. He agreed & pulled up to the payphones at the store on Highway 421. He got out of the car and I locked the passenger door and crawled over into the driver seat, but before I could get the door shut, he jumped back onto my lap.

YIKES! We were struggling against each other--one pushing the gas pedal and one pushing the brake. We managed to get the car back out onto the highway sideways, but guess what--no other car comes along. It's a 4-lane for goodness sake and no one is on it! Regardless, I'm holding the door open with my foot and trying to push him out. I'm close when BAM! the back of his upper arm makes contact with my nose. Blood is everywhere and I quit struggling. I crawled over into the passenger seat & started nagging. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG thing to do! He slammed my head into the window a couple of times & gave me a few backhands across the face. By that time, I was pretty much resigned that he had won. We continued on towards the lake in silence. He finally asked whether I want to die by his hand or by water. So, to make a long story short, I was eventually able to get him to calm down and he drove me to a friend's house. I had to have stitches and then surgery and he went to prison.

So, what does this have to do with my testimony? I'll get to that in a moment. First, fast-forward with me a few months. I met Scotty during the summer of 1991—and I met his MOM! She insisted that everyone in her family and even those remotely associated with her family attend church. I had been to church all of my life—off and on--but she was insistent on at least a weekly trip to First Christian. There, I met Louise Thrasher. She is a wonderful woman, but what a PEST! She wanted to pray for me all of the time. Several years passed by and God began putting more and more people in my life who witnessed to me. In 1996, my Secret Pal was a girl from work who had a very strong testimony. She was the epitome of someone using lifestyle evangelism to show Christ to others and we became close friends. Also, during the same time, I met Shirley Harrison, a home interior consultant and a truly beautiful person who shared her testimony during a Home Interior party, and throughout the whole party, she was talking God this and God that, blah, blah, blah. What does God have to do with hanging pictures, anyway? And, remember Louise?!? She was still there and wanted to pray for me all of the time. I used to try to dodge her as often as I could. You know, she would come in one door & I would head out the other :) But, pray for me she did (and she still does!!) She would always hug me and with tears in her eyes, she would pray for me. Why? I had no clue. Nothing wrong with me! Louise never gave up. Even after Scotty & I changed churches, I'm confident that Louise kept on praying. A few months after attending Fellowship Chapel in Bristol, I really began to feel that tug from God. With all of the people that He had placed into my path that year & with a couple of strong evangelistic messages delivered from the pulpit, it was more like a strong pull than a tug. So early on a Monday morning in May 1997, I called the Thrasher's house. Guess who answered? LOUISE! John wasn't home so Louise was able to walk me through a prayer of salvation and a week or so later, I was baptized at First Christian. After getting to work on the morning I was saved, I was just sitting at my desk thinking about that decision. Why hadn't I done it sooner? And then, my thoughts went back to that horrible night in 1991, and my knees went weak & I was sick at my stomach. I could have been killed that night. If I had met the Lord that night, what would he say? It's pretty clear in His word—Depart from me, I knew you not. That was enough to scare the pants off of me (luckily I was wearing a dress that day!)

It's been said a zillion times, especially when a young life is cut short---"you don't know how much time you have," "life is short", etc. But do you believe it? June 7, 2004, my 42-year old cousin jumped into his rig carrying a load of diesel fuel. He was headed to make a delivery somewhere near Knoxville. He didn't make it. He ended up in an accident and didn't even make it out of Kingsport. Did he think he would be going back home that evening? Sure, he did. I'm sure he had some old car and a wrench waiting for him. It could happen to you, any time, any where. So what I would like to say before I end is, "don't wait". In all reality, my cousin probably waited too long. Don't wait. And, if you are a Christian, but you have friends and loved ones who aren't—get on fire for them. Be a Louise Thrasher! Pray for them, ask them to come to church, talk about your Savior ever chance you get. If you don't get on fire for them and they meet their Maker, they are sure to end up in a fire of a different kind. Don't wait!