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IGNITED BY TRUTH (CHAPTER 12)
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY KAYLEE TUCKER
(with Karen Burkett)

Kaylee speaks from the heart as she tells of the pain of sexual abuse, domestic violence and depression and how she found joy, hope, peace and forgiveness through the darkness.

Table of Contents

Section I: Beginnings
Chapter One - First Memories (reflections)
Chapter Two - The Comfort of Love (reflections)
Chapter Three - A Summer of Family Love (reflections)

Section II: The Unraveling
Chapter Four - A Living Nightmare (reflections)
Chapter Five - Traumatic Teen Years (reflections)

Section III: A Gradual Awakening
Chapter Six - God's Unending Love (reflections)
Chapter Seven - Drawing the Line (reflections)
Chapter Eight - More Changes (reflections)
Chapter Nine - The Welfare Walk (reflections)
Chapter Ten - Dreams Really Can Come True (reflections)
Chapter Eleven - Forgetting What Lies Behind (reflections)
Chapter Twelve - Jesus - the Only Way (reflections)

Collection of reflections from all chapters red line

CHAPTER 12: JESUS - THE ONLY WAY

From my early childhood I have known that I was going to do something great. I wanted to be an actress, singer, dancer or nun. What a combination!

I loved the television shows of the 60s: The Flying Nun, The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, I Dream of Jeannie, and, of course, Leave It To Beaver. The flying nun was able to transform lives with her trust in God and the purpose He put inside her heart to help others. Andy of Mayberry was always kind to others, helpful and trustworthy. The entire population of Mayberry had wonderful morals. The My Three Sons cast was made up of a broken family who loved each other, and I Dream of Jeanie was just that-filled with possibilities and dreams. Leave It To Beaver represented the perfect family that I wanted. I dreamed and hoped for just such a family as I watched each episode unfold. These shows were my mentors and my family.

My older brother Sean would always say, "All you do is eat, sleep and watch television." But I was so unhappy as a child that I looked to these television shows to give me hope. Family is what I wanted in my life-a loving, caring family.

One way to true happiness

It was only later in life that I found my answer. True happiness can only come through Jesus. Only He is the way, the truth and the life. In Him I found forgiveness. And then He helped me forgive others, and He replaced loneliness with the joy of knowing Him. He brought me to the realization that the whole purpose of my existence is to help others know His love. And I can do that by sharing His love with others through acts of kindness. He planted the desire to do good in my heart. He has given me so many ideas that sometimes my head spins. He has helped me accomplish some of these things, and I know that in His time, He will help me accomplish the full purpose of my journey.

". . . who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NIV).

Jesus is my best friend, my counselor and my helper. He has never left me nor has He forsaken me.

I've made wrong turns in my life, even after becoming a Christian, but He hasn't left me. And He has brought me to a place of such joy. One of my greatest earthly joys is Addison. We married on October 1st, 2001. Addison had loved me for thirty years, and now at last we are together. We know that together we are complete, and we are one with Christ. Life is good. We both have true happiness for the first time in our lives. Our pain and loneliness are gone.

Are you going through difficult times? Times of loneliness? Do you feel as though things will never get better? Don't give up! There is always hope in Jesus. He loves you and wants to help you. Just look at the things that have happened in my life. Talk about hopeless! And the sin and the wrong turns I took. But Jesus didn't leave me, and now I am walking with Him and happier than I ever dreamed possible. Sure, I still have problems and challenges. Sure, I still make mistakes. But through Jesus, I repent, I overcome and I move on. He makes all things possible.

Maybe you have been walking with Jesus, trying to do what's right, but you can't see that anything has changed. No matter what your situation, I encourage you not to give up! Here are some scriptures to focus on:

"So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters. Galatians 6:9,10 Our great desire is that you will keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and patience" (Hebrews 6:11,12).

"I said, 'Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you'" (Hosea 10:12).

MY TESTIMONY (Chapter 12)

I love Jesus so much. He has been so good to me. All my praise goes to Him. The Lord drew me to Him and I want to preach Jesus and His love to you.

I want to plant seeds of hope to the hurting and lost, just as his disciples did. This is my ministry.

I cannot save a soul by the things I do or say, but I can share with everyone about God's unfailing love, a love I do not deserve.

"For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us" (Romans 3:23-25).

Do you realize that God loves us as much as He loves His own Son? The first time I heard these words, I cried. That could not be true, I thought. How could God love me with all my sin?

But it was true.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:16-17 KJV).

"Whosoever"--that's you and me. God loves His Son, you and me with the same intensity. Forgiveness-and everlasting life-is a free gift to all who will believe and receive Jesus as Lord of their life. Even if you've never received Christ, God loves you.

"We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19 KJV).

I had walked in sin for so long, and yet all He asked of me is that I confess my sins and receive His son Jesus into my heart and life. Now that's love! Real unconditional love.

And that's the way He loves you. He doesn't care about your past. He cares about now and the rest of your life. He cares about your eternity. He loves you and wants to help you.

At first I had difficulty believing that anyone-especially God-could love me that much. I had not known real love before, and I had suffered so much abuse in my early childhood and during my first marriage. I believed that no one cared about me. I thought I would have to be perfect for anyone to love me.

And then I learned that Jesus loved me and accepted me just the way I was. That He had died on the cross for MY sins. That I could be forgiven. All I had to do was ask.

My other problem was trusting someone who wanted to give me a gift. You see, people who are abusers will seduce you with gifts and kindness with only one intention-to get something from you. It took me time to accept the fact that God's love is truly unconditional. And that the gift of forgiveness and eternal life is really free.

It took me almost a year of listening and pondering to accept this wonderful gift of salvation. I learned that salvation does not come by joining a church, following a certain religion, doing good deeds or living a good moral life-no matter how admirable these things may seem to be. The Bible tells us there is only one way to receive salvation. You must be born again by accepting Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior

"Jesus replied, 'I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God'" (John 3:3).

After listening to stories about other people who fell in love with Jesus and hearing their testimonies of Christ's love, I finally said yes to the truth. I have been a born again Christian for twenty-three years, and the Lord has shown me His wonderful love every single day. I hope that you, too, will receive His wonderful gift of love.

"But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms - all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:4-10).

Won't you say yes to Jesus right now?

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Feel free to email me with any questions / comments at changinglives74@yahoo.com.au
by addressing your email to Kaylee.

red line © Copyright 17 May 2005
Taken from the web site www.changinglivesonline.org
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