Titus 2 Men And Women

My name is Marquita and I am so in awe of what the Lord has done and is doing in my life, and that I can share it with you. I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1955. And yes, for some of you who will read this, that does seem like a reallllly long time ago. My mother was 18 and my father was 44 at the time of my birth. I am the oldest of 7 children-- 5 girls and 2 boys.

My childhood, up until the time I was about 5, was fairly normal. My family was middle class and we lived in a very big house, so big that years earlier my grandfather had divided the house into apartments. Four to be exact. We, that is my mother, father and siblings, lived on the first floor and my grandparents lived upstairs.

My mother worked at a V.A. hospital and my father as a long shoreman at Navy Pier. My grandfather was a pastor who loved the Lord and tried to teach us about the Lord. My grandmother was a bitter but very religious. person who only got worse as she got older.

Every Sunday we went to church. My grandfather was "old school" when it came to church. I can clearly remember him saying if you are too sick to go to church, you are too sick to go outside and play. Church was very important to my grandfather, he taught us to respect the house of God. Every Saturday we had family devotions and my grandfather saw to it that we learned to read the Bible on our own and taught us how to pray. You would think that I would have gotten saved at an early age, but that did not happen.

When I turned 5 my father changed and he began to abuse my mother. Domestic violence became the norm. My childhood went from bad to worse. Children were mean to me. I didn't fit in anywhere. Every thing I did became the brunt of jokes.

My parents divorced when I was 8 years old. My father only came by to pay child support and every time he was there made it very clear that he did not love me. When I was 13 my grandfather allowed me to get baptized. I had made a profession of faith but didn't mean it. At 15 I was drugged and raped. At 17 I was attacked again by a teacher at my high school. By this time my self-esteem was no where to be found.

It was also about this time that I began to have physical problems. I found a tumor on the left side and a year later one on the right. I got pregnant a few months later and two weeks after my 18th birthday I had a son. My son's father had left long before he was born, but I was reintroduced to an old friend and we began to date.

It is here that my life really began to sink even farther into sin-if that is at all possible. Without going into details, I followed my boyfriend into drugs, alcohol and immorality. I became more and more immodest. And during this time had two miscarriages and three more children.

Because of the drug use my boyfriend and I could not keep a roof over our heads and we were constantly moving; sometimes into places that were unfit for habitation. And then something happened that would forever change my life. I cannot tell you all of the things that we went through, for there is not room. I will however tell you this-- sin destroys

In August of 1982 because of a tragedy in my life, I was forced to see myself as I really was, a sinner on her way to hell. I realized that if I did not change I probably wouldn't live a whole lot longer. The people I hung out with had no fear of God. I hadn't been in a church in years. I had not given God a second thought in-- I don't know how long. But that night all the times that God had tried to get my attention came flooding back; every track someone had given me or that someone had left somewhere I remembered. The times family members, and others tried to witness to me all came back to my mind.

IT WAS TIME TO MAKE A DECISION. The same decision that all men must make. I should tell you what brought me to that point. I do not want in anyway to glorify sin, I know of no other way to say this: In the shelter that we lived in at the time, a young woman that I had met was murdered. She was 19 years old and nine months pregnant at the time of her death. Also in the shelter was a born again Christian, who was always witnessing to me. That night the woman witnessing to me told me that she had also been witnessing to that young woman but that she flatly rejected Christ. She explained that all men are sinners and that there is only one payment for sin. I had to confess that I was a sinner repent and trust Christ and His shed blood as my only payment for sin.

I was scared but I also knew what she was telling me was the truth. All that my grandfather taught me came flooding to the forefront of my mind. That night I asked the Lord to save me and to show me He was real. He did. The boyfriend became my husband. We are going on 29 years of marriage. God took away the old man and gave me a new one. I had a brand new slate-- not like a New Years resolution where you give up stuff and start over.

• I was born again, nothing before that day exists in his eyes. John 3:1-18
• He gave me a home in heaven John 14:2
• He gave me assurance of salvation, and eternal life John 3:36, John5:13

And he gave purpose: because of His goodness He has allowed me to be the mother to eight beautiful children and grandmother to four. By His grace I sing in the choir, help in the kitchen, teach Kings kids on Wednesday nights, lead the prayer chain, work in the nursery and drive the church van.

Because of His love for others He put a burden on my heart for the lost and hurting. That burden became the ministry of 'Hearts in Service' and now 'Titus 2 Women'. I wish I could tell you all that God has done for me but there is not room on the whole of the web, to tell all that Jesus did for me or that He wants to do for you if you are willing to let Him.

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