THE VICTIM
To some my childhood was ideal! I had two loving parents, whose love for me was impaled only by their sheer love for the Lord Jesus Christ. My parents were pastors of New Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church. Even though my dad was, and still is very popular in the community, he never allowed himself to become "celebrity." He was also the DJ for the local Christian radio station, on which he would advertise my mother's in home beauty salon. When my sister, Charmaine turned 5, my parents decided to send her to a Christian school, and as we turned the age of 5, we too followed, suit. Life was good, until I was 9, and we joined the church. At first, I was excited to go to church with my school friends and teachers, but then it was a living nightmare. Church/ School seems amazing, but done wrong, can be a catalyst to "provoke a child to wrath" (Eph. 6:4). My parents had become Fundamental Baptist in every area of their lives, BUT ONE...they never stopped laying hands and anointing us with oil. THIS was our savior! I could tell you all of the atrocities that my family and I had to endure while in this church, most of which I did not realize was illegal child abuse, racism, etc. until I stepped outside the 75 acres of that particular institution. The stress that this CULT put on people, affected my parent's marriage and turned it abusive. My parents went from praying and speaking in tounges together to physically abusing each other. Many times the pastor of the church would give bad reports and put fear in the heart of my dad about our spiritual lives and he would come home overcome with fear and extreme stress and take it out on us. Many of the spankings would go too far, thus causing us to begin to live in extreme fear and stress. My childhood, had many great days, but, was riddled by the overwhelming darkness of fear. However, this was life as I knew it, my normal. BUT GOD....
VICTOR
On March 9, 2001 as my father and I were driving to church to excercise, at 4:30 a.m. a drunk driver came out of nowhere and hit us, killing my dad instantly. At this point, I thought that my life had ended. But little did I know, God was just beginning a NEW thing in my life (Is. 43:19). It was a hard dark time, a time that I thought my pastor would be there for myself, as well as, my family. But instead he told us that God killed my dad because we were stubborn and rebellious. You may be thinking, "How is this victorious." Well, here it is, if they had been "there" for us, we would all still be living under that "normal." God had to show us that this "normal" was not normal at all, in fact it was an extreme cult. At 23, August 2003, I made my relationship with Christ personal, and ask Jesus to be my savior. No longer was it about how long my skirt was, or how long I was out on bus ministry. It was only about Jesus. The next year, God led me to leave Indiana and move to Alabama. I was only going to attend nursing school, because I had given up on teaching. Even though, this church was of the same denomination, they were not an abusive cult. God was using this time to show me a new world of spirituality that was vertical. It was also during this time that I realized that It was my calling and life's purpose to be in the ministry of teaching. I enrolled and Southeast Baptist Bible College and finished my teaching degree. After graduation, I moved to Georgia, and was there for five years. It was in Georgia that I realized that IFB churches were a cult. So, after almost 5 years in Georgia, and 23 years in the cult, I broke away and moved back to Alabama, only this time a new woman, free of all the bondage of religion. God is so good, and has brought me so far and for so long, I have looked at myself as a victim of the church. But today, I break free from my past pain and declare and decree thee I am FREE AND FREE INDEED not because of anything that I can do, but because of what HE already did! (John 8:36) And I can honestly say that I thank God for ALL that He chose me to go through! I am so excited about this ministry that He is preparing for me to lead and the women that will also get their freedom. My life verse is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." And I am fully persuaded God is not like man....He finishes the work that he starts!
Philipians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Be Blessed,
S.L. McCoy
Prayer:
Thank you God, that I am a new creature. And as I put my painful past away, I am taking a moment to Thank you for it! Because, I am confident in you and I trust that you have an expected end for my life. Help me to remember this pain when other's are hurting, and give me the wisdom to minister to them the way you have ministered to me! I thank you, love you, and praise you, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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