A Life of Blessings and MIRACLES!

 

So,I was just 16 years old.

I had met a new group of friends who went to another school in town and they were a bit different to say the least. They had a different way of looking at things than I did. They had a rebellious side to them that showed, but they seemed O.K. I knew I should steer clear of them, but they also seemed nice. I started to hang around with them every now and then and I found that they were pretty much like everyone else, the only difference was, was they were more vocal about what they believed. Different. They stayed out longer and talked a little to rough perhaps. But they became friends none the less and I guess I had to respect them in a way.

What can I say, I was young and an extremely shy introvert. They all seemed edgy, like at that time I thought I might want to be.

After being around these friends I ended up seeing some things that I didn't like much however as well.  I felt I had my own path to follow. I was making more of an effort for my future than most of them were. It was time for me to move on.

I decided to stop hanging around with them. 

 

But not before I ended up being impregnated from hanging around one of these  controlling, ruff young men. I broke off my friendship with him a bit to late.

 It was horrible for me how it all happened.

Life had just taught me a very sad lesson.  

 

I immediately changed to a new group of friends at my own school.

The old adage "Bad friends corrupt good morals" is TRUE!

I found this out the hard way.

So, here I was pregnant from the bad choices I had made. 

My Mom had me enroll in a certain home called Florence Crittendon to stay there until my child was born. I lived there 24/7 and went to their private school for seven months.

My daughter was born right after I turned 17.

I grew up really fast.

 

The terms of the unwed mothers home I was in, was that they would put your child up for adoption in exchange for covering your hospital delivery and schooling finances while you were there.  So my Mom made all these provisions, without my awareness of this.

I had no idea that these terms had been made behind my back.

My Mother was very upset with me and did not visit me while I was there.

I was young, there was a lot of things I didn't understand.

After my daughter was born, she was taken from me and adopted out to a family in Florida. The money for her adoption paid for my hospital delivery and private schooling. I had no idea where she was adopted out to or what her new name was. 

I always wondered about her. This had all been so strange.

There were many sleepless nights and troubled days that followed.

 

For 26 years I worked hard on  trying to find her. I often went back to the place where the adoption took place, but they would always ask me to pay them $75.00 dollars for any information they might have. Then they would come back with the same answer over and over again for years, "We have no new information for you".

 I would inquire almost every year.  Every year I would pay them, and I heard the same thing, we have no new information concerning your daughter. I would leave my phone number and my address again and again and again over the years.

 

About five years had past. One afternoon I was flipping through a magazine and I saw a picture in the magazine of an adorable little girl standing looking out a window eating a spoonful of peanut butter as the rain slid down the window while she peered out.

Something gripped me!

Lord I feel as if this is her!

It's just my imagination I told myself!

I starred at that picture for over an hour. It looked a little bit like me when I was young. I wondered if it was my daughter?  Could it possibly be? That would be an amazing coincidence if it was. Something about that picture caused me to connect with it! I wondered if she was even still alive? Was she O.K.? Did she live in Florida? What were her parents like?  Where is she? These thoughts and many more would just haunt me.

It was all so sad. I never wanted to be alone without her, and yet, here I was. All alone.

 Looking at the picture in the magazine I laughed and said, yeah, right, that would be impossible. It can't be her. It's just my imagination. But I wish I just knew if she was O.K.!

I ripped the picture out of my magazine, and kept it in my Bible for the longest time. I would pull the picture out over the next few years as I would pray for her, over and over again. I would pray for my daughter and hope she was in good hands!  I know it seemed silly. But I did it none the less it was a discernment I was having when I looked at that picture. It truly gripped me!

 

Twenty six years after my daughter was born I still had not been able to find her, it was now 1996.

One day as I was sitting at my desk at work, I heard a strong audible  male  voice say to me,

"Teri, go to the orphanage, inquire about your daughter, Now"!

When he said NOW it was very strong and commanding.

I stood right up and went into my boss and said, "excuse me, there is something I have to do right away. I'll be back in a few minutes". He looked up at me and said O.K., he didn't question me at all,  and with that I went to the  parking lot, got in my car and drove quickly to the orphanage. Again I inquired about my daughter. To my shock and surprise the same now very old woman behind the desk, the same woman I had spoken to many, many times before, got up and walked over to a file and came over to me and requested I pay her yet again, the $75.00 dollars. Once I paid her, she handed me a phone number and a manila envelope.

 I started crying.

 

I was shaking so hard I almost fainted, I was very weak at my knees. I turned around and walked slowly to my car in utter amazement. I sat there remembering the Voice that told me to come NOW! I was so grateful and yet so amazed at this. I opened the information in my car and read the letters in the manila envelope.

I read it over and over again.

I had found her! Thank you GOD! I had found her! Finally after searching for 26 years.

The voice that came to me spoke the truth!

I was in possession of her phone number and address. Just like that!

Just as he suggested!

It felt amazing, surreal, anointed!! 

 

I made the call that night. I made plans to fly out to see her.

 

When I got there to her, we spoke of so many things. We just went on and on and on. We cried, we laughed, we starred at each other. It was like looking into a mirror. She looked exactly like me in every way!

She was so beautiful to me. She spoke and acted just like me.

 

She mentioned she was a child model. She told me about all the different companies she modeled for. She mentioned a peanut butter modeling job. I almost fainted! I gasped and said Really! I then described the picture I had taken out of the magazine so many years earlier. She confirmed to me, it was in fact her! She remembered everything about that job, even though she was so young.  That was one of her favorite modeling jobs as a child she told me. I started crying. The picture I had been led to in the magazine, the picture I had kept in my Bible, was in fact, my very own daughter. It was GOD'S way of showing me that she was O.K., healthy and happy.

 

What peace I have now as I look back over my sometimes unfortunate life. I have been guided and vocally directed my entire life.

I am grateful to GOD for his kind care of me here.

I am thankful for HIS care over my children as well.

This truth is much stranger than any fiction I have ever read!