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People Speak Newsletter
April 2009
http://www.MarionDuckworthMinistries.com
The People Speak Newsletter
April, 2009
Terry*, whose story you read in the February 2009 issue of The People Speak Newsletter, was abandoned by her father, sexually abused by a neighbor and, at age sixteen, married a man who proved to be unfaithful. After a suicide attempt, she turned to God but when she faced divorce and lost temporary custody of her children, she sought relief in drugs and alcohol. Her second husband was abusive and insisted she get an abortion. Terry was deserted by her third husband, raped by a neighbor and betrayed by a close companion. She again attempted suicide and nearly succeeded. That night in the hospital, God let her know that He wanted her to live. “That was the moment of my rebirth.”
“I knew God had a purpose for my life. So I started a journal to keep track of what He was doing. The first verse I wrote was 1 Thessalonians 5:18: ‘Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.’”
She also told God in her journal how much she missed her daughter and her three grandsons who’d moved halfway across the U.S. “I’d been using them to redirect the pain in my life.” When one of her grandsons called to tell her how much he missed her and her to come get him, she was devastated.
“Instead of staying planted in the grace God had already given me, I began to question Him. Finally, in my journal I wrote asking God to forgive me and asked for a safe, accepting place of refuge in His church and in the Scriptures. He encouraged her with these words: 'I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finished on the day that Christ Jesus returns.' (Php 1:6)"
Shaped by a history of abandonment and abuse, Terry was convinced that she was one of life’s rejects. But God, who was renewing her mind through scriptures like Psalm 139, assured her that she had been specially designed by Him and that He had a powerful purpose for her life. “I determined to live the way He planned.”
One step she’s taken to do that this past year is to rebuild damaged family relationships. “I hadn’t spoken with my mom for two years because she wasn’t there when I needed her so desperately. But because I have changed, I talk with her every weekend. Love is a choice that requires action.” By God’s grace she has also forgiven a man who abused her; she is also rebuilding relationships with her two sons. All that has happened because she’s made Jesus her first love, she says.
She’s been working fulltime in the office of her church and even wrote a Bible study that she taught in a women’s group. Part of that study was especially important to her: a signed commitment not to date for six months.
“For the first time in my life I really get it! “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” (1) My purpose is to serve, trust and love Him.” Now, she says, she is leaning on Him and putting her trust to the test!
Recently, God gave her the desire of her heart: an invitation to move close to her two sons and be part of their family! She leaves in a few weeks.
Is it any wonder that Terry is filled with a new kind of passion--to help others who have been trampled, their hope flattened the way she was? “But now I get to go out in this big world and share my heart that is filled with hope.”
Blessings,
Marion
(1) Ephesians 2:10
*Terry is a pseudonym
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