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Abigail T.
Abby is our program manager. She's passionate about photography, reading, traveling, family and God's Word.
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Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives.
Petra lead singer, John Schlitt, shares his favorite life verse and various stories in the Bible that inspire him on a daily basis.
Our LORD and our God, you are my mighty rock, my fortress, my protector.
Aggie writes:
I was adopted when I was six and raised in a Christian home. I started to stray from the Lord little by little.
I had a lot happen to me through out my life. I will be 28 in just a couple of months. I have been married now for the third time, been through all of abuse you could think of, recovered as an alcoholic, was raped. One lie led to another. I passed bad checks (and was caught after running for about one year), stole (and was caught after awhile), the list was endless.
I then re-married in September 2008. Then my husband was not brought up as a Christian; but was a Christian when I had met him. We started to go to Church the last Sunday in November 2008.
During that time I was asking why am I going to church, I have done so much wrong in my life and don’t deserve to be here. I kept asking myself this, but by the third time we had visited the church I had left all of my sins at the alter. I asked God, “please Lord if you are still there for me and forgive me prove it to me.” I needed comforting and reassuring.
I waited and waited. On January 22, 2009 around, my family and I came around a bin. The road was clear up to that point-but then snow covered with no warning of ice underneath. The front was fine at first but the back went spinning around like lighting. I tried to bring it out of the first spin; but then I heard a voice take hold of the wheel and hold tight.
I closed my eyes after seeing my three children. The kids and I had our seatbelts on, but my husband did not. There is a creek on one side with less trees and then the other side. Praise the Lord He protected us all. We should have all been dead in that wreck.
God put us in the deepest and widest part of the creek with less trees. We were upside down in a cold icey creek. We lost the back window and both the driver windows. The windshield my husband hit with his head.
I had not realized there was a guy out on the road ready to help. I shoved my husband out of the car, then I got the kids and handed them to him. We had a 2ton floor jack in the back, a gallon of milk, a 24 pack of soda, some food, bunch of tools–which all of this missed us.
When I had opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was my wedding band and knew right then all was ok. That night I began to hear the Lord. I fought with Satan up to March 29, 2009. That was the test the Lord gave me.
The Lord never left me, but got me through the time of being tested by Satan. On March 29, 2009 at church that part of the verse just glued to me and it is the first time in my life that I remember a verse!! I am now laid my life back at the alter that Sunday at Church and said Lord–take me and use me for I am ready for what ever comes my way.
“Today I am giving you a choice. You can choose life and success or death and disaster.”
Brian writes:
Life is controlled by decisions!
Decisions made today create experiences in your tomorrow. After a decision has been made, whether it was a good one or a bad one, something soon is about to happen. No matter what your experiences in life were, the “Will of God” was mapped out before the event happened. The bible says, in Deuteronomy 30: 15, “See, I have set before thee this day, LIFE AND GOOD, AND DEATH AND EVIL”. Some experiences operate in victory, while others travail in defeat.
If anyone wants to experience goodness and prosperity, a wise decision must be made in the present. If you do things that will stray the body from health, you have chosen the plan of death and evil. For example, one day, I decided to use drugs. I soon became addicted to them. Yet, I Did Not Know that an addiction was from the work of evil. After using drugs for more than ten years, I Did Not Know a curse was living inside my brain. My usage with drugs had gotten out of control.
At times, even while using drugs, I wanted to be freed from them, but it was hard making that event be successful. While using drugs one day, my heart stopped beating for 11 minutes, and I went into a coma. When my heart stopped beating for 11 minutes, I actually experienced death. When I first began using drugs, I Did Not Know I had chosen the plan of death and evil.
Drug usage isn’t the only activity that drives evil and death into people’s lives. The Bible says, (Romans 6: 23), for the wages of sin is death. While I was using drugs, I was committing sin, too. When my heart stopped beating for 11 minutes, it was because of the wages of sin. Death was my payment, but God had mercy on me one more time.
” I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. “
Victoria writes:
I wanted to share with you my story I was born again 19 years ago, you may use my story how you wish or just read and delete.
Adopted at 12 months old, to parents who were more dysfunctional then most. My father was a career drug addict and my mom would tell me how much she didn’t like me. My father did love me till I was about 7 then he delved more and more into his drug cocoon to escape the wife he did not love. There was a lot of emotional, mental and physical abuse. They adopted another child a boy and a year later she gave birth to a son. I ran away the first time when I was 11 years old.
At 12 I was taken away and put in a foster home, at 13 I ran away and lived on the streets of Oceanside California, where at 13 I was raped by 7 men, became a drug addict and drank whenever possible. At 16 I tried to commit suicide, at 17 I got married to get off the streets we moved to Maine. Unfortunately he was an abusive madman, so again I ran away. I joined a traveling carnival to escape certain death.
At 19 I was strangled and left for dead, at 20 I was locked up in the house of a drug dealer who striped me of any self esteem I ever had……I wanted to die………..at 22 I ran off with a man and found myself in Washington where again I was surrounded by drugs. The mother of my boyfriend at that time invited me to go to church with her, I agreed to go, I can’t tell you what the singers sang nor what the sermon was about but I remember as soon as the preacher started preaching I started uncontrollably crying and I didn’t know why. In my life I had tried everything from white Magic, Buddhism, and Jehovah Witness. In Washington I met a man named John, who like me was just as lost, but boy was he the most handsome man I ever met.
At the age of 23 I hated the life I was living and I knew there had to be more to this life then what I was living! So John and I set out with nothing but the clothes on our backs…We bid farewell to the lies, the drugs, the pit of emptiness that we lived in, and we had a plan we were going to hitch hike to California then to New York and start a new life…………Well we made our way to a lil town in Northern California by Redding, and while waiting for our next ride we noticed an elderly couple sitting in a car marked “Caution Wide Load” we thought nothing of it.
The old man got out of the car came over to us and asked us if we knew Jesus. I told him “I’m cool with Jesus” and John said “I’m mad at God for letting my father die in my arms.” He told us God loves us and cares about us, the old man introduced himself as Russell Mc Connell and his wife he told us was named Carol. We told him our story and our plans, he asked us to come to his house for a home cooked meal before we left town (John wanted to visit his Grandpa that lived not to far from where we were at) We told him we may do that. Russell gave us some money to eat so we went to the dinner near by ate then caught our next ride.
Things did not go well with John’s grandpa, so we left and slept under a bridge and the next day decided to call Russell and Carole, they took us in and fed us, they shared the gospel with us and that night we went to church with them. I was so into what I heard, like my heart was drinking in all that was said, but John was not comfortable he walked out and I noticed that 3 or 4 of the young men about our age followed John out of the church, later I found out they talked to John and prayed with him and ministered to him. The next thing I knew both John and I were kneeling and asking God to forgive us of our sins and to accept us as His own. I totally believed that Jesus was who they said He was.
Two days later John and I were married and then we were baptized. We were like little sponges soaking up Gods word. Three months later Johns’ bronchiolar tube clasped and he went into cardiac arrest, John was 23 years old. He was rushed to the hospital were he was D.O.A., but they revived him and he was on life support where he laid for 3 days. On the third day they stopped the machine and I watched him die for the last time, as he breathed his last breath, a peace flooded me and I knew he was in the arms of the Savior.
Later I spoke to Russell and as we looked back on everything we could see God’s hand everywhere, Russell told me that the day he met us he was called out for a job that’s why he was there, but the load never showed at the meeting area, and the night before he met us he was at church where he heard the Pastor preach on reaching out to strangers…….I am a child of the Living God washed and cleaned by the shed blood of Jesus and set apart. God is so amazing and He loved me before I ever knew Him. I am now part of a family that will never let me go or turn their back on me. I am so thankful to be part of God’s amazing saving grace.
“If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.”
Steve writes:
When I reflect on that scripture it helps me put into prospective how my life was, when I was living in sin and how my life is now with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
For many years I was living in what I called and created “acceptable sin” as if there was such a thing. I was your typical manager going to work everyday, performing my job with outstanding results and moving up the corporate ladder. But when it came to weekends I was the complete opposite. I was using drugs & alcohol and spending a lot of time watching pornography. I would eagerly wait for Friday to come so I can start my end of week partying. As a result my first marriage failed and my second marriage was very close to divorce. Through it all I was able to hold on to my career and moved away from the New York area, where I slowly began to change my life.
After five years and three states later I moved back to New York where all the sin had started. I was ready to start over again, but was very scared. There had been something inside of me screaming for change and I wanted become a better person. I knew of Jesus, but did not know how I can begin my walk with him. My sister helped me tremendously. She introduced me to some pastors of her church and they invited me to a service. After that day my wife and I received Jesus. We have been water baptized, became members of our church and we have been on fire for The Lord ever since.
God has blessed me by surrounding me with friends that have a positive influence on my life. He has put before me a Pastor that speaks to my heart and a man that understand where I have been. He has given me my old job back. He has given me financial gifts and a great place to live. He has reunited me with my family. This list can go on. The point is when you give it all up to God and for his glory you receive his blessing in multitude. There is no limit to what God can do for you and his grace is endless. I have never been so FREE in my life. I thank God each day for my salvation. By giving my life for him I was able to regain my life and help others come to Christ.
“Jehovah is my strength and my shield; My heart hath trusted in him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; And with my song will I praise him.”
Marie writes:
This verse was given to me shortly after I came to a Christian Recovery Program. It has become the very verse that I live by and stand firm on. Because He is the only One who can give me the strength I need to get through.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Marie writes:
My life has been a series of struggles and troubles. I grew up in an abusive home with physical, emotional, sexual and mental abuse. I found the Lord when I was 17 at a church camp. After God came into my life, it was never the same, even after marrying an abusive 1st husband,who beat me and was unfaithful, to the 2nd husband who committed suicide, leaving me with 2 young children and no life insurance and lots of debt, to a place of peace and prosperity. Through all the things God brought me through in my life, He has always been there. God is with us before we ask Him into our lives, He is with us through each step we take in our Christian life and He is already there TOMORROW, before we even know what tomorrow will bring. We have to trust God and keep reading God’s Word. All the answers you ever need to know in life, are in God’s Word.
“For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.””
Phil writes:
I used to be buried in shame. I had been born out of wedlock to a mother who loved me and a man who wanted me to be aborted. Because of this I grew up without a father. Later, in preschool I was molested by my preschool teachers. A short time after that my mom married my first step-father, who turned out to be an alcoholic. The next seven years were filled with emotional torture, and eventually included physical abuse.
We were poor most of that time, even living on welfare at one point. Because of a number of factors related to that poverty and my upbringing, I was constantly bullied and made fun of at school from elementary school through middle school.
By the time my mom and step-father divorced I was depressed and suicidal. Though I went through counseling and became convinced that God must have a purpose and plan for my life, I turned towards sin and entered into a crippling addiction to pornography.
To deal with the shame I felt at my past difficulties and present sin, I did all I could to cover it up with a happy and fun exterior. By the time I came to college I jumped into the partying lifestyle as a part of that fake exterior. Finally I woke up one morning in a pool of my own vomit because of how much beer, mixed drinks and liquor I drank the night before.
At that point, overwhelmed by shame, I knew something had to change but didn’t know where to go for help. Two days later I went to a church where I heard the pastor say that we can begin to see God when we have been humbled. Since I felt humiliated, I figured I must qualify as someone who was close to beginning to know God.
One month later an evangelist came to my university and preached the Good News of Jesus Christ saying that God would become my Daddy if I would repent and trust in Him. He also said that God knew I would become the father I never had.
The shackles of shame dropped off of me that day nearly 8 years ago when I tearfully put my trust in God. Every day since then I’ve been learning how to keep living without shame as I put my trust in Jesus Christ. I am so thankful to God that he has made me new and clean, and that as I trust in Him I will never come under the power of sin and shame again. Even more wonderful is that He wants to do the same for you too!
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
April writes:
I was gay, I mean really, really gay. I share my story of how I became a Christian all the time, but there’s a big part to “my story” that I have never told but really feel led to tell it now. Here goes, I was the youngest of three girls, often criticized for my skinny and premature behaviors. I would always get harassed by my sisters and friends about why I hadn’t started puberty or why I am not developing like all the other girls. This gave me an insecurity that had me thinking “why am I so different? Am I an accident? Am I pretty? Am I gay?” I went on in my teens and began even more to feel out casted, especially by my own family. At the age of 13, I turned to drugs and alcohol but that is just one of many addictions I had to overcome. I started to grow more and more curious about my sexuality and began watching porn. I was 18 when I decided I was gay, and no one could convince me otherwise. I fell in love with a girl named Elizabeth and felt this was it. I wanted to marry her. I became an advocate for gay & lesbians because of all the persecution I got from ‘coming out’. I even marched in the annual gay pride parade in San Diego. The more people told me I was wrong for being a lesbian the more I fought for the freedom to be one. All the while I never dealt with my insecurities and they certainly didn’t go away because of my new lifestyle. I was still empty inside. I felt a deep rooted question in my heart “if being gay feels so right how it could be wrong? Is it wrong and who says?” but I would never share my wonders with others because I was in it too deep. Elizabeth and I broke off our relationship after 5 years, which was the hardest and only real break up I ever had. I moved far from her but not far from my lifestyle. I continued this lifestyle and had no boundaries to my choices in relationships. I was still empty, even more than before. I worked for a well known gym in LA and the manager of the store was a Christian. He would preach to me all night every night. I would hate it; I debated him every night for 4 months. Until one day to get him off my back I took him up on his offer and went to a bible study with him. It seemed the people at this bible study had something I was longing for my entire life, true joy and love in their hearts. They were full of love and didn’t judge me. They truly had my eternal interest at heart. They helped me understand the most difficult questions I had in my mind about God and what Gods plan for me is through scripture. I came to Christ that very night and did not look back. The funny thing is I didn’t have to stop using drugs first or even be sober or not be gay to believe. All I did was cling to Jesus and His word; believe in my heart what He had done for all mankind. Sure repenting took a little while and I still am learning what Gods eyes see as sin. Quickly I became convinced that being gay was a way for me to place my insecurities away without dealing with them. My insecurities were in charge of my decision to be gay. But once my insecurities were dealt with, and I mean really dealt with deeply, I became more and freer from them and that lead me to choose to no longer live as a gay person anymore. Then after examining my intensions and looking at Gods word I knew that all this time it was an obedience battle. Yes I said it. I was making my sexuality the core focus of my life and when you turn your focus on Jesus and what He did for mankind that changes everything. After time, He changed me. I am so happily married now to a great man and for the first time in my life I feel truly beautiful and valuable the way I was intended to feel. People may call me a hypocrite and I do have to deal with persecution sometimes but at least it’s for Jesus. Nobody could do what He did and certainly nobody else freed me but Him. Thanks for letting me share.
God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.
Rachelle was once addicted to meth, alcohol and even crack cocaine. After being saved for 2 years, she expresses how 1 John 4:8 helps her when she feels everything around her is falling apart.
