“Hi, I’m Kasey Rae and here is my story on how I was saved and gave my life to Christ.
I was born and raised in a Christian home along with my brother and younger sisters. I grew up in the church and was involved with everything. I was in the Awana program, helped in the nursery, sang on the worship team, attended the youth group, ran summer camps, you name it, I did it. When I was about ten years old I got baptized with my whole bible study group. Now, during this time I didn’t really know Christ much. I knew God was real and that He created me but that was it. And there’s a big difference between knowing him and having a relationship with Him. As I got older I began to doubt a lot. I never really chased after God. I didn’t really care for going to church or even learning. It was just something I had to do because of my family.
When I was about 13/14 my little sister started to go to public school. Since the school is walking distance from my house I, and sometimes my other sister, would go up and get her. With that, all my friends who were in my youth group went to the local middle/high school, so we would see people we knew when we went to pick her up. It was summer time and school was about to let out for that season when my sister and I met up with one of her friends, there I met this guy who later turned out to be a previous boyfriend for 3 and a half years. This young man was as tall as you could possibly get, blonde hair blue eyes, played lacrosse and football in both middle and high school. After we met we clicked instantly. We became such great friends and hung out almost every day.
Now keep in mind I still have not come to Christ yet. Fast forward a few years when I was 19, this young man and I decided to make things official and put a title on things. The first 6 months of our relationship were great, we got along so well and complimented each other. It wasn’t until the next 6 months that things went downhill fast. At this time I didn’t realize what was going on. What I thought was the honeymoon stage, was actually turning into something that you’d see in the movies. Things took a turn for the worst. This man got extremely violent, and we would argue over the silly things. If he didn’t like the way I answered he would take something and break it. And everything happened so quickly. He would yell, break things, start screaming in my face and started getting physical along with being verbally and sexually abusive.
I found myself in a deep dark hole that I couldn’t get out of once the verbal abuse started. It got so bad that some of the things he said I still deal with today. I don’t think I’d ever been so degraded in my entire life. He started becoming very “protective” and controlling and not letting me be me. I always had to ask permission to do something and if he didn’t like it then I couldn’t do it. By the time we were together 1.5 years, things got way worse. I stopped going to church, spending time with family, work wasn’t a priority, my figure skating took a back seat, and I gained almost 40lbs due to this toxic relationship. Anyone who knows me knows my skating and gym time are things that I don’t slack on.
At the 2.5 year mark in the relationship, things got heavy fast. He became physically and sexually abusive. If he wanted or tried to have sex with me and I resisted he would get mad and lay hands on me. Sometimes he would even force himself and get me in a position where I couldn’t protect myself. This happened close to 14 times/week. There were times where I had to ” act’ like I wanted it just to save myself from getting smacked or beaten. While all of this was happening his parents didn’t help. They would hear but never step in. So I was really on my own. My family thought all my marks and bruises were from skating or the gym. They had no clue.
To sum it all up, it took me 2 times to get away, both 6 months apart. The night I got away was the hardest. It was near our 4 year anniversary. I was grabbed by the arms and dragged upstairs to his room and there I spent the last 4 hours with him screaming in my face. I don’t even remember what he was mad about but what I do remember is that I had a chair thrown at my head. I was knocked out for a minute, then next thing I knew he was spitting in my face, pushing, and smacking me, and then I was grabbed and put into a corner where he had a knife placed on my throat, and then a gun to my head and told me that my life should end. I was told that God didn’t want people like me in Heaven and that I deserved a slow death.
At that moment when I thought I was going to die, I cried out to the Lord asking for mercy and for Him to save me. I don’t know how I got out but somehow I did and I end up safe at home. I remember running into my house, slamming the door and telling my mom to not answer the door if he came. The next morning he showed up at my church waiting for me. He ended up stalking me for close to a year after that. The mental, emotional, and physical abuse was out of this world.
That Sunday I met up with a few friends and they told me about the church they are going to called Lighthouse (this is now my home church). I figured I’d try it out and given his stalking, I needed a new place to call home and to feel safe. It was at Lighthouse where I found Jesus and my worth in Him. I learned that God is the only way to Heaven and that He longs for a relationship with me. He took me as I was, at the lowest point in my life. It was then that I fully understood and gave my life to Christ. I learned what an unconditional loving relationship was supposed to be like. It’s Jesus. If I didn’t go through that time in my life and actually cry out to God who knows if I would be alive today. I probably wouldn’t be, let alone having a deep relationship with Jesus.
That October of 2014 I made the decision to get baptized. I stood in front of maybe 7-800 people telling them my snapshot of a testimony and how I am following Jesus. He is the best decision I have ever made. I love Him and He loves me and I couldn’t be more fulfilled and satisfied in Him.” -KRF
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