From Sinner To Saved - My Testimony

The Beginning... I Guess?

I was a pretty happy kid - I was still young enough to think that everything was fairy tales, rainbows, and puppies. I had a few friends, I had a few close family members, and life wasn't too bad.
What I didn't realise at the time was that my mum was quite sick, and what I had to put up with for the next 13 years would end up impacting me more than I ever could've thought.

Now don't get me wrong. As much as I've had to put up with from my mum, since I was quite young, I still love her - I mean, she's my mum. And it really isn't her fault (most of the time). But unfortunately, a lot of what made me who I am today was because of what I had to put up and deal with back then.
I remember getting a porcelain doll for Christmas from my Grandma and Pop when I was about 3 or 4. She was gorgeous - with red, curly hair like mine, crimson lips and cheeks, bright blue eyes, and a gorgeous red tartan dress. But she didn't last very long - I must've done something to annoy mum, because I remember watching her pick my doll up, and throw her at the wall, smashing into hundreds of little pieces on the floor.

I don't remember much from my childhood, and maybe that's a good thing, considering some of the stories my older sister, Josephine, has told me.
For example, apparently one day our Border Collie, Pungle, got out of the back yard and went down the road. I was 3 at the time, and Jos was 5. As punishment for allowing the dog to escape (Jos told me that we didn't even let it out), we could choose whether we wanted to get hit with a bamboo stick that was growing at the side of the house, or we could get locked in Pungle's kennel until my dad got home from work. Jos chose the bamboo, and I chose the kennel. I was apparently in there for almost 4 hours before dad got home, but mum, being the sneaky person she was, let me out just before he got home, and threatened (or 'bribed', as she called it) us not to tell dad.
And it's things like this that make me very glad that I don't remember very much from before I was 8 years old.

I do remember, however, getting locked in the toilet room with my brother, Josh, and sister, Jos if someone had done something, and no one owned up to it. Most of the time, because Jos and I were older than Josh, we would bribe him to say he ha done it so we could get out - most of the time it was him that had done it, but he was smart enough to realise if he played dumb he would get stuff off us for telling the truth, while we thought he was lying.
On one particular occasion when we got locked in the toilet room, it was because mum had found what she thought was a tea light candle holder in the oven. I was 14 at the time, Jos was 16, and Josh was 11. We were in the toilet room for almost 3 hours, and when dad got home, he let us out. Turns out it was the cover for the light in the oven, and none of us had put it there, because it was supposed to be there. Two days later I had to explain to my production teacher at school why I missed rehearsals. That was probably one of the most humiliating things I've ever had to do.

I could go on all day of this kind of stuff, but it would get pretty boring, so I guess I'll just cover the important stuff...