A Story, We All Have One

Yes, we all have one, a story to tell. If you have lived any length of time you too have a story to tell.
Some of us may have more chapters, more interesting stories to share, some sad, many glad, but a story none of the less.
Jamie ask me to share my testimony and the enemy has tried to keep me from it today.
I have been sick all day and even thought that I would put it off and maybe share it at another time.
If you read the Word, you know it is his job to kill, steal and destroy.
 Since my birth Satan has been on my heels trying to do all three in my life.
Born on my birth Mom-mas 17th birthday, I was a gift she never wanted.
I have no good memories from the time I can remember until  I was 10 years old, except for CHURCH.
It was there that I felt loved, safe and a peace that I could not explain.
I just knew in my mind and heart that something there was different than any other place I had ever been in.
The courts awarded me to my Aunt and Uncle in March of 1970. For the first time in my life I had a bed in a bedroom to call mine, a place to go after school with food to eat and finally clothes that I was not ashamed to wear.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and every 4th Saturday night why we went to church. The same church where I felt loved, safe and a peace that I could not explain.
I loved that place. I looked forward to each time we would get ready to go.
I sang my very first song there at the age of 5 years old, Rock of Ages. Never realizing that He is my ROCK, no matter if all Hell around me rages, He is my ROCK.
I have loved to sing Gospel Music all my life. Wanted to take part in everything the church had going on.
In the Christmas play, sang in the choir almost as loud as my Nanny and Aunt Doris.
I will never forget when I was asked if I would take piano lessons to learn to play the piano for the church.
I jumped at the chance and took them for 8 months. Started playing the piano in the church at the age of 12.
Still loved going there, feeling loved, so safe and a peace that I could not explain and now playing piano and singing, wow, could life get any better for me ?
In May of 1976, while playing for the altar call, God spoke to my heart, I got up from the piano and knelt at the altar and ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to save me from Hell.
Never was a bad person,but lived in an earthly Hell until I was 10 years old, but what held me together was that place called Church.
Now, as I ask Jesus to save me, I felt like I could take on Hell itself. Felt like a brand new person, all that sin and cares of the world off me. But what I did not let go was the bitterness in my mind toward those that had caused me so much hurt, pain and stole my childhood from me.
Asking Jesus to save me, made me feel more loved, still safe and gave me a peace that now I did understand. All the while just being in the building it was the Holy Spirit hovering over me and allowing me feel loved, safe and the peace that only comes from on high.
I knew I was saved but still carried a boat load of bitterness in my mind and heart.
Started out serving the Lord, still playing the piano and singing. Wrote my first song and all I wanted to do was live for Jesus.
Several years passed by, still growing in the Lord. Praying and reading the Word was a part of my daily life.
Still going to church every Sunday morning, night, Wednesday night and 4th Saturday night for singings.
Oh, I loved it.
I knew that I was saved and I loved the Lord with all my heart, but something was missing in my life.
I never would allow other people to get real close to me. See I was determined that people would never hurt me again.
In 1987 God spoke to me during my prayer time and told me that I had to reach out to my birth Momma and try to have a relationship with her. Oh, I did not like that at all. Tried to come up with all kind of deals with the Lord, but He kept saying NO.
See I had to go back to the root of everything in my life before I could ever be where I am today in my relationships with friends, family and my husband.
I started on that journey to have a relationship with the woman that had never wanted me, never provided for me, never protected me, never loved me and gave me up to other family members.
I did everything that I knew possible, but once again, she turned me away, but this time, I had a peace that to this day I can not explain. It was even a greater peace than that I had felt in the church.
See God had to take me back to where the bitterness began and I had to leave it there.
From that moment on, my God became Lord of my life and I can tell you this girl has never been the same.
Even though I had been saved, in church most of my life, but the enemy was still trying to destroy me from the inside out with things that haunted me and I could never seem to over come. He stole relationships that I had with friends which would leave me thinking, "What's wrong with them ?", when all along it was me.
My lifes story has many chapters to this day, some short, some long, some happy, some sad but it is still my story. It did not start the way I would have wanted it to, but I can tell you this, it will end the way that God planned for all of our lives to end one day.
That is accepting Him as your personal Savior and allowing Him to be Lord of your life.
How will your story end ?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever lasting life.

Donna Hannah-Boswell
Guest Blogger for my friend Jamie Britt

His WORD, True Peace in the Midst of Pain and Struggle

Hebrews 13:5 "For He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you "

If I had listen to the enemy, I would have missed seeing the beauty of a blue bird outside my kitchen window, hearing my husband say "I love you", my friends voice and her laughter over the phone and I would have missed this opportunity to share my heart with you.
First of all, I want you to know I am not a writer, a "THINKER", but not a writer.
I feel I am the least among the least,  but as small as we may feel, we all have a life story to tell.
I believe we preach our very own funeral each day.
Since my journey with the Lord, which began in 1976 it has been my heart's desire to be a vessel for Him and one in which He can use.
Over the past year and a half, I have struggled with health issues arising from a congenital disease that I never knew I had.
Through all the Doctor appointments, three surgeries in a four month span, a broken ankle, medical bills, not to mention all the pain pills that I had been given that was  suppose to fix it all.
I tried to continue my daily life of being a wife, work a full time job,host a weekly TV program and singing every weekend with our Gospel Music group became a struggle for me. I tried to stay strong and smile through the pain, but each day was becoming an issue for me.
I prayed, sang songs, read the Word, quoting Bible verses, later I found myself so wrapped up in the pain that I did not want to pray, sing, read or even quote verses. I only wanted out of the pain.
In my Spirit I knew that God had not left my side, because His Holy Spirit dwells within me, even though at times He felt so far away. These following words never left my memory, "I will never leave you nor forsake you".
You ask me how I know, I am glad you ask, almost thirty-six years ago I ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins, been to church all my life, never been a bad person, but you can not good or work your way into Heaven, Jesus' precious blood has to be applied to your soul. Since that Sunday in 1976, this girl has never been the same. I took Him and all His promises to me that He has listed in His Word.
Often in the midst of the pain and the daily struggles of life, the enemy would put thoughts into my mind telling me that God had forsaken me, just as my parents did, He was not hearing my prayers, I was not going to get any better and God was finished with me.
No one knows what I am about to share with you, but for a while I listen to the lies of Satan and began to play it out in my mind how I could end my own life by taking all the pain pills I had been given. I feel so ashamed to share this with you, because I never thought I could ever get to that point in my life. Being a Christian we should have enough faith and trust in God not to think things of sort.
I want you to know that Satan knows just when and where to attack us and he continued to attack my health over and over. My faith was strong enough not to go out and willfully sin against God, but my health kept me in a mind set of not being able to do what I loved in life and serving God. The enemy knew he could not get to my heart, so he used my health, family, job and our finances to keep me oppressed.
You feel so alone when you are oppressed in the midst of pain and struggle.
My only hope and source was God because my husband and friends could not fix me.
In my despair and at the end of my rope, it was either take the pills or sit down at the piano. I sat down at the piano and began to sing a song, My Shepherd's Voice, my heart broke and I remember my prayer as I cried out to God, "I can not take it any more, I can not worry about the out come of my health, if I never get healed and out of pain, if I lose everything I am still going to trust You, because I know You have never left me and You will not forsake me. If this is what it takes for me to totally trust You or for someone else to see your hand on my life, this is my cross and I will carry it in Jesus' name."
From that moment on , I have not listen to the lies of the enemy of my soul. Even as I type this, I am not totally where I would like to be in my health, but I have a peace that surpasses all understanding and I know that my God loves me with a love that I can not comprehend and better yet, His blood covers my life and I can trust Him even in the valley of sickness as well as on the mountain top.....I have found His promise to be true, "I will never leave you nor forsake you".

"My God in Heaven, You know who is reading this devotion today, You knew they would over 2000 years ago as You looked through the scope of time. It is my prayer if they do not know You as their personal Savior, that You would knock upon their hearts door. For those that know You and they are in the midst of pain and struggle, Father right now the same promise Your Word has for me, You have it for them as well. Let them feel Your peace that surpasses all of our understanding, I bind the lies of Satan from their life as they grab onto Your promise, that You will never leave them nor forsake them. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share with others, that we are all human and not a one of us are above the pain and struggles that life brings. Thank You Father for being my God and for keeping Your promise to me, in Jesus' name I pray."

Donna Hannah-Boswell - Guest Blogger