Reedeemed from the Pit

[nella]

I'm a friend of Steelsheen's and she recommended this forum to me, so I just joined and I'm looking forward to becoming an active member here.

Well, I don't have a fantastic testimony or anything, but I think that my salvation is just as grace-driven, meaningful, and alive as anyone else's in the world. I'm a PK (pastor's kid) who knew all the answers to all the questions. I was born in Detroit MI, and when I was five years old I became a Christian. God miraculously worked in my heart and saved me from separation of His love. In my mind, that was what I was saved from. I wasn't saved from hell, or a sad life, I was saved from my sin and serving the devil and brought into God's holy presence where He washed me whiter than snow and made me into something beautiful for Him. I have been really growing in the Lord the past several years. Shortly after I got saved my family moved to Pennsylvania where my dad has been pastoring here for nine years. I'm in my teens and I have two brothers, Ian and Stefan. I talk about Ian a lot, so make sure you know who he is :-)

My full name (online, of course!) is Ednella Sound-Out, but I go by Nella. Ednella is Sindarin-Elvish and means sound out. Why do I call myself sound out? It is actually taken from 1 Thessalonians 1:8, which says "For from you sounded out the word of the Lord...in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad." I want to serve God with my life in missions.

That's about it.

~Nella

[gynovia]

welcome!

[Geberia]

Welcome Nella! I'm Geb here on CT ( but you'd know me as Scottlady , and Gyn is my sister. Glad Steelsheen invited you; the more the merrier!

[New Titania (TD)]

Welcome! I hope you have a good time here. I'm the president of the region. Hope to see you around.

[nella]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone!!

[nella]

I know that I posted a testimony earlier, but I wanted to offer some more background on why I am here where I am today. If you don't read the whole thing, read the italicized, bold section. That is what I really wanted to emphasize about my story.

November 19th is a sentimental day for me. It was that day that almost my whole life changed. It isn't my spiritual birthday (I do not remember the exact day that I accepted Christ) but it the things that happened that day are almost as important. That day was a hug mile stone in my spiritual growth, and shaped me into what I am today.

I have to start my story a few days before the 19th. We will begin on November 15th. I was browsing some Lord of the Rings fan sites, looking for more people who would be affiliates with my new site, The Grey Havens. I stumbled across a little Freewebs site called OBINA, an acronym pronounced oh-bean-uh, which stands for Orlando Bloom Is Not Amazing. The basic gist of the site was that girls should not turn celebrities into gods or idols. This site was run by two Christian girls, PadmeKristana (Kristin), and Eruvyweth God-follower. There was another friend of theirs, Pervinca “Vinca” Took, who also frequented their site.

In my LotR saturated world, we became the four hobbits. Kristin was Frodo, Eruvy was Sam, Vinca was Pippin, and I was Merry. We were the OBINA girls, but there were also the OBIA girls.

OBIA was a sort of “rival” site to OBINA. Originally, the unsaved members of OBINA had trashed the OBINA guestbook, and did things just to spite Kristin and Eruvy. The officiators of the site, Merrel, Emily, Carmen, and Lola, weren't always friends. There had been a time when Lola was a persecuted Christian girl whose parents had died from cancer. Merrel was the antagonist, who cut up Live Strong bands and debated with Lola on creation. However, Merrel was made an orphan too, and Lola and she became great friends. Merrel apologized, totally redid OBIA, and became a Christian. Now, the OBIA site reads “Orlando Bloom is Amazing, but not a god.”

That was all before November 15th. That day, two years ago, the OBIA girls, with Merrel's older sister Kelly driving, were in a car accident. They were on their way home from a movie when a drunk driver smashed into their car. Merrel's arm was broken, Emily and Carmen were badly cut and bruised, Kelly had slight brain damage, and Lola was in a coma. I found OBINA just after the announcement about the accident. And I began to pray. And pray.

Four agonizing days later (November 19th), I got home from a piano lesson and checked the OBINA guestbook, hoping to find that Lola would be improving. I found that she had died about an hour before. I was shocked. How could this have happened? We were praying so hard! Was it all for nothing?

I was angry with God, angry with myself, and angry at my parents, for some strange reason. I had not told them about Lola, so they had no way of knowing what I was going through. I marveled at a world that could go on even when good people died in car accidents like that. I was so confused by everything. But the OBIA troubles had just begun.

A few more people, friends of the OBIA girls, began frequenting the site. There was kebloom (Katie), Jessie, Nikki, and Shara Kelly. They were Merrel's friends from school. Some of them knew Lola, I think. Anyway, back to the story.

We learned from Jessie and Katie that Merrel ran away a few weeks into December. She was found on December 11th, and in bad health condition at that. The doctors were sure she had been raped, and it turns out that she was indeed pregnant.

That same night, I was on my way home from a youth rally. About five inches of snow had accumulated on the road, and when going down a small hill, our church van slid into a ditch. My left leg slid forward and hit the seat in front of me hard. There was a bump on my leg the size of a golf ball, and by the next morning, the size of a tennis ball. I was in the middle seat, and unbuckled. My whole body was thrown forward and my nose spewed blood all over the place. My glasses came off my face and flew to the front of the van.

Someone pulled over and called 911. Soon, the ambulance arrived. I was sitting in the freezing snow, and I wasn't sure I could walk. Another girl thought she might have broken her leg. She and I were taken to the hospital. Ian rode with me in the front of the ambulance. My back ached because of the hard board they had strapped me to. The whole time I was thinking how lucky I was that I didn't end up like Merrel and Lola. My leg wasn't broken I was sure, just bruised and achy, my back hurt, but my nose had stopped bleeding. I could hear Ian in front talking with the driver.

“Yeah, we were just coming home from the youth rally and then there we were in the ditch!” He laughed his snaky laugh. “Ssss! That was better than a thrill ride!” I didn't think so. That was easy for him to say, but I was just glad I was alive. We drove by a chiropractor's office. “Hey, I think I need to go there,” he said, and laughed again. Good old Ian. He always thinks everything is a joke.

The doctor checked me out briefly and then sent me home. I was so sore. My leg hurt terribly. I wasn't looking forward to the next day. I was sure I would be even more sore. I was glad that I was home, though, and that I could go to church the next day. It was after 11:30 that I finally fell asleep, with an ice pack on my shin and a box of Kleenex's next to my bed in case my nose bleed started again.

The next day after church I had a concert to play at the mall. I didn't want to go, but I had a solo part, so I did not have much of a choice. I limped everywhere, and my nose bled again during the concert. It was dripping on the floor until someone finally gave me some tissues.

Fast forwarding a little, I was fine, and so was everyone else-- except Merrel and her friends in New York. Nikki had a fever of over 105 degrees, and Merrel was having some pregnancy complications. We were all radically pro-life, and discouraged her from getting an abortion. Nikki died in February, I think, but I do not remember the day.

Life went on peacefully for a while until the big tsunami hit South East Asia. I mentioned Katie before. Katie had a younger sister, Mary, and along with the rest of the unfortunate events, Mary and her godmother were in Thailand for Christmas when the tidal wave hit. Mary was missing, but after fervently praying for her for weeks, she was found and returned to the states. She heard that we had all been praying for her and got on OBINA to thank us. I was so happy. Finally, something good had happened, and I felt a part of it because of my prayers.

During these several months, I had literally been driven to my knees, searching for answers to give to these girls in need of hope. I learned a lot of things in that time period, but hope was one thing that I never lost sight if. Hope was me new favorite word.

Spring came and went, and the beginning of summer arrived. Things had been going well for Merrel during her pregnancy, and everyone else was well. We began discussing names for Merrel's baby girl. Lola was recommended, but the pain with that was still to new and fresh. I suggested Hope, my new favorite word. Hope was quickly decided upon, and we all waited for her arrival here on earth with joy.

I left in mid-June for Indiana to visit my cousins for the first time in my life. We were gone over Ian's 16th birthday, and had a party for him on June 23rd. That night, a little girl was born, two months premature. She was a strong girl, and very healthy. Unfortunately, her mother died shortly after bringing Hope Arabella Miller into the world. Merrel had been very sick because of depression, and also some heart problems.

That month, while talking with Kristin about the OBINA history, she asked me if I could do her a favor. She and Eruvyweth had some well justified doubts about the OBIA story. We did not think many of the things that had supposedly happened were even possible, such as Nikki's high fever that peaked at 117 degrees. I did and IP search, and instead of coming from New York, New York like the girls claimed, the search ended in southern California. More than likely, the whole story, all the girls, had been nothing more than a hoax.

I was slightly prepared for the discovery, but I was left with many unanswered questions. Why would some one do such a thing? Had I really been that gullible? Were any parts of the story true?

The questions are still unanswered, but they don't matter now. On November 19th I learned a very valuable lesson. I learned how much life truly is a vapor. I learned how to pray, how to really pray, and fast as well. I found answers and comfort in the Psalms, which I read almost every two weeks in their entirety. But above all, I had an experience that had tested my faith and had proved it in a fiery furnace. I had found a Hope that would endure to all generations.

I imaging some of you will cry at this unhappy ending, but life is that way. There are deaths, and there is new life, but you can't let it drag you down. There are honest and dishonest people, but you have to tell the truth regardless.

Another thing I learned on November 19th is how amazing grace really is. I was about five years old when I saw my need for a savior, and as a five year old, I was humanly speaking very innocent. God saved me out of sin, but I think He saved me even more out of what I could have become apart from Him. He never ceases to amaze me![/i]

The four of us hobbits are still together and friends. Most likely, we will never meet, but we are still good friends. I think of them often and thank God that I went through all that I went through with one of them never farther than an e-mail message away. We were on OBINA together, we were on xanga together, and in Christ, we are together.

I have learned that God doesn't just use anything to teach us. He can use nothing if He feels like it.

~Nella

[Geberia]

That's an amazing story! Praise God for what he's done in your life, Nella. I hope I get to meet you sometime