Maranda's Testimony
Hi! My name is Maranda.
I'm 31 and an overcomer of a life of darkness.
I grew up in a good home. I have a wonderful family who loves with every ounce in them. All through school I was a good kid with some pretty amazing friends, but I faced rejection day to day. I can't ever remember anyone being mean or hurtful, and today I can tell you that the rejection I fought came from within. I was rejecting myself and in return I was rejecting others. Still today I have to be careful in this area of my life. I have to remind myself that I am wonderfully made by God himself, who makes no mistakes.
My story is like many others. After years of being the "good girl" I begin experimenting with alcohol and weed. Neither one really "hit the spot" but soon I ran across a drug that for a season did. Within 6 months of graduation I was using meth, which started a cycle. I started the day off with meth, got through the day with xanex and slept at night by using pot. For the next 3 years I would live a life full of darkness. I worked at bars, involved in ungodly,toxic relationships constantly, compromising my life in every way against God.
However, during this time I went to church on Sunday mornings. Not to pretend but to find peace. Through my life of darkness my spirit was crying out. One May morning I woke up and for some reason something inside of me was really fighting me about going to church. I remember feeling ashamed, scared, helpless, and without hope. I fought that feeling and went to church and the moment I walked in the evangelist said "good thing you turned east, and didn't keep driving north, because you would have missed what God has to say to you on this day." Immediately I was stricken with interest. I had fought hell all morning and those were the directions I was driving. He went on to speak out of Deuteronomy 2... "You have been going around this mountain long enough! Soon and very soon every hindrance will be removed."
That's all I remember. My life didn't change that day. However the next month God moved. Everyone around me was in jail. They all went to jail on one night in several bust. I was supposed to be there but God intervene. In the next couple weeks I was being drawn so strong. There was a cross on a light pole I seen every night on my way home. Kyle and Farris gave me a flyer inviting me to Overcomers night On April 29,2006. I blew it off until that very day. But I made a last min decision and went. I sat listening to testimony after testimony in tears. After it was over I went to the alter and I said okay.. I'm ready. I'm tired. Take this high away. I can't change so YOU CHANGE ME. I went home used all the drugs I had.. And never got high. I was changed.
DELIVERANCE. My life was changed forever. April 29, 2006. Since then life has not been all pretty. It has been filled with a lot of falling and getting back up. I found myself once in a drunken stupor thinking dear God, how did I get here. Compromise. Every time I have ever fell it was because I compromised. Gods deliverance has followed me, but there was times I CHOOSE NOT TO WALK IN IT. My life changed again in 2011. The tables turned and I was married to a man who was bound by addiction. I never knew the pain of loving someone with addiction. The pain was greater than I ever felt. All I knew to do was to cry out to God. But one thing I learned was God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL BUT YOU CAN NOT CONTROL OTHERS TO CHANGE.
I found myself depressed, broken, confused and after several affairs, divorced. But once again.. God was there. He carried me high above the storm where depression and brokenness could not go. Today I walk with my head held high. There are times I still stumble but I know where grace is. I'm in the Word of God and I know and believe His promises.
If I could say anything to those broken, it would be- there is Hope.
There is Acceptance.
There is Love.
There is a Way.
Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me"
I'm 31 and an overcomer of a life of darkness.
I grew up in a good home. I have a wonderful family who loves with every ounce in them. All through school I was a good kid with some pretty amazing friends, but I faced rejection day to day. I can't ever remember anyone being mean or hurtful, and today I can tell you that the rejection I fought came from within. I was rejecting myself and in return I was rejecting others. Still today I have to be careful in this area of my life. I have to remind myself that I am wonderfully made by God himself, who makes no mistakes.
My story is like many others. After years of being the "good girl" I begin experimenting with alcohol and weed. Neither one really "hit the spot" but soon I ran across a drug that for a season did. Within 6 months of graduation I was using meth, which started a cycle. I started the day off with meth, got through the day with xanex and slept at night by using pot. For the next 3 years I would live a life full of darkness. I worked at bars, involved in ungodly,toxic relationships constantly, compromising my life in every way against God.
However, during this time I went to church on Sunday mornings. Not to pretend but to find peace. Through my life of darkness my spirit was crying out. One May morning I woke up and for some reason something inside of me was really fighting me about going to church. I remember feeling ashamed, scared, helpless, and without hope. I fought that feeling and went to church and the moment I walked in the evangelist said "good thing you turned east, and didn't keep driving north, because you would have missed what God has to say to you on this day." Immediately I was stricken with interest. I had fought hell all morning and those were the directions I was driving. He went on to speak out of Deuteronomy 2... "You have been going around this mountain long enough! Soon and very soon every hindrance will be removed."
That's all I remember. My life didn't change that day. However the next month God moved. Everyone around me was in jail. They all went to jail on one night in several bust. I was supposed to be there but God intervene. In the next couple weeks I was being drawn so strong. There was a cross on a light pole I seen every night on my way home. Kyle and Farris gave me a flyer inviting me to Overcomers night On April 29,2006. I blew it off until that very day. But I made a last min decision and went. I sat listening to testimony after testimony in tears. After it was over I went to the alter and I said okay.. I'm ready. I'm tired. Take this high away. I can't change so YOU CHANGE ME. I went home used all the drugs I had.. And never got high. I was changed.
DELIVERANCE. My life was changed forever. April 29, 2006. Since then life has not been all pretty. It has been filled with a lot of falling and getting back up. I found myself once in a drunken stupor thinking dear God, how did I get here. Compromise. Every time I have ever fell it was because I compromised. Gods deliverance has followed me, but there was times I CHOOSE NOT TO WALK IN IT. My life changed again in 2011. The tables turned and I was married to a man who was bound by addiction. I never knew the pain of loving someone with addiction. The pain was greater than I ever felt. All I knew to do was to cry out to God. But one thing I learned was God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL BUT YOU CAN NOT CONTROL OTHERS TO CHANGE.
I found myself depressed, broken, confused and after several affairs, divorced. But once again.. God was there. He carried me high above the storm where depression and brokenness could not go. Today I walk with my head held high. There are times I still stumble but I know where grace is. I'm in the Word of God and I know and believe His promises.
If I could say anything to those broken, it would be- there is Hope.
There is Acceptance.
There is Love.
There is a Way.
Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me"