Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018108A
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:13 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:10 All right. 01:11 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn. 01:13 JD Quinn. Yes. 01:14 And aren't we glad, we know who we are. 01:17 We just want to thank you so much for joining us today. 01:20 And I'm gonna tell you, 01:22 there is no better sermon in the world 01:24 than a personal testimony. 01:26 And when you see 01:29 the testimony of the couple we have with us today, 01:32 when you hear this testimony, 01:34 it is going to amaze you at how powerful God is, 01:39 how loving God is, 01:41 how patient God is. 01:44 And that's what today, 01:45 this is all about a personal testimony, 01:49 and this is gonna lift your spirits 01:51 like you can't believe. 01:53 I've heard part of it, you're coming out here cold. 01:55 You haven't heard their story yet. 01:57 But I'm so excited because... 01:58 You will be. 01:59 I mean, there's already tears that are whirling up, 02:01 so that means that 02:02 the Holy Spirit indeed is present. 02:04 Amen, amen. 02:05 Well, let me go ahead and introduce 02:07 our special guests. 02:09 And we have Christopher and Cecilia Mitchell, 02:13 but we're gonna call you Chris and Ceci, right? 02:16 That's fine, yeah. 02:17 Thank you so much for being here 02:20 and just hearing the few minutes of your story 02:22 that I've heard, 02:24 the scripture that came to my mind 02:27 to best fit this program is Ecclesiastes 3:11. 02:33 Let me read that to you. 02:34 Ecclesiastes 3:11, 02:37 and Solomon is writing about God, and he said, 02:41 "He has made everything beautiful 02:45 in its time. 02:47 Also He has put eternity in their hearts." 02:51 God has put eternity in every one of our hearts. 02:55 And then he goes on to say, 02:58 "Except that no one can find out the work 03:00 that God does from beginning to end, " 03:03 We're gonna spend eternity understanding the Lord. 03:07 But no doubt, God put eternity in your hearts 03:12 and it took nearly an eternity for you to correct but no. 03:16 It is so exciting to me. 03:17 So we can't wait to hear that, 03:21 but we know how much you love music at home. 03:24 And today, we have one of my dear friends, 03:27 Sandra Entermann. 03:28 I think that she's... 03:30 I just love her voice and she... 03:33 That little Australian accent, 03:34 but I love the way 03:36 her vibrato rolls in at the end. 03:38 She's such a precious Christian, 03:40 young lady. 03:41 And she's going to be joined by Aleta King, 03:44 who is one of her friends, 03:46 and Kristie Sipec will be at the piano, 03:49 and they're going to sing "Replace it with Your love." 04:08 Where there's hate 04:12 Give me love 04:16 And where there's pride 04:19 Make me be humble 04:23 And where there's pain don't let me feel 04:28 Resentment deep inside 04:34 I want You to make it right 04:39 So replace it with Your love in my heart 04:47 Replace it with Your love in my heart 04:54 Just take out all the hatred and cleanse every part 05:01 And replace it with Your love in my heart 05:16 When I'm tired 05:20 Lift me up 05:23 And when I'm weak, Lord 05:26 Don't let me falter 05:30 But if I fall 05:33 Don't let me harbor bitterness 05:38 Inside 05:41 I want You to take it out 05:46 So replace it with Your love In my heart 05:53 Replace it with Your love In my heart 06:01 Just take out all the hatred and cleanse every part 06:08 And replace it with Your love In my heart 06:15 'Cause, Lord, I am just a girl 06:19 Who wants to be like You 06:23 Living in Your perfect love 06:27 In everything I do 06:31 So now I'm yielding I'm yielding all to You 06:38 To take out every wrong I feel 06:42 Inside 06:47 And replace it with Your love 06:51 In my heart 06:56 Replace it with Your love in my heart 07:03 Just take out all the hatred and cleanse every part 07:10 And replace it with Your love in my heart 07:16 In my heart 07:21 And replace it 07:26 With Your love in my 07:33 Heart 07:48 Sandra certainly is easy to love. 07:50 Yeah, she is. 07:51 And what a beautiful song. 07:53 We thank you so much 07:54 to Sandra Entermann and friends. 07:57 Well, if you're joining us just a little late, right now, 08:01 we have a very special couple with us. 08:04 And today is gonna be their personal testimony. 08:08 And we have with us Chris and Ceci, 08:11 it's actually Christopher and Cecilia 08:13 but we're gonna say Chris and Ceci Mitchell. 08:16 And you're from Hayden, Alabama. 08:19 Chris, start with the story 08:24 of a letter that you found, what, ten years ago, 08:28 that was written to you when you were three months old. 08:32 My mother and father, 08:34 they went to Brewster Baptist Church in Birmingham 08:38 before they got into divorce. 08:40 And the pastor of the church actually wrote a letter 08:44 when I was three months old. 08:46 He was telling me that he was there 08:50 the day I was born in the hospital, 08:53 and he waited all day with my dad. 08:56 He let me know I had two other brothers 08:58 and that my family loved me. 09:01 And he said, 09:03 "I see you going on a great adventurous life. 09:07 And all the way through it, just be Chris." 09:09 And he said, "Someday, you'll come to know the Lord, 09:14 and maybe be a gigantic Christian 09:17 for a gigantic God." 09:19 Wow! 09:20 In this letter, I mean, 09:22 you know, I've always taken girlfriends to my moms, 09:24 and we've looked into photo albums, 09:26 and I never saw this letter. 09:30 And it was after... 09:32 Somewhere around 2005, and we were up there, 09:38 and we were going through the photo album, 09:40 and I see this envelope, and it has my name on it, 09:43 and I opened it up, and it's this letter. 09:45 And I asked my mom, she said, 09:46 "Yes, it's always been in the photo album." 09:49 Praise God. And I've never seen it. 09:50 So you grew up in this wonderful Christian home? 09:55 No. 09:56 Tell us your story? 09:58 Okay. 10:00 My real mom and dad, 10:02 they divorced when I was around seven. 10:05 My mom and I and my oldest brother moved to 10:09 actually the Everglades, Florida, 10:12 and that's where she met my step-dad, 10:17 and it was kind of the same situation. 10:21 My real dad was a woman chaser, 10:24 and an alcoholic 10:26 but he went to work every single day, 10:28 never missed a day. 10:30 Now my new step-dad, 10:32 he was some kind of like an alcoholic, 10:35 but he still worked, and there was always conflict. 10:39 There was times 10:41 when my dad wouldn't come home from work 10:43 on a Friday night, 10:44 he would be going out to the bars. 10:47 And one funny story was that, him and his brother-in-law 10:51 went out to a bar, 10:53 and his own son-in-law ran him over 10:56 with his own truck and broke his leg. 11:00 But my mom 11:03 and my step-dad, they bickered a lot. 11:06 And my mom was... 11:10 I don't know if she was a manic depressive or just... 11:13 She's depressed a lot, 11:16 so we lived two miles out in the Everglades 11:19 down the Sherlock Road. 11:22 And on each side was either a canal or the everglades. 11:26 So at, I guess around eight years old, 11:29 I would have to walk two miles down this dirt road 11:33 and hear all the alligators and the wild cats and stuff. 11:37 And snakes. And snakes. 11:39 And I'd have to get myself up, 11:41 make my breakfast, take care of myself. 11:44 And so I just kind of grew up quick. 11:48 I played with alligators, I called alligators. 11:51 This place that we lived in was actually a fish camp, 11:54 and people would come out, 11:56 rent boats, and they go fishing. 11:58 Well, at eight years old, 11:59 I would put the gas tanks 12:01 in the little motors on the back of the boats 12:05 and then put the lock preservers in there. 12:07 Then that people would go out. 12:08 And when they come back, I would clean all that out, 12:11 you know their cans and the fishing stuff. 12:15 I think it was like six or seven miles past 12:18 where the fish camp was on this dock. 12:20 And this dock is about a hundred foot wide, 12:22 and you got glades and swamp on each side. 12:25 They had dynamite sheds, 12:27 where they stored dynamite for the construction in, 12:30 you know, Miami and those areas out there. 12:33 Well, the truck drivers would come in on Saturday 12:36 and they would pay me, 12:37 and I would go out there, and I would help them 12:39 unload these 80 pound boxes of dynamite. 12:42 At eight years old, 12:43 I was unloading this dynamite boxes 12:46 out of these trucks, 12:47 and let them go down this little shoots 12:48 and he would stack them up. 12:51 At eight, I got to ride on a bombardier, 12:54 which is like this tank but has a water cannon. 12:57 And when the Everglades dried up in the summer time, 13:01 there was just wildfires. 13:03 Well, after they were contained a little bit, so there I was, 13:06 eight years old, getting ride on this bombardier, 13:08 shooting this water cannon. 13:11 So I grew up quick, I had a lot of experiences. 13:14 My parents moved from there, 13:16 we moved to Miami and Hollywood, Florida, 13:19 Okeechobee, we moved around a lot, 13:21 he was in construction. 13:24 I guess it was 12 years old, 13:27 we were living in Hollywood, Florida, 13:30 that's when I started with the drugs. 13:33 Oh my. 13:34 And I know a lot of... 13:35 You all hear lot of the school shootings 13:37 and stuff now? 13:39 But let's say, back then, 13:42 I'm almost 50 now 13:43 so that's been quite a while back. 13:46 The school that I went to, 13:48 it had eight-foot chain-link fence 13:50 with three rows of barbwire on top of it. 13:53 And back then, the kids were still coming 13:56 or bringing guns and knives to school. 13:59 So I'm familiar with all these. 14:02 So like I said, I had to be tough, 14:04 I had to grow up and... 14:07 When you say you started into drugs, 14:09 what did you do? 14:10 At 12 years old, I started smoking pot. 14:13 There was a young boy that sit next to me in class, 14:16 and we would actually... 14:17 We had the older desk that you would flip up, 14:20 and we'd flip them up, 14:22 and we just slide them together, 14:23 and I would actually buy marijuana from him, 14:26 and then skip school at 13 years old, 14:29 12 years old and do these things. 14:32 Now how old were you when you left home? 14:34 I was 16 when I left home. 14:36 And? 14:37 I finished the 10th grade, 14:41 and I had moved out to go to Talladega... 14:43 My parents had moved up to Alabama this time, 14:47 moved to Talladega to do some work 14:50 during the summertime. 14:52 And realized, "Hey, I'm 16, I'm making this money." 14:58 I actually rented my own trailer, 15:00 had a roommate. 15:03 And experienced at being able to take care of myself, 15:06 so I was like, "Well, hey. 15:08 I'm not gonna go back home. 15:10 I'm gonna quit school, and I'm gonna stay here." 15:13 Of course, I told my mom, I called my mom up, 15:15 and she's like, "Oh, no, your daddy will have to... 15:18 He'll come down and drag you home." 15:19 I said, "Well, he's gonna have to come and drag me 15:21 'cause I'm through with school, 15:23 you know, I'm working and making money." 15:26 So actually it was 16. 15:27 Okay, but by the time you were 18, 15:31 I mean, you had your own place, you had your vehicle, 15:35 you had all these things going for you. 15:38 But by the time you were 18, 15:40 the drugs started increasing, it was beyond marijuana, 15:44 tell us about that? 15:45 Yes, I've worked at a plumbing company 15:48 and remodel with my brother, 15:50 so I have made a lot of money at 18. 15:53 I had an apartment, two vehicles, all my, 15:56 you know, furniture that I needed. 15:58 At that time, I was just doing a lot of drinking 16:01 and snorting cocaine. 16:04 And I had a friend that was my supplier, 16:08 he introduced me into crack. 16:09 Oh, mercy. 16:11 So that started it. 16:15 I had smoked so much that one night that, 16:18 I thought my heart was gonna explode, 16:21 but that didn't scare me enough. 16:25 And eventually, I got so hooked on the crack 16:27 and the coke that I would stay up all night, 16:31 and I would take some pills to help me sleep. 16:33 Well, then the pills would keep me from waking up. 16:37 So then I got addicted to the pills too. 16:41 So like everyone knows what Xanax's are, 16:44 and I was eating 16:46 seven to ten Xanax's at one time. 16:47 Oh my goodness. 16:49 Plus a case of beer. 16:50 So how did that affect your life? 16:52 I eventually lost my job. 16:56 My brother didn't want to work with me anymore 16:58 'cause I was a drug addict. 17:00 I ended up losing my apartment, sold all of my furniture, 17:03 everything I had and slept in my car. 17:07 I don't know, it's probably 17:09 a month or so and realized that I had a problem. 17:13 And what really set me off was, I was at a friend's house, 17:18 and he liked to run cocaine through a needle in his arm. 17:23 And he went to the bathroom, 17:26 run his needle, come back, sat down on his chair, 17:28 and we're sitting there talking. 17:31 And he was watching TV, and I looked back over at him, 17:36 and he wasn't breathing, he was already turning purple, 17:40 his tongue was hanging out. 17:41 So when you're in this kind of situation, 17:43 the only thing you can think about 17:48 is that they'll blame you. 17:51 So I do know a little bit about CPR. 17:56 I like studying, 17:57 I like learning a lot of things. 17:59 So I performed CPR on him, he came back to life, 18:03 and the first words out of his mouth 18:05 was where's my stuff? 18:06 I'm like, "Dude, you just died." 18:09 So I knew I needed to get away from there. 18:12 So I called my mom up and said, "Mom, look. 18:14 I'm strung now, I need help, I need to come home, 18:17 and I need to get off drugs." 18:19 Okay. 18:20 So how many years did you do drugs? 18:23 And at what point... 18:24 How many years have you all been together? 18:26 Twenty three. Twenty three years. 18:30 How many years did you do drugs? 18:32 And then I want to talk about how you all met. 18:35 But tell us a little bit about that seedy side of life 18:39 'cause when he said 18:40 you would lead an adventurous life, 18:42 you clicked off a number of things for me 18:45 in the green room that you did. 18:47 What would you like to hear first? 18:48 Yeah, you just go through, 18:49 just kind of click them off for us right now. 18:51 Of course, in Miami, Florida, at 12 or 13, 18:57 I started break dancing. 18:59 I know you're all familiar with break dancing. 19:02 So we went from break dancing till when I was 18, 19, 19:07 I could get into bars. 19:09 So I started club dancing and knew that... 19:13 That picked up women. 19:15 So I went from club dancing 19:17 at that time as when I got into... 19:18 I'm gonna have to ask this question 19:20 'cause I'm a little bit naive. 19:22 Is club dancing stripping? 19:25 No, club dancing is just where they go out 19:27 and they bump and grind. 19:29 It's a provocative. Provocative dance. 19:31 Okay, provocative dancing. 19:33 And at that time, you know, I was a big guy, 19:37 I worked out a lot. 19:39 Of course, this previous accident, 19:41 I almost lost 30 pounds from the wreck. 19:45 But from break dancing to club dancing 19:49 to doing hard bodies contest 19:52 which you would actually basically strip in a club 19:57 just to show the muscles and everything. 19:59 And I was approached and they're like, 20:01 "Hey, would you like to do a bachelorette party?" 20:04 So I was like, "Oh, stripping bunch of... 20:06 in front of bunch of women." 20:07 Yes, I'll do that. 20:09 And we're not... 20:11 You know, I want to be careful here 20:12 'cause we don't want to spend too much time on this, 20:15 but we just want you to know 20:19 that, sometimes when we see somebody and we think, 20:24 "Oh, they've had problems in the past, " 20:28 sometimes we don't realize how far down you can go, 20:31 and how seedy life can be? 20:33 We live in a bubble. 20:35 Don't we as Christians? 20:36 Yes, we do. 20:38 And it becomes your norm. 20:39 Yeah, so we're not trying to give Satan any glory 20:45 because I know where you're at today 20:48 and what you told me about where you're at. 20:50 But life for you, you went through all these things, 20:55 and it was just this downward spiral, wasn't it? 20:59 Violence, rage. 21:03 Basically, could have had attempted murder charge 21:06 and hate crime against me but I lay off and ran, 21:09 I didn't get caught. 21:11 I'll tell you what, 21:12 God's had His hand on you through all of this. 21:13 Yes, through all my life. He has. 21:16 So now, you quit drugs before you met Ceci. 21:21 Yeah, I was drinking and smoking a little pot. 21:24 So, Ceci, tell us about how the two of you met. 21:28 And give us a little background on you, 21:30 did you grow up in Christian home? 21:32 No, I did not. 21:34 My mom was raised Catholic. 21:36 Went to the Catholic school, 21:38 her father was very devout Catholic. 21:42 I went to a Catholic church as a young child with her. 21:45 And then she stopped, 21:47 so then, you know, I didn't go no more, 21:48 and then that was it. 21:50 There was no more church, 21:52 and I never knew who God was at all. 21:58 I knew a little bit about Jesus, 22:00 but not a whole lot, 22:02 didn't know that any other denomination existed. 22:04 Okay. 22:06 All I knew was, I was Catholic. 22:07 And I guess, I was about 20 years old, 22:12 and my mom started attending a Seventh-day Adventist Church, 22:16 and which I thought was odd, 22:18 'cause she went to church on a Saturday. 22:21 I was always accustomed to Sunday. 22:23 And I thought, "Well, you know, that's her thing. 22:26 You know, I'm fine with it." 22:27 And she would talk to me and invite me. 22:29 And I just wasn't interested. 22:32 I didn't wanna know about God, 22:34 I was perfectly happy with my life 22:36 the way that it was, I thought. 22:39 And I had my first son when I was 21, 22:44 and I had my second son when I was 23, 22:47 and I was a single mom. 22:50 And you were a single mom with the same father for both. 22:52 Yes, both of my boys had the same father, 22:55 but we did not marry 22:56 until after both of them was born. 22:58 And the only reason why I married him 23:00 is 'cause I needed a place to stay. 23:02 Okay. 23:03 My family had left Florida, 23:05 and I was the only one down there. 23:07 I had no one else. 23:08 And this one lady 23:10 wouldn't let us live there together 23:12 unless we were married. 23:14 Didn't want to marry him 23:15 but I needed a place for my boys. 23:17 So we got married. 23:18 That lasted about a month. 23:20 And I said, "That's it, I'm leaving." 23:23 So I packed up, moved to Alabama 23:26 because this is where my dad's side of the family is. 23:28 And I was working at Cracker Barrel in Gardendale. 23:32 And he would come in for dinner 23:34 because I was working the night shift, 23:36 and he was very attractive to me 23:39 but I couldn't wait on him because I was nervous. 23:41 And you were still Mr. Muscle 23:43 'cause you recently had an accident 23:46 that's caused you to lose quite a bit of a weight. 23:49 So you didn't want to wait on him 23:51 because you were attracted. 23:54 He intimidated me, yes, I was very attracted to him. 23:56 And I just could not wait on him. 23:57 Now tell us, I mean, 23:59 he's this six foot five muscular guy 24:00 with long hair. 24:03 And when I first saw him in the tattoos 24:06 and I was attracted to him. 24:08 I was living in the world for the world. 24:10 He was worldly, it was attracting. 24:13 And when I saw him at the hostess stand, 24:17 my first thought was, 24:18 "That's the man I'm gonna marry." 24:21 Didn't meet him, couldn't meet him, 24:23 'cause I was nervous. 24:24 Coworker of mine lived in front of him. 24:28 And she was wanting to introduce me to him, 24:31 but she didn't think he was my type. 24:34 She thought, I went more with the preppy look, 24:38 and I was like, "No, not at all." 24:41 This is the one. 24:42 Yes, the bad boy image was what I was all about. 24:45 And you got it. I did. 24:47 You were looking for a bad boy and you got. 24:49 Yeah, I did. 24:50 What was your heart like at the moment? 24:53 I mean, when you saw her, you were very attracted to her. 24:56 But was there any real emotion 25:02 or was it more of a physical attraction? 25:05 Physical. 25:07 Just physical. 25:08 Okay. 25:10 I wasn't looking for relationship 25:11 or anything like that. 25:12 All right. 25:14 And at that time, I really didn't have 25:17 any feelings or compassion 25:20 other than what the desires of my flesh, 25:25 that was it. 25:26 So you were completely self-absorbed 25:28 is what you're saying? 25:29 All right. All right. 25:31 So you meet her, you are moving in together, 25:35 kind of give us a little history? 25:39 As we were friends and she would come over, 25:44 she would cook some nights and I was like, 25:46 "Wow, this woman can cook really good." 25:49 And then sometimes, you know, I gave her key to my house 25:52 so I would come home and it would be clean. 25:55 And I was like, "Wow, you know, this is pretty good." 25:58 But a lot of times when I would call her, she'd be crying, 26:02 you know, she missed her kids. 26:03 Her kids were still living with her mother in Florida. 26:06 So my thing is, "We could kill two birds with one stone. 26:11 I could give her a place to stay 26:13 so she could have her kids. 26:14 Because her dad didn't want her kids up here 26:16 because that's where she was living with. 26:19 And I could have someone there to cook and clean for me." 26:24 So I said, "Hey, why don't we do this. 26:27 I'll move you in, and well, we'll go down 26:31 and pick your kids up." 26:32 And we did, drove down to West Palm Beach. 26:35 I mean, straight down, never stopped, just to get gas, 26:39 picked up the boys, and drove straight back. 26:41 Now how old were the boys, Ceci? 26:43 Three and five. 26:44 They were three and five. 26:46 So you told me earlier before we came out on this set, 26:52 you never wanted children. 26:55 And if you were... 26:56 It's all about self. It's all about self. 26:58 So now all of a sudden, 26:59 you've got this beautiful young woman 27:02 who's a great cook and good housekeeper. 27:06 But she's got a three-year-old, and a five-year-old, 27:09 and you're living with this, how did that go? 27:11 Not very good. 27:12 It may have lasted two months. 27:14 And I was like, "Oh, I can't handle this." 27:18 And I actually wrote her 'Dear John' letter, 27:21 and while she was at work, and got all my stuff out. 27:24 And left her to defend for herself, 27:27 working at Cracker Barrel to try to, 27:30 you know, raise the boys, and pay all the bills. 27:34 And I guess the Lord, at that time, 27:40 like I was saying earlier, 27:42 He was just starting to peel a layer like an onion. 27:46 Onion has a lot of layers. 27:48 So He was just peeling the layer off my heart, 27:50 softening my heart, preparing me 27:52 for what He was going to do. 27:54 And how long did you stay separated? 27:58 It probably wouldn't even a month and I would feel bad. 28:01 I was like, "How can I do this, you know? 28:04 I'm the one to put her in this situation. 28:06 At least before, they were with her mother 28:09 or their grandmother. 28:10 And they were taking care of, you know." 28:12 And so I felt responsible. 28:15 So there was a little empathy in you. 28:17 Oh, yeah. Good. 28:19 The Lord was working fast in me. 28:20 Okay. 28:22 And so for four years, I mean, it was off and on. 28:25 I would move in, I couldn't handle it. 28:28 And then when I was away, I'd feel miserable. 28:32 So when you say off and on, you were living together, 28:35 then you were separated, living together, separated. 28:38 And were you faithful during that time? 28:40 Oh, no. 28:42 And you, were you married yet? No. 28:45 You weren't married. We dated for four years. 28:47 And I was wanting to get married, 28:50 you know, had the boys, 28:51 so I was wanting a husband and a father figure. 28:55 And I wanted to be married, I didn't want to be single. 28:59 So after the four years, I finally told him. 29:02 I said, "This is it. 29:04 We're either going to get married, 29:05 or leave me alone 29:06 so I can go on with my life and find somebody." 29:10 So we got married. 29:12 But that didn't change anything. 29:15 So you still had this pattern of living together, 29:18 being separated, and being unfaithful. 29:22 Yeah. 29:24 Wow. 29:26 We had gotten married, 29:27 and the boys was wanting to go to church, 29:31 and I had many problems. 29:34 I still had the pornography addiction. 29:37 Matter of fact, the day... 29:39 Well, I'll back up. 29:41 So when you married him, he was not doing drugs 29:43 but he was into pornography. 29:45 Yes. Yes. 29:47 This was so bad that I had these bookshelves, 29:50 and I probably had somewhere around 29:54 2,000 magazines. 29:56 Wow. 29:57 And the magazines range from $7 to $10 a piece, 30:01 and I had them all stacked up, 30:02 like you would have on a bookshelf, 30:04 and yeah, I had a real bad problem. 30:08 And that was my thing. 30:09 That was my god. 30:12 There was nothing more important than women. 30:14 Did you have any friends? 30:16 Or was this basically just something 30:17 that you harbored within yourself? 30:20 I had a few friends that, 30:22 you know, a few friends that I worked out with 30:24 and stuff like that. 30:25 But I was always a loner. 30:28 What little friends I had when we go out to a club, 30:31 you know, they would get in some trouble, 30:33 and they needed back up, 30:34 "Hey, let's get big Chris," you know. 30:36 So I really never had any real friends. 30:40 So there's same pattern every three to six months, 30:43 he's out the door, did you know he was unfaithful 30:47 when you and he were separated? 30:49 But you kept letting him come back home. 30:53 So how did God reach down 30:58 into this boiling cauldron of dysfunction? 31:03 How did he first get your attention? 31:09 I guess, He just let me, 31:11 just over the period of years of, 31:13 you know, putting her through all that, 31:15 He just kept peeling the layers off. 31:19 And I finally realized that, 31:22 you know, we got to do something. 31:24 I mean, I can't keep living this way, 31:26 and I can't live in that way. 31:28 Something's got to give. 31:30 And then, of course, the boys, 31:32 you know, they are wanting me to go to church. 31:34 And I told you earlier... 31:35 So who was taking them to church? 31:37 My mother. Your mother. 31:38 Yes, they would go... 31:40 She had moved up from Florida. 31:41 Yeah, she moved up from Florida. 31:42 Was she still Catholic at this time? 31:44 No, she was already Seventh-day Adventist. 31:45 She was the Seventh-day Adventist Christian, okay. 31:48 Yes, she was. 31:49 And she was living with my oldest brother 31:51 in Center Point. 31:52 So she would pick them up for the weekend, 31:55 and they would go to church with her. 31:57 And then when they would come home, 31:58 they would start asking, 32:00 "When would you all gonna start going to church?" 32:02 Yes, okay, okay. 32:04 And it started working on me first. 32:06 I really think the Holy Spirit started dealing with me first 32:12 because then it got me thinking, 32:14 "If my children are coming home 32:16 and asking me, 32:18 "When are you all gonna go to church", 32:20 there's something not right here." 32:22 So I started telling Chris that I wanted to start 32:26 going to church, 32:27 because I wanted to go as a family. 32:29 I didn't feel like my children needed to go with my mother, 32:32 they needed to go with me. 32:34 I'm their mother. So he was Baptist. 32:38 So we attended this one Baptist Church, 32:42 and we weren't married. 32:44 And I couldn't sit in there 32:46 because I had such heavy conviction on me 32:49 for living in sin. 32:52 And I felt like everybody in church knew, 32:55 even though they didn't, and I couldn't go back. 32:59 So God was really dealing with me, 33:02 and I was trying to ignore Him and trying to push Him away. 33:06 But it kept getting stronger through the boys. 33:09 You're trying to push the Lord away? 33:11 Yes, I was trying to push God away. 33:13 And then we finally went. 33:16 So tell us about this evangelist 33:18 that you happened to hire for your work crew? 33:23 God works in mysterious ways. 33:25 This is a great story. 33:26 So I had my own painting business. 33:29 And I hired an evangelist preacher. 33:32 And, you know, he travelled a lot. 33:34 So when he was in town, he'd like to paint. 33:37 So I hired him. 33:38 And, of course, he's always, 33:39 "Hey, why don't you come to church? 33:41 Why don't you come to church." 33:42 And finally, I just got tired of everybody 33:45 asking me to church. 33:47 And I said, "Okay, I'll go." 33:49 And you know, our boys are wanting us to go too. 33:52 Now what denomination was he? 33:54 He was a Church of God. Okay. 33:57 So Pentecostal? Yes. 34:00 So we went. 34:01 And I don't think it was the first time we went. 34:04 No, it wasn't. 34:06 The first time we went, it was like, "Okay, this is okay, 34:09 you know, not bad." 34:11 The second time, the pastor started preaching, 34:16 and he would even a quarter way through his sermon, 34:19 and it's hard to explain, 34:23 but it felt like God reached down in my heart, 34:27 and He pulled that stony heart out 34:30 and replaced it with a heart of flesh. 34:33 And like I told you earlier, no conscience, 34:38 you know, nothing ever bothered me, no fears. 34:43 It seemed like that day, God let me feel every pain 34:47 and suffering that I caused people. 34:50 All the women that... 34:53 Not physically abused, but mentally abused. 34:55 Emotionally? Emotionally. 34:57 All the men that I beat. 35:02 There was one instance in Orlando, Florida 35:05 with three of us guys went into a house 35:10 and we beat a man so bad. 35:12 We knocked him unconscious, and we continue to kick him, 35:16 and his body flopped around like a rag doll. 35:18 Oh, mercy. 35:20 I was a very violent man, I had a bad temper. 35:24 So that day, God let me feel everything 35:29 that I've ever done to anybody. 35:31 He let me feel it, so that I would know. 35:35 And I started crying, and I couldn't stop crying. 35:38 I cried for three days. 35:41 Every time, I would just turn around and think about, 35:43 what I'd done. 35:45 So there was true remorse. Yes. 35:47 Praise God! First time in my life. 35:49 Praise God! 35:51 And it's a feeling that I can't explain, a relief, 35:56 it's like winding a spring up or something. 35:59 And all of a sudden, all that tension is gone. 36:01 Yeah. Go ahead. 36:03 Well and released? Yes. 36:06 You know, relieved and released. 36:08 You know, I'm seeing that 36:10 the clock is beginning to wind down, 36:12 so I want to kind of fast forward here. 36:15 God really touched your heart and restored that 36:22 or gave you 36:24 the emotional aspect of your life 36:26 that you've been missing. 36:28 And you all begin going to church, 36:30 but not anything is really changing. 36:33 You didn't really have a relationship with him. 36:37 Tell us what the turning point was when you finally... 36:41 That last year... 36:42 You went to church for many years 36:44 but then you quit going to church for a year. 36:46 Tell us about that. 36:47 A year before Chris really, 36:50 or both of us really gave ourselves to Christ 36:53 and started to know Him and have a relationship. 36:56 It got really bad between the two of us. 37:00 And I really felt like I was living with Satan. 37:03 That's how bad he had gotten. 37:06 And I was home alone one day, 37:09 and I really felt like God was telling me, 37:12 "This is the last time, I'm calling you. 37:15 I'm not gonna call you no more." 37:17 Calling you where? 37:19 He was dealing with me about the Sabbath 37:21 for many years prior. 37:22 And I kept pushing Him away and ignoring Him. 37:25 And I wouldn't make any changes. 37:28 I wanted to do what he wanted to do, 37:31 not what God wanted me to do. 37:34 And I really felt that in my heart 37:37 that God was saying, "I'm not calling you no more." 37:40 Just start keeping the Sabbath... 37:42 So you're not even been in church for a year, 37:43 and now He is calling you. 37:45 And I was like, "Okay." 37:46 That got my attention. 37:48 And I said, "Okay, Lord, you've got my attention. 37:51 I'm gonna start keeping the Sabbath. 37:54 If this is what You want me to do 37:55 and this is the right thing to do, 37:57 this is what I'm gonna start doing 37:59 whether I've to do this alone." 38:01 I released Chris into God's hands 38:07 because it wasn't my husband. 38:09 Yeah. 38:13 He was someone you were married to, 38:14 he just wasn't being a husband. 38:16 Yes, yes. 38:17 And I asked God for a new husband, 38:20 and I really thought that we were gonna get divorced. 38:25 And then, God was gonna send me someone 38:28 that was very godly and loving affectionate man. 38:32 Little did I know, he did send me a new man, 38:37 but it was in the same body. 38:40 Yeah. 38:42 When you were praying to God, you were very specific about 38:46 what you wanted in a man, in a husband? 38:47 Yes, I was. Yes. 38:49 The first and most important thing to me 38:52 was that he had to be a man of God. 38:55 And God had to come first in his life, no matter what. 38:59 And I needed to come second, not last. 39:03 You know, some people are intimidated by that thought 39:07 that their spouse would love the Lord more. 39:10 Yes, they are. 39:11 But we always tell people, if you look like, 39:13 this is the husband and the wife, 39:15 you get married and you're bound. 39:16 But if Jesus is up here or God's up there, 39:19 the closer you get to the Lord, what's happening? 39:22 The closer you become with your spouse. 39:24 Yeah, yeah. 39:26 But he comes home 39:28 and you pretty much tell him off. 39:29 Yeah, I had had my fulfillment. 39:31 For 17 years, I went through this with him, the leaving, 39:35 the coming home, the cheating, the pornography off and on, 39:40 and I couldn't take it no more. 39:42 And I had done my research, 39:44 I was going to move back to Florida. 39:45 I knew exactly how much money I needed. 39:47 And when he came home, I told him, one Friday came, 39:50 "I wanted this amount of money 'cause I'm going. 39:51 I can't do this no more. 39:53 I'm mentally worn out and exhausted, 39:57 and I can't do this. 39:58 You know, you don't love me and I know this. 40:02 And I want to be loved." 40:04 I gave her a lot of mental abuse. 40:07 Yes, it was all mental. 40:09 Because I would tell her, you know, it was honest. 40:11 You know, "The only reason why I married you 40:13 is because I felt sorry for you. 40:17 Yeah, and that was reason why I did." 40:20 And this is the changing point in my relationship with her. 40:26 Almost two years ago, I was driving down the road 40:29 in my work van, 40:31 and I approached an intersection. 40:34 I don't have to stop, I'm on the main highway. 40:37 And I see the vehicle sitting on the road 40:41 waiting for me to come by. 40:43 And I get probably 20 feet from the vehicle, 40:49 and they decided to pulling out, 40:50 and me running about 50, 55 miles an hour. 40:53 I've had the very same experience. 40:55 Hit me right behind the gas tank, 40:57 did the pit maneuver, spun me around, 41:00 and I went across on the other side of the road, 41:03 and I went off a ravine. 41:04 And the van somersaulted three times. 41:08 The first time, it landed, it landed on the cab 41:12 above my head, 41:13 8000 pounds came down on top of my head. 41:17 You've got a nice scar. 41:19 Busted my head to my skull. 41:22 After, you know, my teeth forward 41:25 was compression fractured, almost splintering. 41:30 Got back from the hospital, lost hearing in this ear 41:33 for over a month and a half, couldn't sleep. 41:36 I've always been the type of person, 41:38 as soon as I lay my head down at night, 41:39 I'm out till the alarm goes off. 41:42 I couldn't sleep for over a month. 41:44 I mean, I may nod off 41:46 during the day for a few minutes, 41:48 and I was awake. 41:50 But I stayed up and I studied and I watched seminars 41:54 for that month and it made me realized... 41:56 You studied what? 41:57 The Bible. You studied the Bible! 42:01 And that would draw me closer to Him, 42:05 which drew me closer to her. 42:07 Amen! 42:08 So that made my relationship with her and the Lord, just... 42:14 There's not any words for it. 42:16 So you go through the accident 42:18 then there just happened to be a Bible there. 42:20 And then you were drawn 42:22 to the Bible to the Word of God? 42:23 No, I actually had been studying. 42:25 Okay, you had before? Yes. 42:27 This is right before... 42:29 Now you just have the time? Yeah. 42:30 Yeah, now I had a lot of time because I couldn't sleep. 42:33 So that changed my relationship 42:35 because I had to realize that, 42:39 "Hey, I could have been going at any time and left her 42:42 with all those bills in the company." 42:44 Chris, hand me one of your folders 42:45 'cause I just... 42:47 We don't have time. 42:48 I want to get into the God part of all of this, 42:51 what God has done in your life. 42:52 But I just want to show you at home, when he says study, 42:56 he doesn't have a laptop or a Bible software. 43:02 But what he does have is a Strongest Concordance, 43:05 and he goes through in topically like Judgment Day, 43:08 the Second Coming of Christ, 43:11 Are the Commandment still binding, 43:13 the Mark of the Beast. 43:14 He looks up every scripture on it, 43:17 writes out these scriptures. 43:20 And now tell us, 43:22 when did you start going 43:25 to the Seventh-day Adventist Church? 43:26 Because you are now a baptized member, 43:29 you're a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. 43:33 And tell us about how God got you to that 43:36 and what He's doing in your life now? 43:39 After I had done all the study and found the true Word of God, 43:45 I got the Amazing Facts brochures from her mother 43:49 because she went 43:50 to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 43:52 And I looked up, compared the difference, 43:54 I was like, "Wow! 43:55 This church preaches what comes from the Bible." 43:58 Well, give me a high five here 44:00 because that's exactly the experience. 44:02 God took me through it first before I knew what this... 44:05 It's what the Adventist taught. 44:08 And then you're really convinced 44:10 'cause you've been in the Word for yourself 44:11 and you go on, "Wow! 44:13 This church teaches all these wonderful Bible truths." 44:17 And I got mad at the other churches, 44:19 you know, 'cause they were like, 44:21 you know, it was wrong. 44:23 But once I've figured the truth, 44:24 I compared it with 44:26 what the Seventh-day Adventists were teaching, 44:28 and I'm like, 44:29 "Well, they're teaching from the Word of God." 44:30 Amen. 44:32 I mean, I spent four years, 44:36 seven days a week anywhere from an hour 44:38 to three hours a day studying the Bible, 44:42 the history of the church and all this. 44:44 Glory to God! 44:45 And every time I could get a chance, 44:48 I'll study to know the truth. 44:49 Okay. 44:51 What year were you all baptized? 44:53 It was 2007, I think. 44:55 Well, in 2007 44:58 into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 45:01 And what's God doing with you now? 45:04 Wow! 45:05 I've been an ordained minister. 45:09 I give Bible Studies whether on my job site, 45:12 at people's homes. 45:15 So what is your business right now? 45:17 I'm in the construction, I trim houses 45:20 and build custom cabinets and so forth. 45:23 And I'm... 45:25 I actually just started in November this business, 45:30 and started from scratch. 45:32 I have two employees. 45:34 One was my nephew, 45:35 and the young man that we brought into our home. 45:38 He got off pills, give his life to Christ. 45:43 So when he came to your home, he and his wife... 45:47 They weren't married 45:49 and actually we brought her in first. 45:50 We put them in different rooms. 45:51 Yeah, I brought her in first. 45:54 Where they both on the pills? Yes, they were. 45:56 And also they were drug addicts when they first came to you. 45:58 Yes, and she was wanting to get clean and so was he. 46:02 And she called me one day, and she was like, 46:06 "Is there any way I could come and stay with you 46:07 so I could get clean?" 46:09 Wow. So I said, "Yes. 46:11 You're more than welcome to." 46:12 So we brought her in 46:14 and then the situation that her boyfriend, 46:16 which is now her husband, was in was not good. 46:20 Because he was trying to get clean. 46:22 So I talked to Chris, and I really felt like, 46:26 "This is what we needed to do." 46:28 And I sat him down, and I explained to him 46:30 because you're not married, 46:31 I cannot allow you all to sleep together 46:34 or sleep in the same room. 46:36 So the way that my house is, 46:38 her bedroom was up there by ours, 46:41 and he was all the way at the other end of the house, 46:43 another room. 46:45 So they got off the drugs, 46:48 and Chris married them. 46:51 And we started having Bible studies with them, 46:53 and they started coming to church with us, 46:56 and they wanted to get baptized. 46:58 So they asked Chris to baptize them. 47:01 Praise God! 47:03 So you are... 47:04 Actually, the way we even got to know about your testimony, 47:10 Chris and Ceci, 47:12 is that they had spoken at the Decatur, 47:15 Alabama Church where Mollie Steenson, 47:18 my dear, dear friend attends, and she said, 47:21 "You guys got to have them here." 47:23 Because God is doing... 47:27 He has done 47:29 such an incredible transformation in you. 47:33 And you know, 47:38 when we were reading Ecclesiastes 3:11 47:41 that God has put eternity in our hearts, 47:44 there's like a God-shaped hole in our heart. 47:47 You tried to stuff it with drugs, pills, and alcohol, 47:52 and illicit sex, and all kinds of "adventures", 47:58 and it was never satisfying to you. 48:02 Now that you know the Lord, 48:05 how would you compare your life now 48:07 to what you were living before? 48:09 Really, there's no comparison. 48:12 My life now... 48:14 You know, even though we still have struggles, 48:17 I'm always happy, I'm joyful no matter of the struggles, 48:21 I still keep the joy of the Lord in my heart. 48:25 Amen. 48:26 One thing that you said that caught my attention, 48:28 you said you've always liked to learn. 48:31 And I think there's a certain... 48:32 The way our DNA is put together. 48:36 You give a person enough time 48:38 that likes to learn, truth becomes important. 48:43 And with you, it's just a matter of time, 48:47 this was going to happen some way or the other. 48:49 It depends about what we choose 48:51 and how we choose to cooperate with that. 48:54 And apparently, 48:55 the circumstances that you were allowed to be in, 49:00 the walls at a certain place 49:01 and then the ability to get over the walls took place. 49:05 And then this is a true transformation. 49:08 And if you'd be around both of you for a few minutes, 49:11 there is joy in your heart, which is special. 49:16 There's a lot of people that could be happy. 49:19 That's right. But to have joy is special. 49:21 Yeah. 49:22 But I want to just ask one very difficult question. 49:28 God has done such an amazing work 49:30 in both of your lives. 49:33 But there were two little boys in your life 49:38 that grew up with you being there and gone, 49:42 being there and gone, this repetitive pattern. 49:47 What is your relationship like with your stepsons? 49:51 Okay. 49:52 My oldest, Michael, 49:54 27, he's been working with me 49:57 since I was 16. 49:58 He was 16. Or he was 16. 50:01 I've taught him how to lay tile, 50:02 plum, wiring, frame, trim, paint. 50:07 So he's very knowledgeable. 50:10 Matter of fact, he just left me 50:12 and started his own business in Tennessee. 50:16 Our relationship is very well. 50:19 Him and Seth are two different young men, you know. 50:23 Okay, you said the older of the two, you guys are close. 50:26 Yes. 50:28 And he obviously has seen this change. 50:30 Oh, yeah. 50:31 The younger son, who's more of a momma's boy, 50:36 he's kind of put up a wall 50:38 that still needs to come down, right? 50:41 Yeah. 50:42 When I had the accident, 50:43 he was the first one to get there. 50:45 So I know he loves me. But he's stand offish, you know. 50:52 In some people, it's hard... 50:55 He's trying to find that basis for trust. 50:57 Yeah, it takes time. 50:59 Yeah, it's gonna take some consistency. 51:01 You know, you've heard this story probably. 51:05 If you come home and kick the dog every night 51:09 that you walk in the door, the dog knows what to expect. 51:13 If you come home in one night, you love it 51:16 and one night, you kick it, 51:18 then the dog gets totally confused, 51:22 and that's what happens with children is walls go up, 51:25 they're looking for... 51:27 Because trust is built on consistency. 51:31 Yes. 51:33 A dog if you kick it every night 51:34 can trust you're gonna kick it, or you're gonna be sweet to it. 51:37 So that's what's going on. 51:39 But I know that God is going to heal. 51:42 You are available, 51:44 your pastor has asked you to start preaching 51:47 in various places, 51:49 and you're also available to give your testimony. 51:52 How can people get in touch with you 51:55 if they would like you to come to their church? 51:57 We're just hitting the highlights of it here, 52:00 but how can they get in touch with you? 52:02 They can get to me through my email address 52:07 which is Mitchell7247@gmail.com. 52:13 And that's Mitchell, 52:14 M- I-T-C-H-E-L-L 7247@gmail.com. 52:22 Yes, ma'am. All right. 52:24 Well, we're going to come back in just a moment 52:26 for a closing thought. 52:28 But right now, 52:30 we've got to go to our news break. |
Revised 2019-03-07