Katie’s Story
At the age of six weeks my father who was an drug addict and violent alcoholic was caught feeding me liquor in my bottle and would get me high so I wouldn’t cry. My Mother was working odd end jobs trying to buy formula, and when there was none it was the option he gave me. He would beat my Mother so severely that a construction crew that worked the neighborhood took notice in our care. My Father was a dangerous man when he was high and drunk and tried to Murder both my Mother and I on more than one occasion. The Construction crew later helped us escape my Father and move back to Paducah KY where we were fully protected by my Mothers Family.
Later my Mother was turned away from our families home church because she had divorced. From there she married a man who beat and abused me for 11 years. By the age of eight I had been molested by friends of our family and sent to stay at a hospital for Suicide attempts – this would continue until around the age of sixteen. I became a cutter. I attemped suicide by stabbing myself in the stomach with a butcher knive. I overdosed on drugs I knew my body was allergic to. I spent my entire childhood wishing I could die. It seemed as though where ever I went abuse, neglect, and torture followed me. Finally in my elementry school years a local church exposed my stepfather for beating me in their parking lot and throwing me out of a car while going down a local highway. Mom finally left him. I stayed in and out of hospitals for suicide and depression. I was diagnosed with PTSD. They kept telling me what was wrong with me but never could tell me how to fix it. As I entered into High School my life spiraled more and more out of control, I developed eating disorders, some days I would starve my self, others I would force myself to throw up, and some I would binge. I fell into the wrong crowd and began to smoke and drink and dabble only a little at the time in drugs. I lost my virginity to rape and in return became VERY sexually promiscuous and had nearly 30 partners within 5 years. My mother was in nursing school and worked nights by the age of 12 I was alone over night 3-5 nights a week. I had parties, drank, and even had her evicted out of an apartment complex. I was constantly in and out of juvenille hall, twice with no obtainable charge due to Neglect. My Mother, a single Mom feeling helpless and without option gave me over to the state at the age of 15 . From there I was placed into Foster care and For eight years we would not have any form of a relationship. I was not allowed to see my family and given my circumstances I had no friends. I was in and out of abusive temporary homes and group homes. I became involved in gang activity and was introduced to more drugs. I eventually landed myself in a Fostor home, where I was severley neglected and abused. My Fostor Mother was a full blown Wiccan witch and belonged to a local coven, she introduced me to hard drugs and witchcraft. There were always three to four children there, but I was always left behind, trying to take care of the others. She taught us to steal from the ones who were on respid (1-2 days temporary) and would weed out the children she could not control by doing a drug test and switching the urine that was positive from the drugs she had given us. I even remember once using a Bible for rolling papers. I eventually got deeper into drug abuse and alcoholism, I would bounce in and out of her home trying to escape. She told me if I dropped out of school and got a job and made her some money that I could stay there. So my senior year I dropped out, from there I lived with drug dealers & sold weed and cocaine. I Smoked weed, smoked opium, smoked crack, snorted cocaine & took extasy. I have even done enough acid to be declared legally insane. I’ve had the kind relationships that will kill you. There were times I knew I was going to die once I had been on a high of cocaine for nearly three months and only came down because I was being held hostage at gun point for cocaine money. There was even a time that I was warned that a local dealer had a hit on me (my murder planned) and I had to go on the run. There were times when I was homeless, and times that I lived out of my car. I even married a strange man I worked with to try and get some stability, he cheated on on me and eventually abandoned me… a couple of short months later. Everywhere in life I had turned I was someones trash, unwanted, unloved and undeserving. Heh. Underserving – Did you know that The very Definition of Mercy according to The Encyclopedia is – wages paid?
A New Beginning: Ps 40:1-3
1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
3 He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
*Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.*
I chose to live today b/c Mercy taught me what He has done for me, and I WILL NOT LET MY LIFE OR MY ACTIONS PROCLAIM THAT MY SWEET JESUS DIED IN VAIN.
My Uncle had heard about Mercy through a friend and contacted the Nashville home and told them my situation, at the time I was homeless and he took me in, to try and get me into the program. I filled out the application and as the staff prayed over my app, they heard the voice of God saying I had to come into Mercy Immeadiately. It was there that I truly learned I had worth, that was loved and had a purpose. The home itself is a million dollar mansion, they fed me, clothed me, and met every need I had, both physically, mentally, and spiritually. They taught me how to have intimacy with God, and how to allow Him to begin the process of healing my broken heart. It’s centered on purposfully resting in His presence. I entered into counseling based on Gods Word, and was provided with insurance and education, I was even mentored By Sherry Douglas the director, and taught how to lead worship. I had destroyed my voice doing drugs and smoking and God gave it back to me and annointed it. To this day I feel like His music box ; that He places Hidden treasures in my heart and gives me life that I might sing before Him. I spent between 6-7 months at Mercy and gradjuated a new creature in Christ!
Today:
I am married to an Amazing Man of God, who is a US combat soldier with The First and Three Twentyth Field Artillary Regement. I have two beautiful children Connor who is two and Chloe Ginger who is 3 months old and named after my Pastor Ginger 
) We built our first beautiful home back in April of 2009 and are steadily building our family on Gods Word. God has also since restored the relationship between My Mother and I, she now resides in her home three houses down form ours and spoils her grandbabies on a very regular basis. She was also the second person in my family to be filled with The Holy Spirit. As for me, I share my testimony with anyone willing to listen, I have been blessed with amazing opportunities to sing for the Lord in my home church, and to sing at other churches in the U.S. I have been on a mission trip to South America with My Pastor. And even spent a year traveling with Ambassador Larry Huggins to sing at the Seal America events over the U.S. and even at The White House in December of 2008. I share in Prisons and Jails and have even revisited one of the group homes I was living in as a child. I believe God will continue to open doors and change lives through my brokeness. “So Long As You Can Sweeten Anothers Pain, Life Is Not In Vain” Hellen Keller
Ps 139:14 MSG
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
Again. I am precious to Him, But— I am His living testimony because you are too. Do you honestly think if He will do what He has done for me that He won’t do even more for you. NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, he is with you, loves you, and is MORE than willing to set you free. If that is you and you need Him either in your life or to set you free from something that you cant do by yourself then please Surrender, give up! Cause you see, God won’t hold you at gun point but the world will, trust me I know from experience… Surrender you hurt, your, pain, your past and your future and allow HIM to fashion you into something so beautiful, that NO ONE or NOTHING can look at you and deny HIM!
