My Personal Testimony

I'm glad I have eternal life because of God's love for me and his mercy and grace. I now have inner peace and faith to face my fears because I know God is always with me. I am learning to trust in God's plan for my life and seeking to find the purpose in my life. God has blessed me with a wonderful family and friends whose patience and love has given me strength to keep going each day even through the times I felt like quitting.

In January 2014, my father passed away after a long stay in the hospital after heart bypass surgery. A month later, my ex-husband told me he was filing for divorce. That was not so unexpected as we were separated for a year. I decided at that time that my son and I would move to Tamarac from Miami to live with my mom. I thought it was the right thing to do. Never did I imagine for the next two years I would be involved in a very bitter and tumultuous divorce and custody battle. My ex-husband fought to keep our son in Miami and after two years of bitter motions and one-sided, untruthful guardian reports, a judge who seemed to care more about being funny than making decisions that would be better for a 7 year old at the time, and close to $21,000 in legal fees, I decided to accept the decision to keep my son in his school in Miami. During the time of my father's illness, my ex-husband and my separation, my son began acting out at school and at home. I was running him to therapy, recreational sports, and any and every party and family get-togethers to get his mind off the family troubles. That helped a little as he was doing better in school and seem to be accepting the new schedule of only seeing and spending time with him mom 3 times a week, sometimes 2. During all of this I left a very comfy job in my firm's Miami office to transfer to the Ft. Lauderdale office and work for one of the most difficult boss I ever had. There were many late nights at the office and Saturday mornings at work just to keep up with the workload. I could not believe what my life had become. Some nights, I would just drop at my bedside and hold my head in my hands and cry out to God asking why. "Why are you putting me through all of this Lord?"

But, I thank God for my CLC family and our Pastor's vision. I got connected to a life group and now they are my extended family. They pray for me constantly, they lift me up and encourage me to forgive my ex and all those who were involved in trying to harm me. They give me hope that one day my son will come back to live with me full-time. I draw from their knowledge and their experiences and it has given me peace. I am no longer in that place of despair. I no longer feel less than a mother because her only child is living with his father. I still question God sometimes on why its taking so long or how much more can I endure but I quickly tell myself right after that God is in control. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." He has my life planned out for me for sure and I know I can trust Him. I may not know the reasons some things happen. I may never know why but I know this... as it is written in Genesis 50:20 NLT "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." I am trusting Him and I am encouraging others to keep the faith.