Kathy's Story
I was adopted at six months of age and was raised in Henderson , Kentucky . I never left the area until going off to college at Western Kentucky University in the fall of 1987. I have never known anything about my natural parents only that my mother was very young and unwed when I was born.
Growing up, I wasted many years struggling with low self-esteem. After escaping a near-rape experience on my first date at the age of 15, I continued to spiral down in this area. At 16, I found myself pregnant and terrified. I chose abortion. After that day, I continued to engage in patterns of behavior that would leave my life in a mess that I thought I would never manage to escape. My young life was weighted with more than one abortion experience, a failed marriage in my early twenties, and alcohol.
My marriage to Adam began in the midst of the lowest point of my life in 1994. At the time, we both sang in the bars with a country music group. Without God to direct our paths, this marriage, too, was destined for failure. Just before our first child, Shelby , was born in June of 1995, we chose to quit the "drinking gigs" and eventually dropped out of music altogether. God blessed us with our second child, Justin, in December of 1996.
Those first few years were really difficult with so much unmanaged baggage brought into our marriage.
In the summer of 2001, I realized God was calling me to teach at the local Christian school our daughter was attending. I was already a substitute teacher at this school while she was in kindergarten, but teaching was definitely nothing I had the desire to do. Still, God continued to persuade me to follow this call. I did. I taught fourth grade during that school year. The next year, I moved up to teach the middle school kids. It wasn't until the very end of this school year that I realized why God had me here.
A large number of these precious middle school kids (ages 12-13) were already sexually active. I became aware that God was going to use me to share my testimony with these kids. I was terrified. Even my own husband was unaware of my past experiences. I first had to share this with him before I could proceed. Here we were in the middle of our first CD project with Les Butler, and I felt like my marriage would come crashing to an end with this news. After much prayer and pleading with God, I relented. The result was incredible. Adam then began to tell me of a time when he had also assisted a girlfriend in having an abortion.
Since this day, I have seen God work in so many ways in our marriage and in our ministry for Him. Just over the past 14 months, I have finally received the spiritual healing I needed to be able to go forward with this ministry and see His Spirit pour out into the lives of others who needed to hear our testimonies.
