Lucy's Testimony
My name is Lucy I am thankful to God for giving me a
second chance. My father died when I was young and my mom did her best to meet
all our needs. One day I asked my mom’s permission to date a boy and ran away
with him. I got pregnant and had our first child. Within the year I got
pregnant again. We struggled financially so my boyfriend left to find work in
the United States. My world came crashing down on me when he got involved with
another woman. I took my two children and returned to live with my mom and
found a job.
At 17 years old, a single mom of two little ones I
felt so much hatred for my children’s father.
I lived with my mom for five years. I had relationship after
relationship and was really only interested in someone if he had money. One day I met a guy and started dating him. I
kept the relationship hidden as I was afraid people would judge me for dating this
man. He did not have any money or even a
car. Within months, I became pregnant. I did not want to have his baby, but
something inside me told me that I should go through with the pregnancy. So I started
a new life with this guy. One day my partner got into a fight
with one of my mom’s friends. As they fought my mom’s friend fell onto a glass
table and died. I was not in the house when this
happened. I insisted my partner leave. I
was sentenced to go to prison for guilt by association and was seven months
pregnant.
When my daughter was
born, she was taken away from me. I fell in to a deep depression. I was
sentenced to twenty years. I tried to
commit suicide but did not succeed. I
gained a lot of weight due to the drugs for
the depression. I walked around feeling like a zombie. By the Grace of
God I was able to get off the medicine. People had tried to tell me about God
throughout my life and I thought they were crazy. Now I began seeking God.
I learned that my mom
was seriously ill and I felt helpless as I was not able to be with her. I cried out to God to have him take her home
because she was suffering so much. Within four days she passed away. I felt
horrible but found my strength in God.
I accepted Christ into my heart and my life began
to change. I fell in love with the Lord and my spiritual eyes were slowly being
opened. He started to remove all the
hate and bitterness against the father of my children that I had stored deep
within my heart: It took being locked away in prison for me to recognize that
God has a purpose for my life. I can
look back at my life and see that God has had his hand upon me since I was a
small child.
Now when I face trials
I stand firm knowing God is with me and I'm not alone. Being in prison is the
worst thing that could have happened but it was also the best. I have learned
to recognize my mistakes and
shortcomings. Now I know that as a true disciple I
allow Jesus to
change my character, to help remove my bad habits. I have found
my peace and joy in serving Him. I
have learned to love
my neighbors,
my family,
my pastor,
and my
sisters in
Christ. I
know that every promise found in the Bible is for me and I am
thankful to Him for helping settle everything in my life. I have discovered to pray, fast
and
feast on the
Word of
God. It is through prayer that I fight for my family members.
Thanks to my Celebrate Recovery group
and chapel services I am free behind bars.
God bless you and thank you for letting
me share.
