I was born fifth in a family of eight children. It was interesting to say the least. It seemed with so many mouths to feed there was never enough to go around. Life sometimes seemed very hard to me and definitely not fair. My best friend was one of four children and they always seemed to have everything they needed, so I think I started at a very young age of wanting something someone else had and kept searching for that throughout most of my years.

     We were raised in a Catholic environment, went to Catholic schools and church every Sunday. I always knew there was a God, but He was just somebody up in heaven keeping track of everything I did, mostly the bad stuff. So, somewhere along the line I decided that I didn't need Him since I didn't believe I could ever be good enough for Him, besides He had all the priests and nuns, so what did He need me for!

     It's a funny thing though -

Once you know there is a God, no matter how far you try to run from Him and no matter how much you try to forget He exists, you always have this sense that He is watching you.

     During my teenage years, I led a rebellious life looking for love in all the wrong places. As it is in so many cases, I wound up pregnant at nineteen and found myself wondering how I would take care of a baby when I was still such a child myself. But there was something in me that just knew that this child was a gift from God and I knew that I wanted to keep her and love her. Thankfully, she was the beginning of my life turning around and counting for something.

     When Dawn was a year old I met Dave and we were married six months later. He, too, was escaping a life he wasn't happy with and he wasn't even sure there was a God. We had two more children in the next few years. Before I knew it I was a mom at twenty-three and not having a clue on how to raise these children. Dave was in and out of work and before long the financial stresses and the challenges of raising children became overwhelming.

We were ready for a divorce. I don't know what I thought that would solve, but that was where we were headed.

     During that time, a knock came at the door and it was two close friends who started to tell me about Jesus and how He died for me and they invited me to their church. It was a very different from any church I had been to before,but all I kept hearing was that God loved me and wanted me to be in a relationship with Him. I was so convicted of the sin in my life that it was hard to believe that God really loved me and that He provided a way for me to come to Him and receive forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ. It took me a few weeks, but finally I went to the altar and gave my life to Him. Dave went too. I was excited - I knew it was a new beginning and somehow I felt life would be ok now.

     In 1977 we decided to move to Florida and once we got there we stopped going to church, stopped reading the Bible, and put God back on a shelf again. That was a big mistake. Ten years later, life started to fall apart again. Dave and I did separate and the beginning of true darkness entered into my life. For the next four years I did all I could to keep myself together. Dave and I would get back together and then split again. My mom died, my job became very stressful and the bottom really fell out when I found out that Dave was with another woman.

     I wound up having a total breakdown and had to be hospitalized twice. For two years I walked around just wanting to die. I didn't think my world could get any worse and I saw no reason for living. But, God is faithful and through the prayers of many friends, I was led back to Him. Just like He was there the first time with His mercy, so was He there again. I spent over two hours with a minister who walked me through forgiveness and letting go of the anger and rage that was inside of me that was killing me. The minister told me that I needed to stay in the Word of God and start trusting Him with my life. I felt so empty inside, but as I drove home a most amazing peace flooded my soul and somehow I knew that Jesus was with me and He would bring me through.

     For the next few years I lived in Michigan, Colorado, and then Michigan again. I was blessed with good Christian counseling and spent a lot of time reading the Bible and letting Jesus become Lord of my life. He brought many wonderful people into my life. I began to see the need to reach out to others who were hurting and didn't know that Jesus was able to turn their hearts around.

     The idea for a newsletter had been on my heart for a while, but I didn't know how to do it. I was living with my daughter at the time and just sat and wondered what I could do for the kingdom of God from where I was. I wanted to touch lives with the good news of Jesus and I wanted to share what He had done in my life. I spoke with my friend, Bonnie, and she helped me to take what was in my heart and put it on paper. Little did we know it was the beginning of a ministry the God would bless and use to touch the hearts of many. We titled the newsletter "Friends...Because of Him." I had been blessed with friends who were there for me through the good, the bad and the ugly. I knew they were in my life for a purpose and that bonds had been made in our hearts. I recognized the importance and value of friendships when I discovered that they were praying for me even when I couldn't pray for myself. I had learned that Jesus was my best friend and that He called us friends in the Gospel of John. It was my heart's desire to share His love and mercy with anyone who would listen.

     In November 1995, we started out with mailing twenty-five newsletters. We are now mailing over 300 and lives are getting blessed. The Lord has continued to work mightly in my life and has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people and also to see the needs of those hurting. We wanted it to be a newsletter that would reach across denominational lines and just touch peoples' hearts. The Lord has blessed it and has blessed me tremendously during these last few years. My prayer is that we will continue to grow and to continue to reach those that might not otherwise hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. The ministry has grown beyond just the newsletter. The Lord provides ways for me to travel and I am able to meet with others and share his love. We pray to be moving on to speak to women's groups about friendship with Jesus and with others. Our hope is to encourage women and men to value those people whom God has put in their path and to love them unconditionally. We encourage others to pray for others and to rejoice with them and also weep with them, but mostly to love each other as the Lord had commanded us to do. God has been faithful and has provided a way for me to give back to others what He has so freely given to me. I am blessed and I pray that you will be too.

     The testimony continues even now. After God restored me to Him He brought me back to Tampa where He is in the process of restoring my family. The family that was so torn apart by divorce is now being brought back together. My husband is no longer with another woman but spends most of his spare time with me. I know the Lord will bring him all the way home. My children are being healed from the past. They are coming to revelation knowledge and understanding of the Precious Jesus that I serve and they are learning that with Him all things are possible. We are beginning to walk in unity as a family that serves the Lord. Day by day the Lord is restoring all that was stolen from us and every day I fall deeper in love with Him. He is a great and mighty God and He will show us great and mighty things when we call on His name. He is faithful and He will take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it into good when we trust in Him.

For further understanding of my position on divorce, please see the Theological Foundations site.

     He has blessed my life. He has blessed my family. But, most of all He has blessed my inner most being with His wonderful precious love that I could have never known apart from Him. He is my Lord. He is my Saviour. He is my husband and He is my friend. To Him be all the glory, power and honor.

If you don't know the precious Gift of God, then I invite you today to make Him Lord of your life.

I promise you will come to know His love and His mercy and His grace.

He will change your heart and your life.

Where ever you are today, whatever your circumstances may be, you can call on Him.

I promise He will answer.

His name is
JESUS
and He is waiting to hear from you!

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