“My story is one of God's amazing grace watching over me and providing for me. Psalms 91:11 says, ‘For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.’
“As a child, I experienced sexual abuse for six years at the hands of a family member. I was embarrassed and felt dirty, ashamed, and somehow to blame. I thought it would not affect my life if no one knew about it. I became secretive and dishonest to keep this dreadful secret hidden, which further made me ashamed. Despite a chaotic and dysfunctional home life, God was teaching me at Sunday school that ‘Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.’ I so longed for that to be true for me. At eight years old, I realized that I was a sinner and needed the salvation of Jesus to save me from hell.
“Because I knew I needed Jesus in my heart, I made a profession of faith in Jesus and was baptized. I didn't realize that I was now an heir to the King and that He would be watching over me and providing for me, no matter what.
“While striving to be a good girl, I secretly felt God's forgiveness was surely for others, but not me. I began to look to fill the hole in my heart with relationships with boys.
“When I fell madly in love with a nonbeliever, I felt like I had crossed a line that God would not forgive because I remembered the Scripture about not being unevenly yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14). But we married in college, and I pretty much forgot about God through those passionate years. Sadly, the Bible stayed on the shelf, but God was still watching over me.
“After college, constant conflict in our marriage resulted in separation and, ultimately, divorce at the same time I discovered I was pregnant.
“Divorce burst my facade of having it all together for the first time. I felt like a failure in everything, and yet I had to keep going as I had a precious baby girl to raise.
“Depression, self-doubt, loneliness, and hopelessness began to overtake me. God so carefully watched over me and my beautiful daughter through these hard days and provided just enough for us.
“Rather than turning to Jesus and putting my total trust in Him, however, I thought finding a husband was still the solution. I would go on to experience five failed marriages with not only verbal but physical abuse, spiraling worse with each marriage.
“When I hit my breaking point, I cried out to God, my greatest resource, for forgiveness and mercy. He was there waiting to lift me up and make me feel safe, secure, loved, and clean.
“I began to seek fervently, joining Bible studies that opened my eyes to the dangers of spiritual warfare, but also how Jesus could heal my heart. Suddenly, I could not get enough of God and Jesus.
“By this time, Melissa had become a wayward teenager. The toll of my failed marriages was showing its effects on her life. I began earnestly praying for her salvation and safety. God had my attention.
“When my next and last marriage continued down a dangerous path, I was forced to stay in Dallas for my safety. A client and friend offered me their empty condo as a place to stay until I could find a safer option.
“I could never have dreamed God would provide for me so immediately in my need to protect me and provide shelter.
“I then moved to Dallas and uprooted my life, and God's intricate plan for me continued to reveal itself. My daughter, Melissa, who had turned her life over to Christ, was starting her master’s degree in Dallas and asked if she could move in with me. And not long after, my mother needed to move out of assisted living. God set it up so we would all be under one roof!
“Melissa ended up working at Watermark. I had the opportunities to heal and grow closer to Christ through the ministries which would later be called re:generation and Courageous Hope. My mom and I experienced a sweet reconciliation from past guilt and hurt. Suddenly, the three of us were all off and running after Jesus together.
“And our home soon became a meeting and gathering place for all types of groups from Watermark. Over the last 15 years, God has provided opportunities for us to love on hundreds of those serving Jesus at Watermark and their families with dinners and gatherings for ministry groups, birthdays, proposals, baby showers, wedding showers, and Bible studies! We wanted to create a place where people could feel safe, valued, refilled, and loved.
“It is only through hindsight, many years later, that I now can connect the dots and explain how truly faithful and amazing His provision for me every day was in every tiny detail, and He continues to provide and watch over me even now in miraculous ways. Through many devastating seasons and in spite of sin in my life, God’s steadfast love truly never failed.”