The Power of Prayer to Change Your Marriage may as well have been written straight to ME!! It was incredible how spot on it was on so many things in our relationship. I read that at the perfect time in my marriage too. When some of my friendships were in jeopardy and we were having difficulties in our marriage, it really helped me in dealing with alot of things. I am so thankful she wrote it!
The other two books were fantastic in their own ways too. Both speaking to me in different ways. It was nice to read all the different ways that help when you try to pray for your husband. Then the praying parent was great for helping me learn different ways to interceed in prayer for my children. If you havent read any of her books, i highly recommend them. She is really awesome and she is defniately another one I would enjoy getting to meet. :)
November 26th-the twenty sixth thing I am thankful for is Christian music and Christian music singers and radio stations that play Christian music! :) It is very nice to have an alternative to listen to than all the crud they play on the mainstream music channels....which i used to LOVE, btw. I used to love rap music and know every artist and all the lyrics to all their filthy songs and I totally loved Lil Wayne...went to see him in concert everytime he came to OKC. Not only him, but i went to see TI and Young Joc and Snoop Dogg and The Game (at the concert that people were worrying about gang violence going on bc Snoop was a crypt and Game was a blood.......yeah....i was there)
Now that I have grown a brain (finally.......at the ripe old age of 28) I can say that thankfully those days are behind me. Fortunately I made it thru them all. While we are at it, my 27th thing I am thankful for is God saving me on the night I was attacked in Bricktown. Ill write more on that in a bit... But for now, I really am thankful for all the Christian singers, Steven Curtis Chapman, Hillsong, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Chris Tomlin, Newsboys, and so on and so forth. They bring meaning back to music. Instead of singing about broken hearts or about hot girls or getting trashed or whatever, they are singing about something WITH PURPOSE!!! They are giving us a way to praise the Lord! I am glad that I switched over to listening to Christian music. I did that around the time that i began my sobriety and it really helped at random times when I would start letting my mind go, that would always bring me right back to what I was doing and WHY I was doing it. So I really am grateful for that!
Now, for November 27--a day early---but the twenty seventh thing i am thankful for is that God saved me on a night when I was being ignorant......well.....one of the MANY nights i was being ignorant. I forgot my credit card in my car (which was a Range Rover at the time) and I was walking out to the car from CityWalk. I left the bar and walked across the street to the alley way I had to go thru to get to my car. Not too many lights around either. I could sense people were behind me but I didnt look back. I remember my heart began to beat a little quick as i could feel them gaining on me. Then they grabbed my arm.....at the time i thought it was prolly some of my buddies behind me catchin up to me or something. But i looked down and realized there was a glove on the guys hand and it surprised me. I turned around to get smacked in the face and I dont really remember what happened after that. I remember coming back to in my car, someway?? To this day, im not postive how i got there. But i was in the car and i had blood all over me and i realized my arm was cut pretty bad and i was bleeding from my head. SO, i called my friend Daniel who was still in CityWalk and I walked back up to the doors. At the time, i went there so often, i knew all the bouncer guys at the front door. I was walking back up and the first one who saw me took off in the direction i had come from as the other two said "OH MY GOSH!!!!" Then one of them said "Call 911....What happened to you???" So i told him that i wasnt exactly postive and by that time Daniel had come outside and it was kind of surreal from there. The ambulance was there in like 15 seconds. It happened so fast. Daniel called my dad while the bouncer guys were trying to get the blood cleaned up. I remember so many people walking by looking at me with a freaked out expression at everything going on and I remember thinking to myself "what must i look like?!?!?"
But after all that happened the ambulance took me to St. Anthony hospital and mom and dad were already there when i got there. The ambulance guy was so nice and funny. He was also the main reason i got to get in a room in the ER without waiting. It was so weird. I had to get a cat scan too, because i wasnt sure what they hit me with. They had to stitch my arm up. the cut on my forehead didnt need stitches, but it left me and my eye swollen up. I had a huge handprint bruise on my arm. Probably the deepest bruise i have ever had. There were big bumps underneath the surface of my skin from it. I assumed it was a handprint, not sure what else it could have been? But the officer that came up to the hospital was nice and he brought me my purse and my keys, which im not sure where i had even left them. He told me and my parents that there had been a white Ford bronco (OJ Simpson, right???) speed off from the parking lot really fast. So they assume that was them. The officer said that there had been a few "gang initiations going on around town" recently and that since all the did was "leave a mark" on me, that was probably what had happened.
However, later, I found out from one of my friends who worked at Wormy Dog and was a security officer there and also an Oklahoma City Police Officer, that he had looked at the surveillance tapes and saw that they had knocked me unconscious and dragged me between two cars and off screen where he couldnt see it any longer. Then he said they ran off pretty quick. I cant say for sure, but I am pretty certain that my guardian angel came around and scared them off. SERIOUSLY!! I dont know why they didnt hurt me any worse. Or take my car. Or my wallet. Or my money. I only had $2 and my ID in my pocket at the time and I still had it when I woke back up. WEIRD! WHY? Because they got scared and ran away. That is why. And I feel certain that my guardian angel also helped me get to my car. I know I had been drinking, but i had not been drinking enough to not remember walking to my vehicle. So it confuses me how i got there, but I choose to believe that she (my angel) helped me get there because i was not in a safe place where i was at. I wish so badly that i could remember. It was surreal when i woke up in the car too. I was shocked ang confused when i saw blood. When i saw my arm was when i finally realized that i better go get help. I debated driving on home, but i didnt know what was even going on, so i thought i better go back in, in case i was not okay. i dont know why that night didnt end worse for me, but i am thankful it didnt. Because even though i was an IDIOT, God still protected me. Just like HE protected me all those nights i drove home WASTED. Or the nights i did more drugs than anyone should. He didnt have to. But HE DID! I know its because how much my parents prayed for me! I am so glad those days are behind me and I am so extremely thankful that He did save me and allow me to be alive to have my babies and watch them grow up!! Thank you, Jesus!!
Great post - intense to read that whole story, and I'm very thankful that God protected you as well!! I actually haven't read any books by Stormie yet, but hopefully soon. :) And yes, yay for Christian music!
ReplyDeleteyeah, i know i havent really talked about it a whole lot, but it was sure a scary night. :( But yes, she is a fantastic author...you will love her books! :):)
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