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Brag On God Friday

8/18/2011

17 Comments

 

Imagine seeing yourself on the missing
persons board at wal-mart...

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I want you to meet my sweet friend Andrea who I love dearly. She amazes me. There are not many people in life that when you think of them you think, Wow. Just simply wow. But she is one. God made her a wow. Besides her incredible perseverance and character, she is also the funniest person I know. I wish I got to live by her. But when I get sad, like now having just seen her after 10 years, I remember we get all of eternity to hang out.

Here's her story. Get ready to be Wow-ed.
When Andrea was 6 she was kidnapped by her mother. For 16 years with a warrant out for her mothers arrest and everyone looking for her and her sister they lived on the run. They lived in car for awhile traveling coast to coast, homeless for a few years and for awhile had a house but had to leave it in the middle of the night. She remembers one week her mom bought sunny delight and pop tarts and it had to last them the week. 

Her mom told her their dad was an awful person and made up horrific lies about him. She told them they could never say their names or see family again. If they did their dad would find them and would kill their mom and kill their pets. At 6 years old she didnt know better and this was the life she had to live. 

Her mom gave her and her sister different social security numbers and they took on new names. When she was 16 she moved out and life started becoming her own. She finished high school and went down to Durango to go to  Fort Lewis College. At the freshman welcome week one of the first tables was Master Plan Ministries. Aaron and Lori, a staff couple invited her cliff jumping, she was thrilled. She started doing recreational activities with Master Plan and enjoyed it so she started going to the meetings. This is when Austin and I met her. As a child she was in an out of church and knew about God but thought chrisitans were hypocritical and liars.  She started hearing things like "God loved her and had a plan for her life and would never know peace  unless she lived according to that plan." Every week she heard stories from other students just like her that had very real flaws and hurts but also had very real relationships with God. They were real.

A few months later she went to a retreat where she was at war with herself, not wanting to give in to God but knowing it was the only way to have peace with herself. The last night of the retreat she gave her life to Christ. She went home different. She started going to a ladies Bible study and being discipled and got involved in a church. She began to grow. After a few years she looked at her life and realized she needed to make some changes, still living under a false idenity with some dead persons social security number that mother had given. It felt natural to her but it occured that it wasn't the right thing to do, that she wasn't being honest and complicated not having a drivers lisence.
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She began to realize the many holes in moms story. She knew her mother lied a lot but began to wonder if she could be lying about their dad being this awful monster. She wondered if she should find him. She began counseling and began to search for him. Google provided his home number and she called him up from a pay phone, afraid he would track her down. She said to him, "Do the names Becky and Beth mean anything to you?" He said, "Who is this?" Terrified, she slamed phone down. Six months later she gathered courage to call again and said, "It's Becky." He jsut kept saying, "Is that you? Is that you? Is that really you?" They talked for hours and he flew them out a couple days later. He was a good man, a flawed but good man who never stopped looking for them.

On the way home they stopped by walmart to get batteries and up on the missing child bulletin board they saw themselves, their age progressed photos. Listed as missing. But now found. In every sense of the word. Within months her mother was found out and went to jail for 90 days. 16 years of my sweet friends life traded for 90 days. Vengence is the Lord's.

Our Lord is a Seeker. He goes into dark, hidden places and brings people out of the dark into the life. Once lost, now found, Andrea has new life. New and eternal life that can never be robbed from her. Nothing and no one can keep us from Him, from His love, from His plan to bring us hope and a future.

I am so grateful my sweet friend Andrea let me brag on God by telling you her story. Thank you Andrea!

What an incredible God we serve huh! Go ahead and share this link with others if you would like. Who knows maybe God will put it in someone's hands that will want to make her story into a movie and be an extra source of income for her.  ;)

"Proclaim Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness."
Psalm 145:6
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I would love for you to join me in Bragging on God's great heart and character this week. Go ahead and link up a post that talks about what He's like or something He has done. Please leave a link or my button (found under the Brag On God Friday's Tab) so others can find these wonderful peoples posts. It is always encouraging to get comments, so if you have time, go ahead and leave your sisters a comment. But remember this is a time for God to get all the attention. So lets ask God to help us not worry about comments and statistics and look forward to the day when He will get all the glory. 

It's an honor to partner with you ladies in bragging on our King.
I'm linked with Spiritual Sunday's
17 Comments
Shanda link
8/18/2011 02:05:31 pm

Wow, that is incredible. Talk about turning your life upside down. And how incredible to know someone kept looking for YOU over all those years.

Reply
Jenn link
8/18/2011 02:24:54 pm

What an incredible story! I love seeing how God pursues us through our whole life...

Reply
Esther Joy link
8/18/2011 02:35:26 pm

Laura, the story you posted reminds me of the movie about the girl on the milk carton. Life can certainly give a few challenges. We have been seeing that this week as we did disaster relief in Minot, ND. The flood damage there is still so overwhelming, with many, many people still displaced.

Reply
Angi link
8/18/2011 03:36:09 pm

Oh How good our God is!! I can not wait to hang out with Andrea (and you!!) in Heaven and tell jokes and see the glory of God.

Reply
Tracy link
8/18/2011 04:51:19 pm

Wow Laura - what an awesome story. I can't even imagine how complicated Andrea's life could have been. God is so good and so gracious. She should write a book or have a film made, one honouring God. Awesome brag on God post
God bless
Tracy

Reply
jenifer link
8/18/2011 09:40:20 pm

Reply
Jenifer link
8/18/2011 09:41:38 pm

WOW! That is all I can say, WOW!

I love where you said "Found in every sense of the word." Praise God now only was she found physically and reunited with her father, but she was also reunited with her Father. Thank you for sharing this story. Wow.

Reply
Miss Kathy link
8/18/2011 10:45:54 pm

Wow - She is a WOW story! Thanks for sharing! May the Lord bring justice to her situation as He has brought wholeness and meaning to her life!

Joy!
Kathy

Reply
Patti Hanan link
8/19/2011 02:32:38 am

What a wonderful story. Thank goodness that our Lord is a Seeker. This is such a beautiful example of how He seeks and saves that which is lost.

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Dawn link
8/19/2011 04:27:44 am

That is a WOW story; glory to God!

Reply
Jen link
8/19/2011 05:03:00 am

What an amazing testimony. It illustrates the passion of God for His sheep so beautifully.

Linking up for the first time here in just a sec!

Reply
Joan link
8/19/2011 01:24:31 pm

Larua - this is an incredible story. How wonderful that she was able to find her father and most of all that the Heavenly Father reached down to her through His Son.

Blessings,
Joan

Reply
Charlotte link
8/19/2011 03:22:16 pm

Very touching story. I'm so glad Andrea was able to find out the truth and reclaim her life. Even more, I'm glad she found God. She has an amazing story.
Charlotte

Reply
Abby link
8/19/2011 09:20:48 pm

What an amazing story, God is good. Sometimes it takes years such as this to get a prayer answered. He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Thank you Laura for such a lovely blog which honors the Lord and provides so many Christian resources for women. This is my first time visiting. I've linked up to your Brag on God Friday.

Blessings to you and your family. ~ Abby

Reply
Sarah link
8/20/2011 09:32:25 pm

Wow. and double Wow...this is such an amazing story. Your friend is a wow woman. Am following your blog now...so incredibly inspiring. ☺

Reply
Cherry link
8/21/2011 12:55:23 pm

What an amazing, incredible story of God's love! All praise to Him, and thanks for sharing this with us, Laura.

Reply
Charlotte link
8/23/2011 11:04:38 am

That really is an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Blessings,
Charlotte

Reply



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  • Home
    • Free Printables
    • About >
      • God
      • The Ministry
      • Master Plan Ministries {College Students}
      • Bible Study Resources
      • Contact
      • Subscribe
      • Featured At
      • Rules, Disclosure & Privacy
    • Resources >
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      • Reviews
      • Videos
      • App
    • Missional Women Equipping
    • Contributors
    • Statement of Faith
    • Free eBooks >
      • Ministry Resources for Women eBook
      • Leading Effective Bible Studies
      • Missional Life Book
    • Missional Women Bible Studies >
      • The Book of John Video Series
      • 1st Samuel {Beholding Him, Becoming Missional}
      • Judges {A Devotional Journey through Judges}
    • Giant Blog Hop Link Ups List
  • Blog
    • Ministry >
      • Evangelism {Win}
      • Discipleship {Build} >
        • Foundations
      • Living Missionally {Send}
      • Ministry Resources for Women
    • God's Word >
      • Bible Study
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      • Devotionals
      • Bible Studies
      • Apologetics
    • Relationships >
      • Marriage
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    • World >
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      • Internet & Social Media
      • Politics
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      • Science Revealing God
    • Life >
      • Image & Idenity
      • Health
      • Fashion
      • Food
      • Organization
    • Faith Filled Friday Blog Link Up
  • Bible Study Resources
  • Video Bible Studies
    • Matthew
    • John
    • Galatians
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    • How to Lead a Bible Study
    • Creation Reveals
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    • Heart Growth
  • Prints
  • Quiet Time Journals
  • Courses
    • Women's Ministry Training Promo
    • Women's Ministry Training
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  • Store
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