Inspiration for Ladies

Inspiration for Ladies

CLI student, Shay, has known what its like to be bullied for her faith but she overcame the doubters and now wants to become an inspiration for ladies everywhere.

Shay shares her story below:

Hello! My name is Shay. I am a newly married and I am really enjoying being married to my best friend. We reside in the Deep South of the United States, a place that I am still becoming familiar to. I grew up on the West Coast where I was born. As a very young girl, I would catch the neighborhood Sunday School Church bus all by myself. Attending church service and learning about Jesus amazed me. I love reading the bible and coming home to tell my mother what I learned. By the time I was in 5th grade, my church attendance was low. We moved and I simply stopped going.

In high school, my aunt invited me to her church. I loved it! I loved it so much that at age 16, I was baptized in the Apostolic church. I remember wearing all white and being dunked in the pool in front of my family. I felt so new. I had a need to feel new. I harbored a secret of shame. I had been sexually abused and I wanted God to make me new. I started wearing my church clothes to school because I was a new person, but my attire was met with taunts. I was teased. I was made fun of. High school just wasn’t the place for me.

My mom noticed a change in my behavior, so I finally explained to her what was going. How I had been abused. How I had been teased at school. She told me to toughen up, but if I needed to go speak to a counselor she would take me. I told her no because God is my counselor. I had learned to tell him everything. Things at home became unpleasant and as, a teen I just wanted to run away.

At the age of 20, I ran from home I wanted to see what I could do on my very own. I worked three jobs at one time to keep a roof over my head. I wanted to show my family that I could make it on my own. I kept getting sick from working too much and had no choice but to move home. This really made me depressed. I moved back home and started partying with my new friends. We would have drinks and play loud music every weekend. After all, I did work and I was grown. I felt I could do what I wanted to do; I was grown.

My 30s came and I must say, those days were no better. All of the loneliness I felt inside, finally caught up with me. I prayed. I prayed to God for a real friend and true direction. I wanted to get back on the right path. One day later, my prayer was answered. He sent me a friend! A girlfriend that I could talk to in addition to him. Someone positive that I could spend some time with after we worked. A Christian friend who believed the same things I did. There was no more need for extensive drinking parties and loud music. I finally had a friend.

I began reading a lot of Christian based literature. God’s Word started to change me. It shaped me so much that I packed my house up and moved down South to be closer to my sister and her family. The best decision I have ever made was leaving.

Life in the South is way different than California. People here are more family orientated and they have no problem telling people about God. Something that I love about the value system here is the traditional roles of husband and wife. Life is slower here, but peaceful in our little town. I believe God sent me here so, I could become closer to him and guess what? My relationship with God deepened. My spiritual growth allowed me to see things that I would not have noticed like, a Godly man pursuing me. I was mature enough to have an adult relationship. We courted shortly then married.

I have enjoyed visiting a few churches, but I still haven’t found one that I really just love. Most churches here are Baptist, different from how I was raised. This has lead me to not attending church regularly. I watch television or YouTube sermons. I do not drive and my husband works weekends so, I do not go. I got to thinking, how many other women are embracing the Word this way? Women that live in rural areas or have no transportation that want to fellowship and have bible study in a woman’s group, but don’t have the means of getting to the building. My dream is to join the other women who teach God’s Word online. I just do not know where to begin.

Then I got to thinking about how I always wanted to assist ladies who have been victims of sexual and verbal abuse. Young women who are teased just for being themselves. Women who say forget what society says, this is what God says I am and I’m going to live this way. These very factors are the reason I am starting my Ministry blog.

My goal is to be an inspiration for ladies to be the woman that God says they are, not who society says they have to be. I want to cheer them on as they realize the wonderful life God has for them to live. The beauty of the blog is my personal testimony—Evangelist. How God is changing me through His Word. I still have so much to learn that is why it is important that I receive a scholarship to Christian Leaders Institute. I do not have the money to afford “traditional” ministry training. I want to encourage women, but I really do not have the proper training to lead them. This is why free training is important to me. It will allow me to effectively be an inspiration for ladies everywhere.

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