Growing up in Ireland I used to go to a Christian camp every summer for a few years. I loved it there a place that was safe and I got to learn about God and Jesus. I felt so changed and happy there but everytime I came home after a couple of weeks the darkness would creep back into my life again and I would lose hope that there was a God. I loved camp because it was a week out of the hell of my home friends I got to see each year, tuck shop time, swimming and being able to have as much freedom as I wanted. When I was in high school the people I hung out with went to church and invited me to Youth group and I loved it again. We did really fun things. There was a retreat for youth up at Camp Quanoes and I went and one of the nights one of the guys I knew was playing his guitar and when it was time to come forward I did and committed my life to Jesus. The reason I stayed with it this time was my friends and my youth group. My family are not Christians.
Like anything else in my life my walk with God was bumpy and I’ve been through many trials but at least this time I knew God was with me. He’s done amazing things in my life. I was healed from alcoholism, healed from the trauma’s in my life, seen Him do miracles in people’s lives that should have been dead. 9 months ago when one of my friends at church lost her husband. It was so hard on many of us. The day he died my friend Lici had a brain anurusum with a two massive clots on her brain the size of a lemon and an orange. She started to bleed out and was in a coma for two weeks. This is a woman I know really well and she’s super special to me. Lots of people all around the world were praying for her. The longer she was in her coma the less likely she would survive. She woke up and the progress she’s made in 9 months can only be known as a miracle. She should be dead and when she left the hospital the doctors told her she will have full recovery. I’ve seen amazing things with God and then others He took home that have been really hard. My friend at church grieves her husband everyday. I hate that for her so much.
My faith is strong now but it’s taken a long time to get here. As I continue with my memoirs I will touch on who I am today because of God. I would not be here today if it was not for Him and what’s He’s done in my life. I love Him with all my heart and soul. I know not everyone believes in Him. I couldn’t imagine my life with Him. He is what gives me strength to go through tough trials and He helped me survive that horrific truama I went through as a child. How else could anyone survive that?
Beauty from Ashes. 