“When you really think about what Jesus says,
you realize we are all sinners. Nobody is good
enough to go to Heaven. Before, I sort of thought
I was a pretty good person, but compared to God
I am nothing. My heart wasn’t right with God and
I repented.”
When I mention that life is not a playground, and
that although we have a promised, safe arrival,
there are a lot of lessons to learn along the way,
Debra wholeheartedly agrees.
“I’ve had my share of battles. In 1993 I was 6
months pregnant with
my precious twin girls,
Miracle and Angel
Crowe, but then I went
into premature labor.
Can you believe it?
My babies were only
a little over a pound
and obviously in very
critical condition.”
It is clear that even
after so many years,
the emotions are still
fresh for Debra. She
continued:
“My daughter Angel
lived only three days
and went home to be
with Daddy
God and it seemed
my daughter Miracle
wouldn’t live either. I
was a mess myself,
and because I was so
weak, I never got to
see my baby Angel.”
“After I was finally
released from the
hospital, I had to live
in a shelter for battered women, with my son Eddy,
who was then five, and we buried Angel.”
“I couldn’t go home for obvious reasons, so I had
to stay in the shelter. From there I had to take the
bus every day to visit Miracle in the hospital. It
was a tough time, as the doctors were so negative. But Daddy God never let me down. I was no
longer abused and mistreated and I slowly started
to climb up.”
Debra smiles brightly, when she recalls how God
showed He is more powerful than the doctors,
who had hardly any hope for her daughter Miracle.
“Ha…Leave it up to Daddy God. The doctors felt
that because she was so premature and in her
incubator for so long she may have brain damage
and would not develop as well as other children.
I was told that she may not be able to finish high
school or that she wouldn’t be able to hold a job.
Well that was twenty years ago and Miracle graduated with her class and is employed. She is a true
Miracle from Daddy God. My Lord; Satan sure
tried to steal, kill and destroy, but he’s no match
for my Daddy God.”
I suggest that God
has taken good care of
her, in spite of some of
the hardships and Debra
wholeheartedly agrees.
“He sure did. My first
marriage wasn’t the
blessing I thought it
would be and as a result
I was very depressed
and confused about my
situation, but everything
changed for the better. I
still have my two precious
children here on earth,
Eddy and Miracle, and
Angel in Heaven. In
2009 I remarried and life
looks very different now.”
I ask her how she looks
back at her time in the
shelter, as it seems to
be a place most people
would like to stay away
from.
“Obviously, nobody
wants to live in a shelter
for battered women, but in many ways it was a
good time for me. Of course being away from the
abuse was a blessing in itself. But while living there
I found that I was not alone in this test. When we
are going through breakings in life, it is not always
easy to see how to count it as joy, as the Bible
exhorts us to do, but I learned a lot from the ladies
at the shelter. Here I began to trust again and to
love people. It was here I started to see again that
yes, I can do all things through Christ Jesus.”
“What does prayer mean to you?”