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Corner Bible Church Christmas Tea 12/5/2025 -
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Christmas tea
One of the hardest things I ever had to do was forgive someone who would never say sorry. Maybe you’re sitting here tonight and you’re thinking this seems a little heavy for a Christmas tea but what you need to know is that these stories have everything to do with Christmas it is because of the birth of our savior and what he means to us that we are here today, sharing our testimonies with you so while this season is about a little boy who was born to save the world listen to this story about a little girl. She grew up in a home that was full of arguing that was full of resentment. There was some infidelity there was alcohol, drugs, and what felt like chaos all the time, it felt like walking on eggshells almost every moment of every day. this little girl then went through watching her parents divorce when she was in fourth grade. It was ugly and full of anger, resentment, and emotional abuse. she started to become more responsible for her little sister, going home alone because mom needed to work and provide for us, and really things a young girl should not have to deal with. so soon childhood was no longer childhood. this little girl grew up to be a teenager who started dating people who were not worthy of her who were not good for her and very much resembled her dad. I thought I could save people because I could never save my dad from the destruction of his life. and then this little girl got married, had children and vowed to never allow her own children to ever feel like that little girl. There were many moments I pleaded for Gods help, but I never fully gave him the power to do the work. Then one night while visiting my dad it all changed. The boys were very little and my dad was so excited for us to visit. He even went out and bought them race car beds to sleep in while at his house. This is it I thought, my dad is going to be to my boys what I always desired him to be with me. As the days of our visit went on it was clear my dad was very uncomfortable around us. We prayed with the boys, did devotions with them and they loved Jesus in front of him. One day my dad just sat on the porch drinking and I remember asking him what was going on why aren’t you spending time with us, his response was, “Maria, this is not how I raised you.” My mind went to well that’s because you didn’t raise me, but I kept that to myself. I said to him, this is important to us and this is how we are raising the boys, I am sorry you feel that way. The day went on and he left to return hours later from the bar with a woman. I remember waking up as I heard them stumble into the house, they were loud and they were drunk. What is happening! What am I going to do! God I swore I would never let my boys feel a bit of what I felt growing up. Do I wake Steve up, pack up and leave? Can the boys hear this, lord do not wake them up. I tossed and turned pleading with God, what do I do? And then after what seemed like forever pleading with God, here it was the moment I reached for His hem, peace came over me and the answer was, it’s me Maria reach out to me and I will give you power and strength, and with it you are going to forgive him. I don’t even remember when I wrote the letter, or what all it said, but I wrote it and the words came out easily. I left the letter on his pillow as we left knowing he may never read it, if he does he may never say a thing about it and most certainly he may never say he is sorry. When we got home I let him know we made it back, and he let me know he read the letter and that was it. No I’m sorry you feel this way, I’m sorry I didn’t call or see you for months, I’m sorry for not loving you the way you deserved. And It was at this time I let God take control of this relationship and heal it in his power, I finally gave up trying to fight it in my own power and from that day on our relationship never looked the same. It was no longer filled with the what ifs and expectations of what I wanted and was filled with the love of Christ. This prepared me for the phone call I would receive years later that my dad was sick and dying.
Because of Gods power and forgiveness I could love my dad how Christ called me to love him and the day he took his final breath, I was just a girl who missed her daddy. No conditions, no expectations, just a girl who was loved beyond measure.
The verses God called me to years and years ago are
Psalm 139:13-16
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Call Out To God
As an adult, there was a time in my life that I felt like I was going crazy because of the PTSD that ruled over my thoughts and I felt very alone. While listening to a CD my mentor Glenda Peters gave me, I learned that God makes beauty from ashes. So I cried out to Him and asked him to do that in my life. Since then God has given my kids and I a process of healing and love for each other that I never thought possible. Only needing to lay down everything that brought me to this point of brokenness built by my flesh.
You may be wondering why I had PTSD, or what brought me to this place in life. In my younger years there were a few ideas that started a trajectory in my life that sent me in a dangerous direction. 1- Find a guy to take care of you. 2- Reba Mc Entire had a song out called “Fancy.” There was a line in it that told her to be nice to the gentleman, and they’ll be nice to her. I wasn’t given an example of what to look for in a gentleman or how to make difficult decisions. 3-I began to find friends that were getting attention from guys, after a while I started to act and dress like them. You can see where this is going.
A bit later at age 17 I was very intoxicated and spending time with one of my abusers. They asked me to do something I didn’t want to do so I yelled, NO! They slapped me across the face and called me names. These names stuck with me and further impacted who I thought I was and the choices that were forming my identity. Words that pushed me further into the dangerous territory I had already found. In this moment it was hard for me to stand without stumbling around and boldly prayed for strength to get out of this dangerous situation. Running to the door in the most ridiculous platform heels they grabbed me by my shirt to keep me from escaping. It slowed me down so I prayed again and the shirt ripped almost through. Finding myself in the safety of my car, I drove to a place that I visited regularly in the weeks leading up to this late night. The sound of cars speeding past was relaxing to me. A place that my friends had shown me, for a thrill during the day we’d walk across both lanes of traffic and hide in the shadows when reaching the other side. This is where I’d visit when searching for a place that invited me in, unlike the youth group I attended for a time or when I wanted to disappear because of the trouble that found me every time I turned around. This trouble is what still makes me question if I’m really forgiven, or can become who God’s word says I am.
When my car came to a stop in the ditch I shut off the engine and climbed the steep hill in my heels and ripped shirt, full of despair and brokenness. My legs didn’t stop until they reached the center of the right lane. There were car lights pointing at me, a bit more than 20 feet away. This was a choice made from my free will, not where God directed me to go after He gave me enough strength to get away from the abuser. After realizing the trouble I had gotten myself into, yelled dear God help me! This is my “Hem Touching Moment.” While my heart pounded, there was something in the sky coming toward me. I heard the sound of very strong wings and my reaction was to swear because it startled me. After the white wings surrounded me on all sides I was scared and searching for a way out. I was hitting and pulling on feathers the length of my forearm. This was a reaction built from always finding trouble and not knowing why. Sounds then came down from heaven, seemingly in a way that we see rays of sun streaming down to earth through clouds. My earthly words will never come close to describing the sounds I heard. It wasn’t clear to me if this was an instrument or sound coming from voices. There were so many layers of delicate harmony passing over each other in a way that I’d never heard before loud then so quiet, creating a need to draw closer, so many sounds then unison. Craving more and wanting to see where this was coming from, I tried to climb the walls of feathers surrounding me. The angel then set me back on the pavement telling me to be careful because the car was really close. The angel spoke of God by names I didn’t recognize, speaking softness to my heart. Then saying God has a lot for me to do here, very important things, it’s not time for me to leave yet. The angel left as I heard the strong wings ascending. The car’s left headlight was within inches of my left knee. I heard my heels clacking around on the pavement, bringing me back to the reality that surrounded me. The driver was confused because there were no skid marks, he “just stopped.” He had a lot of questions for me that I could not answer. He then said we should get off the road because it was dangerous. After he gave me a shirt, he brought me home.
A few verses that helped my journey are
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:36-37 As it is written: “For our sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered,” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
While preparing to write this I came across. Jeremiah 18:2-4 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands’ so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Nahum 1:2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies.
Galatians 5:13- You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh’ rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Each of these have deep meaning to me and are yet another piece that has helped my process of healing and changing into a new creation! When I find more times of trouble from my past, current brokenness or wrong motives, my Savior is always ready to tell me I am forgiven. He does have good plans for me and when each item of my life is submitted to Him, it gets reborn into something that is only possible because of the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross so long ago. I’m so thankful for Him and the work that He will always be doing in me as I learn hard things in this world!
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Good evening, as Spring mentioned my name is Kari and my Hem Touching Moment was a little over a year ago when my whole entire life began to fall apart. My fiancé Aaron and I had moved into our new home on February 1, 2024. We celebrated one year of being together on August 1, and then on August 20 we found out that he had stage 4 lung cancer. The next few months were such a blur as he eventually was placed on hospice care on September 11, and then passed away in our home on October 4, which was also my son’s 3rdbirthday.
Aaron had been not feeling well since July, so with him being out of work for so long, I knew that I was not able to keep the home, and that I would need to rehome all of our pets. I began looking for apartments and was hopeful about one that was in my budget. I was very open with the landlord about my situation and why my credit was bad, he said he would work with me but chose to change his mind at the last minute.
I then contacted Love INC, I knew that they had helped a friend of mine 20 years ago with transitional housing. This in itself is a God moment to me because who knew all those years ago that Love Inc would be such a big part of my life and spiritual growth (of course God knew). My first mentor Karen, who is here tonight, will be able to confirm that it probably took about 2-3 month for me to be able to speak without breaking down.
I was set to begin the life skills program on January 2 of this year and that is the day that I found out the company I worked for had restructured and I no longer had a job after working at the same company for 13 years.
I am sure you can imagine that I was truly feeling like Job, I had lost my fiancé, my home, our pets, and my job all within a span of a few months. I had so many thoughts and emotions. I was angry. I was sad. I was anxious and worried for my future as a now widow, and unemployed single mom-on the verge of being homeless. I questioned God, why would He even allow Aaron and I to get together and purchase a home just for it to be taken away so soon? Was it punishment? And I am guessing some of you may have began to compare yourself to other people who may not be as nice as you are or as generous as you are and thought that it was no fair these people were living happy and blessed lives while you are in the middle of such loss and suffering. I even at one point wondered if God loved Aaron more than me because Aaron was in heaven and I was the one down here left broken and trying to pick up the pieces.
I am here to tell you though, that through it all God showed Himself. And even though I was upset I would pray and cry out to Him, some of my prayers were just sobs. I spent a lot of time in worship which I had never really done outside of church, I would sit in the woods and put on youtube and the perfect song that I had never heard would come on, I would tell God that I couldn’t feel Him, and ask Him to give me a sign. Sometimes the wind would pick up, a butterfly would land near by or a ray of sun would suddenly shine on my face, and those were moments that I would grasp on to and be thankful for that He was indeed listening.
I prayed. I trusted. I hoped that even though the days and minutes even seemed so heavy and dark and lonely that God would show me HIS faithfulness. HE had done it in the past so I knew He was able. I remembered all of the lessons and illustrations that I had heard about being refined by fire, and that even gold has to be purified. I felt peace even through the heaviness that God was purifying and refining me.
Every step of the way, HE did provide. He put people, and resources in my path so that my son and I would be taken care of.
2 Corinthians 1:8–9
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,1 of mthe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us nrely not on ourselves obut on God pwho raises the dead.
“For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord…”
..: Jeremiah 30:17Zechariah 13:9
English Standard Version
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” -
Memories Suppressed
My whole life I have been a quiet person, a peace keeper, one who agrees even when they don’t. I have just a small group of friends. When it comes to asking for something, it takes me days to ask, if I even ask at all.
I became a Christian when I was 45 and God has done a work in me from the very start. A few years back He placed the woman that bleeds, from Luke 8:43-48, on my heart.
43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
I researched this woman for a long time.
Little did I know at that time this Jesus, along with this woman, would save me.
I grew up in a home where there was yelling and anger. Most days I was afraid to even sit down and eat with them. That’s where a lot of the yelling was. My course of action was always to just be quiet. My mom and dad had a marriage where I didn’t see much love. If there was a radar in that house I flew right underneath it. Most times I don’t think they really even saw me. Things went on that I was afraid to tell them, I had a brother that was inappropriate. If I were to talk to them about it my dad would believe me, but my mother wouldn’t. It would just make everything worse, quiet peace keeping was taking it’s place.
There were times when my mother would tell me that she didn’t want me and she hated her life. She had 5 children, and really only wanted 2. One day she was sitting outside in a lawn chair, It was a beautiful day. She looked at me and out the blue she said “If there was birth control, you wouldn’t be here”. That was the start of many bad choices on my part that went on for years. Failed marriages, drinking and pot smoking. There were triggers in my life that I didn’t deal with because I am a stuffer. I bury everything to make it go away. But eventually I explode, and it can get really ugly.
One of these triggers happened in church in April of 2025. We got to church and my husband decided to stay outside and talk with some friends. I went in to sit down and our spot was taken. I moved up 2 rows. Waiting and waiting for him, I was starting to get angry. Then the message starts, still no husband. By this time I’m shaking and about to explode. I got up and He was sitting in the spot we usually do. When I sat down I was on the verge of tears. Some words were exchanged. He told me he looked for me and couldn’t find me. I stood up and walked out of the church, with him behind me. When we got into the car I just started yelling and crying. My thoughts were racing. He was blowing me off, he didn’t care about me, if he leaves me where would I go. Crazy thoughts, then it came out “I can’t live like this anymore”, I had come to the end of it. I was done. I cried most of the day and into the night. Desperation and confusion all at once. I was reminded again of the bleeding woman. There on my couch in my living room I closed my eyes, stuck out my hand and thouched the hem and immediately felt peace, such a calm came over me. Then I just felt tired.
When I got up the next morning, I called my doctor’s office and told them I was deperate and needed help. My doctor and a therapisit got me in right away. Even though I was sceptical, I knew I needed help. God placed me with an amazing woman who told me that if we can find the root, that’s where we need to begin. The process called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). I told her I wouldn’t give up on the therapy and have never missed an appointment. I have added EMDR into my life and still use it today.
God is so good, it took 60 years to get me to this point, don’t ever give up.
Spring
Hem Touching Moments 