Welcome to Gaia! ::

My Youth Pastor, Andrew, asked me, since I'm getting ready to graduate, if I wanted to share a little something to the other youth. I thought about it and I decided I wanted to.
But instead of going on about my mom and what happened to her (which they've all heard the story) I decided to ask you all for your testimonies.
It would give everyone a view that there are testimonies outside West Virginia.
That way they can get a view other than the usual "I used to do drugs..."

If you would like me to share your testimony, please PM me or post here.

If you would please include your name (optional), your age, and there you live (not your whole address, of course).
Thank you all!

Thank you!
This story will surly reach out to someone.
-Sam.

I am Cheyenne. I am 18 tomorrow and live in the US.
I was abused at age 7 and became suicidal at that age and was suicidal until age 16 when I found God. I was also a bi sexual until age 16 when I finally turned to God and He has helped me over come depression, suicide, being a bi sexual.
Also, please pray that I also keep strong faith during this rough time. My mother has cancer.

I am trying to come back to God now. It's been a roller coaster.

I'm a Navy brat. I move every 2-4 years all over the US. That right there puts a strain on the family. My parents weren't the most kindred. They never praised me unless I got straight 100s on everything. If I didn't, well there was a lot of mental and a little physical abuse. Anywho, we all went to church every Sunday, no matter what church it was. We believed in the Sunday is a day of rest thing that God had put in the Bible. After a while, we ended up in Washington State. Due to lack of sun, it's highly probable that you will get depression. That's exactly what happened but there are contributing factors besides that. We found a few churches and stuck with one for about 2 weeks at a time. They were all so corrupt. It changed my viewpoint on the church but not on God.

Now this next part you may or may not believe. I was attacked by demons. My dad was stationed out to sea practically the entire time we lived in WA. My older brother had ran away, though I thought he was dead. My mom was at work all the time. I was 8. I raised myself, I had no one to look up to. I had my depression . I tried to kill myself so many times by inducing asthma attacks and not treating them, by taking a lot of advil, by walking in the middle of streets trying to get hit. That's when I started to really turn away. By the time I was 11, I no longer believed. My mother went psychotic several times and she almost killed me at least once.

Eventually we moved to Florida. All was well I guess, it was my first year in high school. I met some amazing people and went to their church. Soon after they all became obsessed with money and looks and status. I left there quickly. Junior year, I moved 4 times in a month and my parents got divorced. Senior year comes around and I start dawdling in drugs and alcohol and all that. I all but dropped out of school. I was definitely a truant and I didn't care. My dad and his side of the family managed to get me into OSU here in Oklahoma. I was happy!

Once I moved here for college, I made some friends, started going to church and really enjoyed life. Now I realize the only friends I had were my family and those in the church. I had joined a club here and thought they were my friends. That was not the case. They didn't do anything too bad, it's just you could tell they weren't real friends. Eventually I left the church. I haven't been there in months.

However, a recent tragedy is now bringing me back to Christ. Someone everyone loved named Ben died on the 6th of this month. He was a strong Christian. He was sweet and I didn't know him very well. I still considered him a friend because my family loved him. Well, now he's gone and I don't think I've been this heartbroken in my life. It took his death for me to really wish to come back to God. Now I just need the guidance.

So far, this is my story. I think that's about it.