00:01 ‘Turn your life around,
00:03 ‘so that seasons of refreshing
00:05 may come from Jehovah himself.’
00:10 Those words changed my life,
00:12 and they saved the life of my little girl.
00:15 I was raised in a Witness family.
00:21 But I chose
00:25 a dark underworld
00:29 of practically everything that Jehovah hates.
00:33 After about 15 years,
00:35 although financially secure,
00:38 I was confronted with the failure that my life had become.
00:47 I was trying to raise a child while addicted to drugs.
00:53 I just didn’t want to live like that anymore,
00:56 and I wanted to be a good mother.
01:00 So for the first time in years,
01:02 I prayed to Jehovah.
01:06 The knock came on my door the very next day.
01:15 I began studying with a vengeance.
01:19 I had 15 years to catch up on.
01:24 I had a lot of help.
01:28 I progressively changed my lifestyle,
01:30 I changed my associates,
01:32 and I conquered my addiction.
01:35 I slowly began to overcome
01:37 feelings of worthlessness.
01:42 So none of these changes were easy to make,
01:44 but it made me feel
01:46 clean and happy
01:48 knowing that Jehovah was pleased.
01:51 My burning desire at that point really was to begin sharing
01:54 with other people what I was learning,
01:57 but I didn’t qualify to engage in the public ministry
02:01 because I was still living with my boyfriend at the time.
02:04 And he didn’t understand some of the changes I was making.
02:08 I was determined
02:10 to turn my life around and overcome this last hurdle
02:13 that was preventing me from serving Jehovah fully.
02:20 Two weeks later,
02:22 I found out I was pregnant.
02:25 I was devastated.
02:27 I didn’t know what all those people who had helped me would think
02:31 and how Jehovah felt about what was happening.
02:38 I was so ashamed.
02:41 I actually blamed Jehovah for letting it happen.
02:45 I was so confused.
02:48 My first inclination
02:50 was just to get an abortion.
02:54 But deep down, I knew that was wrong.
02:57 I thought, ‘Now everyone will know
02:59 ‘that I’m still the worthless person
03:01 that I always knew I was.’
03:05 At that point, I just felt like giving up.
03:10 I told my aunt and uncle,
03:13 who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, about my situation.
03:16 They didn’t judge me at all,
03:18 but they did offer a curious suggestion:
03:21 They invited me up to Bethel for a visit.
03:25 They introduced me to an elder who was very kind,
03:29 and I talked to him about my situation.
03:32 I was shocked
03:34 by how loving he was.
03:36 So he shared with me Acts 3:19.
03:40 “Repent, therefore, and turn around
03:45 “so as to get your sins blotted out,
03:47 “that seasons of refreshing
03:50 may come from the person of Jehovah.”
03:54 Well, he told me
03:56 I had already sinned, but why should I sin a second time?
03:59 Why should this innocent child pay
04:02 for what I had done wrong?
04:04 He suggested I teach my baby
04:07 about Jehovah and raise the child up
04:10 to know Him and have a friendship with Him.
04:14 I loved that he took something that was
04:17 sad and depressing for me
04:20 and turned it into something beautiful.
04:23 Well, I had a new plan now.
04:25 I was really determined to do everything I had to do
04:28 to turn my life around in order to please Jehovah.
04:31 So eventually I qualified to become an unbaptized publisher,
04:35 and later I was baptized in 2010.
04:39 I gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
04:42 I already dedicated my life to Jehovah.
04:46 So two of my goals are to get baptized and pioneer.
04:50 I’m as determined as ever to raise Jolie up to love Jehovah
04:54 and to avoid the traps that almost cost us our lives.
