A Powerful Testimony of Suffering for Jesus

[Cow Poke]

Praise the Lord! It's so hard...you just want to go in and save them. It's not that simple is it?

Even with your own kids -- sometimes you mess things up by stepping in and intervening, when they need to learn a hard lesson.

Obviously, Linny is pretty much the OPPOSITE of that --- it hurt to watch her be so Christlike and suffer for it, when God, indeed, used that for His Glory.

[DesertBerean]

Praise the Lord! It's so hard...you just want to go in and save them. It's not that simple is it?

[Cow Poke]

It's really hard. You want to look up to your father as a role model and as a protector, but you can't when you have an alcoholic dad. It really messes with your self confidence and feeling like you matter. I still struggle with some of that. I still have feelings of self doubt and like people really don't like me because I am worthless, even though I know that isn't true.

Some of the best Christians I knew came from such backgrounds. Susan is now a Baptist Student Union Director at a major university. When I knew her, she was a scared little girl who lived in a home similar to Linny's. She had EVERY REASON under the sun to "fail" as a Christian, yet came out strong, and is still serving the King.

(She used to come over our house some evenings and just sit and watch TV. I'd ask her if there was something she wanted to talk about, and she'd say, "no, not really, I just want to be around parents who are not screaming at each other". )

[Sparko]

It's really hard. You want to look up to your father as a role model and as a protector, but you can't when you have an alcoholic dad. It really messes with your self confidence and feeling like you matter. I still struggle with some of that. I still have feelings of self doubt and like people really don't like me because I am worthless, even though I know that isn't true.

[Cow Poke]

I grew up with an alcoholic dad. He wasn't physically abusive but he was an angry drunk and took an emotional toll on the whole family with his drinking. I couldn't wait to move out, but that left my mom and younger brother having to deal with him. But one day he had a stroke, almost died and after he recovered was saved and stopped drinking. (my mom used to pray that God would knock some sense into him, and I think that prayer was answered literally)

I thought about you when I was typing that.

[Sparko]

I grew up with an alcoholic dad. He wasn't physically abusive but he was an angry drunk and took an emotional toll on the whole family with his drinking. I couldn't wait to move out, but that left my mom and younger brother having to deal with him. But one day he had a stroke, almost died and after he recovered was saved and stopped drinking. (my mom used to pray that God would knock some sense into him, and I think that prayer was answered literally)

[Cow Poke]

That's going above and beyond. I wouldn't recommend that people intentionally take abuse. But she somehow seemed to know what she was doing.

Agree 100%.

[KingsGambit]

That's going above and beyond. I wouldn't recommend that people intentionally take abuse. But she somehow seemed to know what she was doing.

[mossrose]

Ah-main!

[Cow Poke]

Linny was a girl in our youth group - a pretty little thing, always faithful, always cheerful.

One Sunday morning, Linny missed Youth Sunday School - very rare - and I called that week to check on her. She didn't answer (no cell phones back then - just a home phone) and I got busy and started doing something else.

Next Sunday Morning, Linny showed up, but my wife took me aside and mentioned "she has a lot of makeup on". My wife isn't judgmental or prudish like that, so I knew she must have meant something else, and she continued --- I think she's trying to hide something.

Sure enough, Linny's right eye looked puffy and her right cheek looked swollen, and the makeup looked, indeed, like it was hiding something, though not very well.

My wife (always have my wife deal with the girls, I deal with the guys, or we deal with the girls together) took her aside and asked her if everything was OK. She insisted it was, so my wife let it go.

Later that evening, at the Pastor's house, this came up. And our pastor explained that Linny lived with an abusive father, and would not leave. Sometimes he'd come home drunk, and she had washed and put all the dishes away except one, and he would grab it in a rage and throw it and scream and yell, and sometimes slap her. Pastor continued, "several of us have offered to take her in - she has no mom - but she won't leave him". When I tried pushing it further, Pastor told me "talk to her".

Next Sunday morning, my wife and I talked to her together - and Linny finally broke down and admitted her dad was abusive, but ONLY WHEN HE HAD BEEN DRINKING.... and we begged her to come stay with us.

What she said next brought tears to my eyes... she said, "I just know that one day he's going to come home, and he'll be sober, and he'll be trying to figure out what's wrong, and If I'm not there, there won't be anybody to tell him about Jesus".

Last night, Linny called my wife - her dad, at age 88, accepted Christ as his Savior. He had come to Linny's house (she is now married to a wonderful man, and they have three children) to ask her to forgive him for all of his abuse. She and her husband told him about Jesus, and he confessed Christ as Lord.