Testimony

I have always considered myself to be a good person, deserving of good things. When I was young, about 8 years old, I asked the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart. I was fortunate to be brought up in a Christian home with good Christian parents. But this is not when I truly understood about God's salvation, forgiveness, power, and grace. My lesson of God's might and mercy began on Saturday, July 1, 2000.

To give you a little history leading up to this point. I graduated from Westminster Choir College with a BA in Music Education and spent the next 8 years teaching elementary music in New Jersey. During this time I had decided to put God on a shelf and turned away from the teachings I knew as a child. In spring of 1999 I met a man, who swept me off my feet. We became involved emotionally, physically, and financially. Over the course of the next ten months he had become everything to me and I thought I was in love with him. I was no longer teaching music in school, so I began running his business of car detailing, or should I say I was the business. He was a very dynamic man; passionate about every dream he had, but unfortunately did not want to work for those dreams. But because I "loved" him I would do anything to make him happy.

In March of 2000 he decided to move the business and us to Florida. I willingly went. Unfortunately that was the beginning of my nightmare. The move to Florida put a great amount of stress in our lives. We had very little money when we moved, so immediately I began rounding up clients for the detailing business and within a few days I was earning money. I and a friend of his, who moved with us to Florida, washed cars in the hot Florida sun, while he gambled our money away and spent time wining and dining other women. The amount of money I was bringing into the household was enough to take care of living expenses but not enough to sustain his habits of gambling and women. He became emotionally and physically abusive and took control over all the money coming into the house.

I became another person, because of his abuse I began to feel and believe that I was worthless and unwanted, and I was always paranoid about him coming home and whether or not there would be an incident of abuse. He never needed a reason to abuse me, so I was constantly on guard with what I said and made sure everything was always done to his liking. Of course nothing I did was ever good enough. Finally in June of that year my body gave out from all the stress and I was diagnosed with Mono. This unfortunately made things worse. Because I was not able to work there was no money coming in and rent was due.

This brings us to July 1, 2000. It was a Saturday and his friend and I went out to detail cars even though I was extremely sick. We returned home early afternoon with cash to put toward rent. As usual all the cash went to him. Before I knew what was going on there was a woman at the door waiting for him. They were going to go buy camping equipment with the money I had just earned and then spend a romantic weekend camping. As they left I remember walking into my bathroom, closing the door, and collapsing into a sobbing heap on the floor. Even though many years before I had turned away from God, the first thing I did was cry out to Him and asked Him to take the pain away and I didn't care how. I felt helpless and hopeless. At that point I was willing to have God take my life to get rid of the pain. But I am here today because God not only heard my prayer, He answered it better than I could have ever imagined.

On Sunday I went to a church that was like the one I attended in New Jersey. This church was not one that was a Bible believing church, it was a new age church, but nonetheless it was a haven of safety for me. After the service they offered a type of laying on of hands healing and I accepted. After the gentleman was through he asked to speak with me. I accepted and what he said to me astonished me because he knew nothing about me. He said, "Lisa, there is a lot of ugliness going on around you and you are a beautiful person and deserve happiness." As he spoke I began to cry and realize what had to happen. Looking back I now believe that this man was a messenger from God and I have learned to pay attention for you never know how God will reveal his plan for you.

It was a holiday weekend so no one was working. Monday began with a phone call from him shouting degrading words and accusations at me, which of course just added to my pain and despair. Later in the day I called my parents just to chat. While speaking with my mother I could not hold back the tears and torment I was going through. I told her that I wanted out and I needed their help. She asked me only one question and that was, "When?" I told her as soon as possible. Through all the crying we managed to arrange a time when they could call me at my neighbors and decide how to get me out. We had to do everything in secret, because if he found out I was leaving I don't know what would have happened.

Tuesday, July 4, 2000. My mother called me and told me that they were able to take a round trip plane ticket that my Aunt had previously purchased for me to fly to Baltimore two weeks later for my Grandparent's birthday party and exchange them for two one way tickets to Orlando for my Dad and brother. They would be there on Thursday at 12:30 pm to help me move all my things home. Renting a moving truck was easy because in my business dealing I had met a wonderful gentleman and his wife that owned a Ryder truck company. Another angel from God. I told him what was going on and he rented me a truck at an extremely good rate.

I am happy to say everything went smoothly that day He had left early Thursday morning to go gambling and wouldn't be back till well after we had left. My father and brother arrived; we packed all my things and headed home for Pennsylvania.

When I arrived home I moved in with my parents and over the next few months they took me to church and Southern Gospel concerts and in September of 2000 I gave my life back to the Lord.

God orchestrated a master plan to save me from that situation and protected me and my family from Satan's hand that day. There is scripture that I feel is close to my heart and this situation. It is from Psalm 18, verse 6, "In My distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears." Later it reads in verse 17; "He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong fro me," And lastly in verse 19 (my favorite) it says, "he delivered me because he delighted in me."

I know God heard my prayer that fearful day on my bathroom floor and because God wants more for me than even I can imagine, he delivered me from my enemy and my own sinful ways. Since that day God has blessed me over and over again in ways that I only dreamed about. I thank God for every breath that I take and praise Him continually for His mercy and grace.