The first 24 years of my life I lived a semi-Christian home, meaning we went to church a lot when I was young but, that dropped off to only going for holidays. My family life was dysfunctional. I read a Bible but, somehow I did not know that I needed to turn my life over to the Lord. A boy friend moved in with me, that lead to me being emotionally and physically abused, but I knew of no way to get help. One day I was reading The Way Bible and my boyfriend came in and ridiculed me for turning to faith to handle my problems, so the book got put away somewhere. The only reason we did not get married was that my parents said we had to talk to the bishop of our church and Mike wanted nothing to do with the church.
About a year after we met I left Mike because I was a nervous wreck and sick, my parents moved me down to Olympia and I lived with my sister until I got my own apartment. Two years later a friend took me to her church called Living Waters Foursquare church, that night I gave my life to the Lord. That was July of 1983. The next few years I lead a fruitful life trying to follow the Lord’s will in my life. Then in a moment of weakness I allowed a boyfriend to move in with me to make a long story short I got pregnant, we got married, I lost the baby and most of the time we lived on my DSHS disability check. A year after getting married I moved in with my mother in Kirkland. At first I tried to attend the foursquare church near my mothers but, I got homesick for my old church. Then I attended OCC at the old building. This was 1986-87, I got a divorce and surgery to cure an autoimmune disorder that affected my platelets. After moving out and getting housing arranged through a mental health center some things in the news caused me to reject organized religion. During my time away from the church I was diagnosed with a very rare immune disorder and my platelet disorder reoccurred . I began to rely on overdoses of medications to cope with my problems, making my health worse.
Then 9-11 happened, I will never forget it, I was in the hospital in Seattle after having an overnight IV. It really affected me because I had training in public safety but, because of my disabilities I could not use my training. So I was upset because I felt worthless. A year later my roommate invited me to a special service at OCC and that night I began a period of tremendous growth , because I listened to the Lord telling me that this was the place I belonged to recover from my numerous problems and now I am much better.
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