Introduction
A series of terrible tragedies could have left Mama Kel devastated and angry with God. Instead her strong faith and trust in God and His goodness helped her to see that tests and trials have a purpose in life. She now looks back with thankfulness for everything she endured.Mama Kel's true story is one of our many featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by Christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it. Submit your testimony by filling out this Submission Form.
Mama Kel's Trials - From Testing to Trusting
We all have tests and trials. How would we know the good without the bad?It seems I have always felt and known of God's presence in my life since I was a small child. But it wasn't until recently that I learned just how powerful the love of God really is.
I write songs and poems. About 7 years ago I wrote a poem called "I'll Go Seven Times." Shortly after, my life started taking turns that I could have never anticipated.
It began in August of 1999 when the car I was riding in was hit by a semi truck twice at 60+ miles per hour. I was in the passenger seat and my best friend Kimi was driving. We came upon a three road intersection. Kimi thought it was a three way stop. I remember sitting there looking to my right at the church on the corner of the intersection as we came to a stop. There was a sign out front that read "Today is a great day for a miracle!" I then looked to my left and there it was, this semi with trailer in tow, coming right at us.
He hit us twice, flipping us to the other side of the road. We had to be cut out of the car. Amazingly, Kimi and I were transported to the hospital where we were treated and released and home by dinner! We walked away from this horrific crash with minor injuries. The highway patrol and medics were all baffled. They all thought they would find us dead inside because of all the damage to the car.
Five months after the accident our home caught on fire and we lost everything we owned. I cannot complain, however, about losing the house and our material things; I was able to get my young son and myself out just in time before the entire place was engulfed in flames.
Changed Forever
Five months after the fire I woke up early one morning to have coffee and catch the early news. The lead story that day was about a man who had walked into a local Emergency Room and shot himself. I learned it was my beloved uncle, my mother's brother. I went to the hospital where they had not yet pronounced him dead. When they did, my grandparents (his mom and dad) were not yet there to get the news. I remember them coming about two hours later, getting off the elevator and having to be the one to tell them that their only son was dead. This changed me forever.
After losing my uncle so suddenly and violently, things seemed to calm down for a few months. However, eight months later I would be tested again. I was diagnosed with cancer and ended up having multiple surgeries over the next two years on my abdomen. This left me laid up for 8 weeks at a time. Just when I thought it was over, I was back on the operating table!
Since then, there have been other trials, but not as extreme as these. Today I am healing nicely and life is very good. I am able to work again, and I am even doing what I love, writing music. A producer in Nashville is interested in a couple of my songs and they are currently in production.
The only thing that gets me through is my faith in God. I've learned to trust in this truth -- if God brings you to it, He will certainly bring you through it! What it comes down to is this -- all I have to do is take a look around me. I don't know suffering at all compared to many, many others.
There were times through all of this I wanted to just give up. I thought there would be nothing else for me. But I just kept trusting and praising God -- it was all I could do. I am not only healed, but I can be thankful for my trials. God has great plans for me, and for us all, if only we believe!
