Wrapped in His Arms

Most children look to their daddies to be their helpers: to fix everything for them when they’re too little to do it themselves. “My toy is broken, daddy. Can you fix it for me?” a child says with pleading eyes.

My story is a little different. I had a broken heart that couldn’t be easily fixed with tape or new batteries. I would have given anything for a dad who wanted to spend time with me when I was little. I used to be so sad when a movie would show a little girl climbing up in her daddy’s lap because that was something I never experienced.

I never felt safe around my daddy growing up. He was tall and had a booming voice that made me jump when he entered the room. I couldn’t just go up to him and say, “Daddy, I need a hug,” because he was often too busy doing his own thing. After a while, I just quit waiting for him to play with me because the sting of rejection was too much for my little heart to take.

When I came to Gateway, I was just a young girl still trying to get used to my parents’ divorce. I remember hearing sermons about the Father’s love. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard of before. Apostle David would explain that God loves each one of us unconditionally. I desperately wanted to believe that, but I had been so disappointed many times before in my life, and I needed help believing even that. Thank God that Holy Ghost is my helper! As I learned to pray in tongues for my own growth and edification, my Helper showed up to fix my broken heart.

After being able to grasp that God really wanted a relationship with me, scars and all, I began to let Holy Ghost heal my heart little by little. It started with praying in tongues and meditating on the words of the songs each time we worshipped in church.  I would find myself humming the words during the week when I was alone. Holy Ghost would take those words and help me see how they applied to ME personally.

It wasn’t always easy, but over time, Holy Ghost helped me see that it didn’t matter if my daddy ever told me that he loved me or not. God’s love became real to me, and I knew that HE cared for me. Through surgeries, falls, and awards ceremonies at school, Holy Ghost has helped me get through it all, letting me know and experience His love. He was there to help me let down the walls that I put up to keep others out, and through that I began to experience God’s love through those around me as well. I have found that I don’t have to do anything to impress God; I don’t have to be perfect. He just loves me for me. How awesome is that?!

You may think that you are too broken, too messed up, or too shameful for God to ever love you. That’s not the case, my friend. Once I let Holy Ghost help me experience God’s love, my life has never been the same. As I fully submitted to God, trusting Him to be the father I never had, He has given me an unspeakable peace concerning my daddy. God’s Holy Spirit has helped mend that void in my life, and He can do the same for you.

I dare you to believe Holy Ghost to be your Helper. He is all that you need! See what happens!

~by Madison Sanders

The Pit to the Palace

When I got married, I thought I knew what love was, but I had no clue. Love was just a word. Growing up in a small town, people married young and had children right away. Kids were not raised to have dreams and visions for themselves. College degrees were rarely discussed, and marriage was just the next logical step in life.

At twenty-six years old, I had two children and a husband who was violent and abusive. Instead of becoming a wife who was loved and respected by her husband, I became a human punching bag who endured torment, fear, and insecurity. After one particularly bad beating, I was left feeling like Joseph who had been beaten and thrown into a pit and left for dead. I thought I was trapped in that pit with no way out. On that day, as I looked into my son’s precious face, I realized that my children’s lives and futures hung in the balance…I had to break free from that pit.

We left and moved in with my parents. While living there, I came to realize that God never left me; He was there all the time. I realized that I needed to change so that I didn’t find myself back in the same kind of situation I had come out of. I started going to church and a hunger for the truth began to stir inside my spirit. I wanted the truth about God and I wanted the truth about myself. I would cry out day after day, asking God to show me His truth.

One Sunday, I got filled with Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues. A release came into my spirit, and I began to feel a hope like never before. My sister, Sherrie, was already coming to church here at Gateway, so I called her to tell her that I had been filled with Holy Ghost. She told me I could pray in tongues anytime I wanted to, so I did. I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up praying myself right out of that religious church where I was and into the place God had for us. I knew that there was more healing and more breakthrough that I had to have, and I couldn’t get it where I was. One day, I heard God tell me to go to Gateway Believers Fellowship, and that was that! Since I’ve been here, I have realized that God loves me, and if He loves me, I can love myself.

I know that God didn’t put me in that pit I found myself in. I got there by making choices and following other people’s views of what life should be. But I do know that it was God who gave me the strength to get out of that pit. It was Him who kept me safe during the transition times, and it has been Him who has lead me into a place of peace that I never even knew existed. I know what it is to be tormented, and I also know what it is to walk in His love, health, and peace. I know that, as I continue to pray in tongues, fast, meditate the Word and make myself available to Him, that I will become more transparent with myself and others. God hasn’t just helped me break through; He IS my breakthrough!!!

~ by guest contributor, Tammy Sanders