Karol

God will be there, if you let him.

I grew up in a christian home and accepted Christ into my heart in 8th grade, then again as a young adult. I was always a "good girl", doing the right thing. I didn't really go to church much, just once in awhile. 

I had the perfect wedding, and I thought that I would have the perfect marriage. My husband and I tried having children but couldn't. It put a lot of pressure on our marriage and we wound up getting a divorce. I'll never forget my husband telling me that I wasn't good enough for him because I couldn't have children.

Right after our divorce I was depressed and it was at that point, instead of turning to Christ, that I turned to a relationship with a man. I thought that it would bring me happiness, but I got pregnant instead. Having a child out of wedlock has to have been one of the most humbling and scary experiences that I have lived through. Her father and I decided not to get married. Looking back, not getting married, was the best decision that we could have made. As scary as raising a child as a single parent was, getting married to the wrong person was even scarier. At the time, I thought that I would die, I was so terrified. God stood by me all the way. He provided everything for me and my child that we needed. I had support from loving friends and family, and all the things that babies need: furniture, clothing, even a nanny that lived next door.

Even though I was single parent I never felt alone and I never felt that I didn't have the support and help that I needed. As it turns out, being a parent is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Despite my unfaithfulness to God, he still blessed me with a healthy and beautiful baby. Since becoming a parent, I have developed a closer relationship with Christ.

I now realize the importance of that relationship. I have come to trust Him and realize that He will always provide for me. I recently lost my job. I'm not afraid because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He will provide for me and my daughter. He will always be there for me. I have learned not to stray so far away from Him, but to stay close to Him. There is nothing in this life that can bring you happiness, but Christ.

On one hand I wish that I would have realized this in my younger days. I would have perhaps avoided a lot of pain. However, the pain that I have been through has made me who I am today. God wouldn't have it any other way. 

Grandpa's Story

Last year my Grandpa "Jack" Truax died. His life story has become a mix of legend and tales. I recently had a phone conversation with my dad and some of my aunt's to get the real story. What I had already heard was amazing, what I found out was something that had to be told.

John Truax, fondly known as "Jack" was given up by his parents as a young boy to go live with his grandfather on their farm. He had a good but brief life with them. As soon as he was old enough to work, his father took him back to work the family farm with his younger brother Dick. They sweated and worked their days to earn money for the farm, while their dad drank the hours away at the local bar. John became an angry young man.

By his early teens he was mixing with the rough crowd in town. As soon as he was old enough, he bought an Indian motorcycle. He had a good buddy that he would hang out with at the bar. There were a lot of fights at the bar and him and his buddy would fight back to  back and clear the house.

One afternoon, his motorcycle broke down on the far side of town. The chain was broken and in the process of trying to fix it, he got covered in grease up to his elbows. He was frustrated and mad as a hornet. He had to walk all the way back through town to get the tools at his house. 

It was a small country town, West Clarksville, NY, with maple lined streets and a little Baptist church. It was the kind of place where the women would gather over tea and quilts. The children ran freely on their grassy front yards and rode bikes down the street.  

Grandpa came walking down the tree lined street in his black jeans and black shirt, and covered in black grease. I'm sure the expression on his face could scare anyone away. On his way through town, he walked by the parsonage where a group of women were gathered with the visiting evangelists wife, Mrs. Cruin. Mrs. Cruin caught sight of Jack and asked the ladies who that guy was. They told her that it was Jack Truax. Mrs. Cruin said, "I am going to pray that he gets saved this week." The ladies laughed and said, "That will be the last person that ever gets saved!"

Somehow word got out, which can happen quickly in a small town. When Jack showed up the bar that night he got laughed at. The evangelist's wife was praying for him of all people. He was mad as can be. His group of buddies came together and he had a plan. They all rode their motorcycles to the church. The evangelist,"Dinky" Cruin, was doing a week long revival meeting at the church. Jack sat in the front row and his buddies sat around the edges of the church. They would wait for his signal and then bust up the church. The signal never came.

For 2 nights a single motorcycle drove up to the church, and Jack sat in the front row and listened to the short evangelist with a booming voice. On the 3rd night he went forward and accepted Jesus as his Savior.

His life turned completely around. He gave up drinking and smoking. He spent 40 years in full time ministry as a pastor. He was a passionate preacher who never needed a microphone. He could captivate an audience with his gift of story telling and his passion for Christ. 

In the last 4 years of his life, his eyesight got so bad that he lost his drivers license. He had a 4 wheel drive Gator that he would drive around town. On the last day of his life on earth, he attended a Sunday School picnic and then took off for home. He passed his daughters house and waved to her. A couple miles down the road,  some motorcyclists found him slumped over the steering wheel. His heart had given out. 

People from all over came to pay their respects at his funeral. One of the highlights was when one of his son's shared the story of how he came to Christ. It is the story of a man whom no one thought would come to Christ, but whose life God turned around and powerfully used to bring others to Christ.