Geneva Miller:
CLASS OF 1987
Elma High SchoolClass of 1987
Elma, WA
Kentwood High SchoolClass of 1987
Kent, WA
Geneva's Story
My life now is completely different from what it used to be. I live my life now to serve Jesus. I'm not what some would call a "Bible Thumper", but I don't do a single thing in life without first praying about it and seeking the face of God. I've seen much in my lifetime, and as I look back over my life, I can see where God has protected me and watched over me. I am where I am today BECAUSE of God. I do not even want to imagine where my life might be without Jesus. I have made my share of mistakes in life and will continue to do so, but I have a peace and a joy that I never thought was possible....Three times in my life I have tried to follow in my father's footsteps by ending my life....each time was unsuccessful because God's plan for my life was not complete...He still had work for me to do....He would not allow me to take my own life.....and He showed me that I do matter and that I can impact peoples lives in a positive way....I finally am able to let go of a painful and troubled past and look forward to a future like nothing I could have imagined for myself. How truly blessed I am that God has CHOSEN me to be one of His Saints...and how much I look forward to going to Heaven someday when God calls me home.
The words to the following song so fit my life:
WORDS TO MY FAVORITE SONG BY POINT OF GRACE (SONG IS CALLED "HEAL THE WOUND):
I used to wish that I could rewrite history
I used to dream that each mistake could be erased
Then I could just pretend, I never knew the me back then
I used to pray that you would take this shame away
Hide all the evidence of who I've been
But it's the memory of, the place you've brought me from
That keeps me on my knees; even though I'm FREE
(Chorus)
Heal the wound, but leave the scar
A reminder of how Merciful you are
I am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
Heal the wound, but leave the scar
I have not lived a life that boasts of anything
I don't pride in what I bring
I'll build an altar with the rubble that you found me in
Every stone will sing of what you can redeem
(Chorus)
Everything you've done for me
Don't let me forget
The beauty in the suffering
(Chorus 2 times)
Here is the story of my life since graduating High School:
After graduating, I left Elma and went back to Seattle to live with my mother and an old friend from Kentwood High School....but not until after I started drinking and smoking. Not too long after, my friend and I got an apartment together. This so-called friend of mine also introduced me to the life of the Occults. The person I started dating then was even into the occults. In that kind of environment, relationships don't tend to last very long, and soon my "friend" and I were fighting, and I ended up moving back to Elma. But because I stayed tied to the occult practices, I began to disrespect my parents and soon found myself living with my occult practicing boyfriend. We joined the Marines together, but he soon "flunked" out. Not long afterwards we were married, and then were stationed in California. Within a few months I was pregnant with my first child (the tall one in the picture of me and my children) and also separated from my husband (the first of many times to come). Over the coarse of the next 9 months, my husband I separated more times than I can count. Each time we separated, he moved back to Washington, while I was forced to stay in California due my military commitment. Once my son was born, I sought an early release from the military in an attempt to work on my marriage and to raise my son. After leaving the military, we moved back to Washington. At first we stayed with my parents, but that didn't last long because my husband refused to work to support his family. After moving several times over the next month or two, I decided to back in the military so I could support myself and my son. Of coarse the Marines stationed me back in California. Within months my husband and I were separated again, but for the last time. I filed for a divorce shortly thereafter.
A few months later, one of the men I was stationed with in California asked me out. We have been together ever since. In 1993 we had a son together, and in 1994 we were married. It was about this time that I started having problems with my oldest son. Everything fro...Expand for more
m lying to stealing to threatening to shoot another kid at school (and this was shortly after the Columbine school shootings). Needless to say, he was constantly getting detention and school suspensions, until finally they just expelled him from school altogether. We tried counseling, and medication and every possible solution under the sun to help him to "get better". We even went to church for a little while, but that didn't last for very long. Finally in desperation, we packed up the family and moved to Ohio (where my husband was born and raised)...we thought that all the family "back home" would be able to help.
Needless to say, things did NOT get better when we moved. As a matter of fact things got worse. My in-laws were against every form of discipline I used on my children. My father-in-law and I especially would fight constantly over my children (by this time my daughter had been born too). But my son continued to get into trouble. Once he started going to Jr. High, he "found" all the wrong kids to hang around with and they taught him to get around all the blocks on the school computers. It wasn't long before my son had an addiction to Pornography as well as all of his other behavioral issues.
It wasn't too much longer when my world came crashing down. My oldest son, then 14, on Nov. 21, 2004 was placed in a Juvenile Detention Center at my request....my family was destroyed and all I wanted to do was end my life. I quit my full time job, quit school, and went into a deep depression. Over the next six months I sunk deeper and deeper into a depression and finally ended up in ICU in April of 2005. For the next week, I was placed in the Psych. Ward while I tried to make sense of my life and what was happening to my family. By the grace of God, some ladies in the church I attended came to visit me in the Psych ward....it was then that my life began to be turned around.
Within a few months, God had taken away the antidepressants that my doctor told me I would have to be on for the rest of my life. My family got the counseling it needed to start the mending process of my sons actions. My son began to put his life back together too. I rededicated my life to Christ and began to live my life through His will. Shortly afterwards, my children were saved and by Dec. 2005, my husband also was saved. In the Fall of 2005, my two youngest children started attending the Christian school sponsored by our church. The following year, I had a teaching position in the same school -- after months and months of searching for work elsewhere God opened the door to this position. Most of my family has also been baptized since then, and I still hold a teaching position at the school/daycare.
Unfortunately my son is back in the JDC; after two years of being home and doing well; however, he has completely and totally turned his life around. He is serving Christ at the JDC by holding bible studies and praying with the other boys. He is showing them how his life has been changed and is helping the other boys to have hope....even those who don't have a home to go back to when they are released. And God has worked through me to have several of my preschool students saved.
My life is no where near perfect by any means, but I can face each and every day knowing that no matter what comes my way, that I will be stronger and wiser on the other end of the trial and that God is always there to help me through. I face each day knowing that I have a church full of people who will support me and lift me up when I can't do it on my own. I have finally been able to let go and move on from a troubled childhood as well. For the first time in my life, I don't wake up each day with a feeling of dread and fear of what the day may bring. Instead, I wake up each morning with peace and joy and happiness...I wake up singing and knowing that everything will be okay.
If only I can give just a small piece of what God has given to me to each person I pass or have contact with each and every day.....
If you are ever in Ohio, please come by and visit the church that God has lead me to...the church that helped to save my life and the life of my family......It's called Harvest Baptist Temple.....contact me for the info. ;o)
Thanks so much for letting me share.
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