Dear Perry,
The Lord put a desire on my heart a long time ago to write you a Thank You letter, but I have not been able to follow through. This morning during my time with the Lord, I heard Him say do it now so I figure I better do it!
I know you appreciate concise stories and bullet points so I am going to try my best to be brief, to the point, but convey the gratitude I have for your obedience the best I can.
I was 24 years old, recently divorced from an abusive 7 year relationship, and very lonely. I waited tables at O'Charley's, taught English at Clemson, and wrote for a sports journal. My life was one big party. I was drinking and pursuing men through my pain. It was the furthest I had ever been from God. In fact, I was saved at the age of 9 and knew that I was called to ministry. It still shocks me how far away from the Lord I was.
I got invited to New Spring in 2002 after I shared with someone at grad school how a church had really been rude to me when they found out I was young and already divorced. They said, "That will not happen at New Spring. Come and see for yourself". So, I did. You were teaching the FIRST series on relationships. Perry, it changed my life. I had NO idea that God's design for me and His best for me in a mate was actually biblical. I took notes that day and kept my bulletin and "unleashed" to the Lord that day my dating relationships and fully surrendered my "self" to God. I carried around the biblical criteria that you gave for months. I realized "I AM a daughter of the KIng. I AM worthy. I AM valued. I CAN live a pure life. His GRACE IS sufficient for me". The Lord worked in me so supernaturally that I found myself not even thinking about being single or needing a guy in my life. I had been boy crazy since the age of 9 so this was a real miracle! HA! Several months later I met the guy I am married to now. Through the entire dating relationship I knew that God was first and if this was His Design for me and the God's best for me then it would all work out. This was the beginning of the Lord unleashing His Plan for my life. (I became an Ignite volunteer and Alden Ellis is the pastor that married us. Jake Beatty did our marriage counseling.) But this was just the beginning!!!
In 2003, I heard you share your story of how God called you to begin New Spring. The question, "Perry what would you do if you knew you could not fail?" Your answer and action blew me away. I wanted to have that same kind of Faith in God's plan for me. That year I started praying and begging God to answer it for me. Over the next several years, the Lord really wrestled with me. I had a lucrative career and glamorous job. Long story short, in 2010, you preached on worshipping money and how it is spiritually impossible to worship money and God. I got home that day and walked out on my porch and the Lord said, "Keri, being tied to your job is no different. You know that I have called you to do something else". I came in and told my husband what happened and resigned that night. Total step of faith - and no plan - just direction from the Lord and His Word - and the last two + years have been the most amazing days full of "divine meaning" and spiritual blessings that I have a life "billionaires envy"...I just help people using the expertise that God gave me without being tied to the outcome. I counsel and mentor young women and the Lord has brought me some amazing ladies He rescued at New Spring and I receive them in the CARE room.
Perry - you were my Abraham. Your faith helped me take the steps towards God's design. In my toughest days, I would think about what God has done through your obedience and what has happened at New Spring and it always pulled me through to the next breakthrough the Lord had in store for me and my family. So many miracles have happened - I wish I could share them all. The greatest miracle is I went from being married to a man that depended on me financially, to being married to a man whose faith grew from the product of a praying wife and he is now the financial and spiritual leader of his family. (Dude had 3 DUI's at one time in his life - and now he is a supernatural testimony for the Lord!!!)) Recently, he received a Director position at a hospital that we literally prayed for for an entire year.
I think I should have started with the "THANK YOU" first just in case you go ADD and can not make it to the end of this letter. Perry, THANK YOU for being obedient to your call to pastor New Spring. THANK YOU for not quitting!!! THANK YOU for preaching God's WORD!!! Because of your obedience and passion for scripture and preaching the WORD in our church, God's best for me and my family is happening and through us the Lord is mobilizing some unspeakable things and opportunities. New Spring is publishing a portion of my story, but every year the Lord just adds more abundance to it. The crazy thing is, our life is not about money anymore and yet the Lord sustains us - has provided for us to stay in our home - and continues to put us in a position to bless others. THANK YOU so much Perry for being real. THANK YOU for getting out of bed everyday. THANK YOU for allowing pastors like Clayton King share the stage. THANK YOU for showing us your heart. THANK YOU for using your weaknesses to show us HOW BIG GOD IS!!!! I saw you in Starbucks one day - and funny thing is - I had prayed that the Lord would provide me an opportunity to just hug you and THANK YOU - and I had my chance and I was too afraid I may bother you. I should have received the blessing :)
THANK YOU Perry. THANK YOU!!!!
The Lord put a desire on my heart a long time ago to write you a Thank You letter, but I have not been able to follow through. This morning during my time with the Lord, I heard Him say do it now so I figure I better do it!
I know you appreciate concise stories and bullet points so I am going to try my best to be brief, to the point, but convey the gratitude I have for your obedience the best I can.
I was 24 years old, recently divorced from an abusive 7 year relationship, and very lonely. I waited tables at O'Charley's, taught English at Clemson, and wrote for a sports journal. My life was one big party. I was drinking and pursuing men through my pain. It was the furthest I had ever been from God. In fact, I was saved at the age of 9 and knew that I was called to ministry. It still shocks me how far away from the Lord I was.
I got invited to New Spring in 2002 after I shared with someone at grad school how a church had really been rude to me when they found out I was young and already divorced. They said, "That will not happen at New Spring. Come and see for yourself". So, I did. You were teaching the FIRST series on relationships. Perry, it changed my life. I had NO idea that God's design for me and His best for me in a mate was actually biblical. I took notes that day and kept my bulletin and "unleashed" to the Lord that day my dating relationships and fully surrendered my "self" to God. I carried around the biblical criteria that you gave for months. I realized "I AM a daughter of the KIng. I AM worthy. I AM valued. I CAN live a pure life. His GRACE IS sufficient for me". The Lord worked in me so supernaturally that I found myself not even thinking about being single or needing a guy in my life. I had been boy crazy since the age of 9 so this was a real miracle! HA! Several months later I met the guy I am married to now. Through the entire dating relationship I knew that God was first and if this was His Design for me and the God's best for me then it would all work out. This was the beginning of the Lord unleashing His Plan for my life. (I became an Ignite volunteer and Alden Ellis is the pastor that married us. Jake Beatty did our marriage counseling.) But this was just the beginning!!!
In 2003, I heard you share your story of how God called you to begin New Spring. The question, "Perry what would you do if you knew you could not fail?" Your answer and action blew me away. I wanted to have that same kind of Faith in God's plan for me. That year I started praying and begging God to answer it for me. Over the next several years, the Lord really wrestled with me. I had a lucrative career and glamorous job. Long story short, in 2010, you preached on worshipping money and how it is spiritually impossible to worship money and God. I got home that day and walked out on my porch and the Lord said, "Keri, being tied to your job is no different. You know that I have called you to do something else". I came in and told my husband what happened and resigned that night. Total step of faith - and no plan - just direction from the Lord and His Word - and the last two + years have been the most amazing days full of "divine meaning" and spiritual blessings that I have a life "billionaires envy"...I just help people using the expertise that God gave me without being tied to the outcome. I counsel and mentor young women and the Lord has brought me some amazing ladies He rescued at New Spring and I receive them in the CARE room.
Perry - you were my Abraham. Your faith helped me take the steps towards God's design. In my toughest days, I would think about what God has done through your obedience and what has happened at New Spring and it always pulled me through to the next breakthrough the Lord had in store for me and my family. So many miracles have happened - I wish I could share them all. The greatest miracle is I went from being married to a man that depended on me financially, to being married to a man whose faith grew from the product of a praying wife and he is now the financial and spiritual leader of his family. (Dude had 3 DUI's at one time in his life - and now he is a supernatural testimony for the Lord!!!)) Recently, he received a Director position at a hospital that we literally prayed for for an entire year.
I think I should have started with the "THANK YOU" first just in case you go ADD and can not make it to the end of this letter. Perry, THANK YOU for being obedient to your call to pastor New Spring. THANK YOU for not quitting!!! THANK YOU for preaching God's WORD!!! Because of your obedience and passion for scripture and preaching the WORD in our church, God's best for me and my family is happening and through us the Lord is mobilizing some unspeakable things and opportunities. New Spring is publishing a portion of my story, but every year the Lord just adds more abundance to it. The crazy thing is, our life is not about money anymore and yet the Lord sustains us - has provided for us to stay in our home - and continues to put us in a position to bless others. THANK YOU so much Perry for being real. THANK YOU for getting out of bed everyday. THANK YOU for allowing pastors like Clayton King share the stage. THANK YOU for showing us your heart. THANK YOU for using your weaknesses to show us HOW BIG GOD IS!!!! I saw you in Starbucks one day - and funny thing is - I had prayed that the Lord would provide me an opportunity to just hug you and THANK YOU - and I had my chance and I was too afraid I may bother you. I should have received the blessing :)
THANK YOU Perry. THANK YOU!!!!
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