Testimony

MY TESTIMONY "THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME"

By Sharon Franklin-Martinez on Monday, October 25, 2010 at 4:53am

 I really struggled with sharing this testimony but I have to tell what God has done for me and where he has brought me from. I know many people are going to say that I should leave the past in the past but there are testimonies all through the Bible of peoples past and what God did for them and where He brought them from. I am not ashamed to share my testimony (my past) simply because it is only because of God's unconditional love for me, his grace and his mercy that I am still here!!

 (SINGING) JEHOVAH has done great things for me, JEHOVAH has done great things for me, Great Things, Great Things, JEHOVAH has done great things for me. I'm going to praise his Holy name, I'm going to praise his Holy name, Praise him, Praise him, I'm going to praise his Holy name. JEHOVAH has done great things for me, JEHOVAH has done great things for me, Great Things, Great Things, JEHOVAH has done great things for me!!

 A good friend said to me a few days ago that "WE CAN NOT HELP THE FAMILIES THAT WE ARE BORN INTO, OR HOW WE GOT HERE.

WE JUST KNOW THAT WE ARE HERE"

MY TESTIMONY

I was born in Brooklyn, NY and my biological Mother was subject to domestic violence at the hands of my biological father, and although I was too young to remember it my siblings witnessed it day in and day out. My biological father who was married to someone else brutally beat and stabbed my Mom with ice picks and other sharp instruments and her death was a result of that final beating. My father fled with no knowledge that he had caused her death and found out upon returning six months later, and six months after that he died. At the age of two, I was placed with an Italian Woman and I knew and loved her as MY Mom and never once did I question the difference in our skin color. I lived with her for about two years and she gave me a treasure that I would cherish and be my foundation for the rest of my life. She gave me Jesus at the precious age of two. Mom (Mrs. Tyler) was dying from cancer and as a result of that I was then taken from her and placed in what they called a permanent foster home in upstate NY with a foster dad who had a drinking problem and an addiction to pornography. As a result of that as a pre-schooler and teenager I had to endure MANY years of sexual, physical, verbal and psychological abuse. I grew up alienated, scorned, rejected and feeling like I had no voice. My foster mother abused me, despised me, and was incapable of loving me because she saw her foster daughter as her rival. All my life I have starved for the love of a Mother. I found myself crying out, asking God over and over why no one wanted to love me. I didn't know that my foster parents were getting paid to keep us until I heard them in a rage because the check didn't come on time and they said if the money doesn't come, we'll call social services and give them back. If we don't get no money for them, then we don't need them. Month after month for 13 years I had a roof over my head but still lived in a mental state of homelessness because I never knew if they would not get paid and throw us out. Because my second Mom (Mrs. Tyler) had given me Jesus, I knew how to pray, and spent secret time with the LORD. I found a scripture in the Bible that helped me to bounce back no matter how much I was rejected. (PSALM 27:10 says: When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.) Every traumatic experience drew me that much closer to God. I ran away many times, was returned and tried to take my life at nine years old with the help of my older sister (who has since passed away) and probably another seven times afterwards and each time God allowed me to live. When the sexual abuse became public in the community my foster parents were very angry and all they could complain about was that their good name was going to be ruined and at that point my foster dad plotted to silence me. At twelve years old I returned home from school and for whatever reason none of my other siblings had rode the bus home from school but me. My foster dad picked me up at the bottom of the hill and the mile ride home was very silent. I started my chores (ironing) and as I sat there ironing my foster dad paced back and forth past the door with one of his shotguns in his hand that had a scope on it. He came into the room and had a white handkerchief in his hand and said he was cleaning the gun (even though he was just slowly wiping it). He was standing about ten feet from me and he waited until I looked down before he pulled the trigger with the gun pointing at me. The gun fired, kicked, and instead of the bullet going into me it went straight across the marble table that was just inches from my waist and left an inch wide grove straight across the top of the marble table. It was then that I slowly began to lose all reality.

As I got older I felt that my only way out was to do well in school and get a good education. Every time I ran away I always chose to allow Social Services to return me to that foster home so I could help to protect my biological siblings. When we did tell of the abuse to the Social workers, they never believed us and we got beat terribly after they left for telling it so we chose to be silent and suffered it until we graduated from High School and were old enough to be on our own. I graduated from high school and many years later I graduated from college.

As a young adult on my own, being very dysfunctional and not having healed from the deep seeded wounds of abuse and rejection I suffered with mental illness and a dark depression that almost immobilized me. I was desperate for someone to love me and had a neediness that was overwhelming to most of the people that I encountered or tried to befriend me and always sent them in the other direction. God had blessed me with the gift of the written word when I was in the hospital on the psychiatric ward during one of my many suicide attempts. Words started overflowing so explosively from inside of me that I had to grab a pen and paper to write the emotions and the words down. The poem is called "ALL THAT I AM"

"ALL THAT I AM"

They all say I'm crazy, but you know.....somebody made me.

My mind and my heart are so sad

And it's all because of my dad.

Can't trust

Can't communicate

Seems all I do is irate

I Love

I Cry

And I HATE

I know Love....

Only in the physical

To all that I have encountered

Believe that I am quite miserable

Where will I go from here?

My whole being is encircled in a tear.

Nobody has come to see me

They don't know...

That, that's what will free me,

My heart cries out to you...

To you...

And to you.

But no matter what I do

I'm such a bore to you.

 I am clothed

In sackcloth and ashes.

The burdensome weights of loneliness....

Rejection...

And misunderstood...

Are shackled on my back.

I don't live

I just merely exist.

My soul wanders aimlessly

For a place

 To call home..

While all the day long..

I just pray to belong.

People everywhere just got to be free

But.............

How can that be...

When I'm so..

 AFRAID

 To step out of me? 

Is this how God

Intended

For Sharon to be..

Or did someone else

Make that choice for me?

That drunken abusive man

Who totally

Silenced the lamb.

Forever imprisoned

By his pain.

Someday, yes someday!!

I'll be free!!

Nor will it matter what people

Anywhere

Think of me.

The pain in my heart is so real!!!

OH GOD.......

Why won't you just let it heal?

They all say I'm crazy

But you know...

Somebody made me.

No matter how people have treated me, God has always given me a compassion for people. I know the pain of rejection, loneliness, abuse and homelessness because I have experienced it. God can take every bad experience and make something good come out!

 Romans 8:28 says: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 God never give us more than we can bear. He knew that I would be able to take those by the hand who are hurting and tell them about a man called JESUS who has done great and might things for me and in my life. I can truly proclaim to the world without shame that I was a prostitute and he showed me a more excellent way (Jesus is the only way) I suffered from mental illness, locked in a psych ward and he restored me to my right mind and delivered me, I was paralyzed but he healed me and now I can walk, I ruined my liver during a suicide attempt, and he healed it making it new, I was blinded by darkness but now I see, I have been physically and spiritually dead but he gave me new life again. Because Jesus lives, I can face tomorrow. He holds my future...my life, in the palm of his hand. He has restored me to my right mind, he has kept me safe from all those awful diseases that I should have gotten and that the enemy had planned for me when I went out looking for love in all the wrong places and from all the wrong people. It's because of his unconditional love, his amazing grace and his unfailing mercy for me that I am still here.

 Jesus wants to do the same for you, you and you. He stands knocking at the door of your heart. Won't you please just completely surrender your whole heart, your will, your desires, hopes and dreams and let him into your heart and be the LORD of your life; allowing him to lead you and guide you down the path that he has planned for your life?

 JEREMIAH 29:11 says: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

 Tomorrow is not promised to any of us, nor for that matter even the next second of your life. This plea for you to cry out to the Lord and surrender may be the very last chance that you get today. Today...NOW is the day of Salvation. None of us know when our time is up and our souls will be required of. What will you say when you stand before a Holy and righteous

God?  How do your lifestyle and your actions declare where you will spend eternity? Heaven or hell? Have you even considered it or are you too busy partying, living it up for today and enjoying all the lustful pleasures of this world? HEAVEN or HELL? It's your choice.

 Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve? JEHOVAH GOD THE FATHER  who is the creator of life and all things or satan?

 AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE SHALL SERVE THE LORD!

 (SINGING) JEHOVAH has done Great Things for me. JEHOVAH has done great things for me. Great Things! Great Things! JEHOVAH has done Great Things for me. I'm going to praise his Holy name. I'm going to praise his Holy name. Praise him. Praise him. I'm going to praise his Holy name. JEHOVAH has done Great Things for me. Glory and honor to you JEHOVAH.

MY MIRACLE TESTIMONY: Today you need to hear this! Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever!

By Sharon Franklin-Martinez on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 1:39am

THE LORD GAVE ME A NEW LIVER!

I had just had my fifth child, my daughter Scherie-Amour and was going through the baby blues. I was depressed, lonely and looking for a man to console me instead of trusting God to take care of me and supply all of my needs; emotional, spiritual and physical. I went to NY for a weekend getaway and my whole life fell apart, so I thought. I decided that life just wasn't worth living anymore and to be dead was better than the constant suffering and rejection. I bought a bottle of orange soda and a huge bottle of 500 mg extra strength Tylenol which had several hundred pills in it. I downed them all as I drank the orange soda to wash them down. Once the pills had dissolved and had gone into my blood stream my head started spinning wile my heart was racing. I was taken to the hospital and put behind a curtain and left for dead.

The police officer stayed by my side crying out to god on my behalf. They tried to take my blood and it had clotted, my body was brick cold and the ER doctor was becoming angry with the police officer because he was begging him to do something to help me. I heard the ER Doctor tell him, just step outside the curtain and let her be, it's too late, nothing for me to do, she'll be dead shortly. My eyesight was growing dim and from my heart I cried out to the Lord and asked him to please forgive me for trying to destroy what he had created. I asked him to give me new life in him and to heal my body. I saw this beautiful light over my face and I felt this surge of heat from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I groaned and the security officer came in and touched me. My body was warm again, and he yelled for the Doctor. The Doctor came in touched my skin and ordered for them to take my blood, give me an IV, and move me to another area. They tested my blood, said I had a lethal toxic dose from the Tylenol and sent me to a room with patients who were all brain dead. I kept my eyes closed all the way to the room and the nurses thought I was sleep. One of them asked why the Doctor would put me in a room with patients who were on life support and all brain dead. The other nurse quietly said because the Doctor said she won't make it to the morning. Morning came, I was still alive and the Doctor while making his rounds came into the room with about 6 interns and said this is our miracle patient. He explained to me that I would be in the hospital for a while because my liver was so badly damaged by the toxins from the Tylenol, it would shut down and I would need a liver transplant. They put me in a room by myself and I quietly prayed most of the day. The next day I asked for the nurse to prepare my paper work because I was leaving. They told me I could not leave because they were preparing to give me a liver transplant. I told them that when I prayed and asked God to forgive me for trying to take my life, give me new life in him and heal my liver....he did just that. It is done! I signed papers AMA papers (Against Medical Advice) and got out of there as quick as I could. When I asked God that day to forgive me, and heal me...he did. He healed my liver and gave me a new one! He healed my emotions, my physical and my spiritual! That was in 1988 and I have never had a problem with my liver and I shall never! When God does a work his work is complete. Just like the complete work that he did on the cross through Jesus. It is finished! Hebrews 13:8 reads: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. The same miracles he did while he walked the earth, he still does today.

 "I am the LORD and I change not!"

MY MIRACLE TESTIMONY: Today you need to hear this. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever!

By Sharon Franklin-Martinez on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 12:55am

PARALYZED FROM THE WAIST DOWN AND COMPLETELY HEALED!

I was seven month pregnant and preparing to take my four children to the store to buy them shoes. I was excited because they were so excited and couldn't wait to leave. I was walking down the steps, missed one step and slammed the back of my neck of the edge of the steps. I was dizzy, feeling like I was going to black out and continued on the shopping spree anyway because I didn't want to disappoint my babies. I was in the store for about five minutes and began staggering. I called the cab, went back home with four very disappointed children. After feeding them, and putting them to bed I went to bed with excruciating pain in my back. I woke up the next morning and tried to get out of bed and my legs would not move. I flung the top half of my body over and slammed into the floor. I did a combat drag to the bathroom, and had to get the assistance of my then 7 year old son to help dress me. I drug myself like a reptile down 13 steps, to the couch in the living room and waited for the ambulance to come. I was taken to the hospital and was refused care by the ER doctor because I was pregnant and he didn't want a lawsuit. I was sent home in a cab, was helped back into my apartment, placed on the couch and left there. That night some of my neighbors came in, did some cleaning and cooked food for that night and the next. They all promised to return and help me the upcoming days but because they had their families to take care of, they did not return. At 7 months pregnant, paralyzed from the waist down I laid on a cold cement floor and drug the top half part of my body up and down the steps (had a duplex), laid on the kitchen floor and directed my 9 year old son how to turn the oven on and prepare meals, bottles and change the pamper of my 18 month old. (My oldest son Leon is such a blessing) and he did it all with no complaining at 9 years old. Three days had now passed and my children were in school and only my 18 month old was home with me. He was drinking sour milk from a bottle, had the same pamper on all night and all day and was painting my walls with stuff from his pamper. I cried out to God in despair because I couldn't move or take care of my child and no one would come and help me. I begin to tell the Lord of all the miracles he did in the bible and I believe he can do the same for me. I laid hands on myself, prayed a prayer of healing and got angry because I still couldn't get up. I prayed again and again with tears streaming down my face. I had very heavy antique furniture in my bedroom and I could hardly move it let alone an 18 month old. My baby boy came in the room, started climbing to the top of the dresser and I screamed no. That heavy dresser that I couldn't even move flipped over on my baby slamming him down on the floor with the dresser lying on top of him. I leaped out of the bed without even realizing it, picked up the dresser thinking that my child had been crushed; face smashed, bleeding and maybe not alive. I picked the dresser up (I and the angels) sat it upright and my son had the bottle hanging out of his mouth laughing hysterically with no scratches, bruises, and extending his wide open arms to me. He had been shielded and protected by angels. I picked my child up and held him close to me thanking God for using my baby to get me out of that bed. He had already healed me and he used my baby boy to literally cause me to take that leap of faith. I changed my baby, cleaned him up, fed him and put him to sleep. I got dressed, went outside and walked from one end of the complex in the snow to the other telling whoever would listen "I was paralyzed, God healed me and now I can walk" To God be all glory and honor for ever and ever!!

MY MIRACLE TESTIMONY: Today you need to hear this. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever!

By Sharon Franklin-Martinez on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 11:55pm

JUST LIKE JESUS TURNED WATER INTO WINE, HE TURNED PURE AIR
INTO 500 GALLONS OF FUEL OIL!!

 After my husband abandoned me I was going through a trying time in my life and the enemy was trying to kill, steal and destroy by any means possible. I believe it was during that great blizzard of 94" where we got hit with so much snow it was literally piled up to the roof tops in Livingston Manor. I rented a house and the day after the storm I woke up with no oil, five freezing babies (ages 5 to 13) and no finances to get any. I had been teaching my children about faith so we got in a circle and prayed for a miracle: To fill our 500 gallon tank up with oil so we would be warm. After we prayed we jumped and rejoiced believing in our hearts that it was already done. I went outside on three different occasions to stick the measuring stick in the empty oil tank twice to check for the oil that I knew God was going to give us because of our faith. The third time my neighbor came out and asked me what I was doing. He said he watched me put the Measuring stick in twice and now I'm doing it again. I told him I was checking for oil. He took the stick measured it for me and said it was completely empty. (God had my neighbor purposely watching and then measure it himself so he could see the awesome power of God). I went to Social services demanding that they help me and they refused. I said I wasn't leaving until they did. I stayed there for several hours and when they saw I wasn't leaving they sent out an emergency oil delivery. By that time the county was in a state of emergency and all the roads had been shut down for emergency vehicles only (ambulances, police and fire trucks). As I turned down my street I saw the back end of the fuel truck. I went inside of my house and I saw the children were shook up. They said the oil man was cursing and really mad. He frightened my children and I was in a rage.

As I came out of my house intending to pursue him, he was walking up my driveway and we got into an argument. He told me he got an emergency call that a single Mom with 5 children had no oil and were freezing. He said not only did he put his life in danger but he could have been arrested for violating the state of emergency no driving on the highway. He said he left his dinner table to come up here for nothing. He went on to tell me that he inserted the oil hose, turned it on and oil was flowing all over the ground because when he got there the tank was already full. I had completely forgotten about the prayer for a miracle and said out of sarcasm "well God must have done a miracle because I don't know how it got there" I immediately heard the most beautiful chimes and in my spirit I heard Hebrews 13:8. I knew it was the Lord and I told the man I was sorry, he left and I went running into the house to tell my children to get me a Bible. We all sat there waiting to see what this scripture would say and when I read it out loud I heard the LORD speak to me "I am the LORD and I change not, the same miracles I did when I walked the earth, I still do today" We jumped, rejoiced and shouted out loud God did a miracle just for us over and over again! I went outside to look upon this beautiful miracle and the neighbor came back outside. The Lord had me to ask him did he see anyone come. He said just the oil man but he was only there for a minute or two and then he left here in a rage. I asked him did he see anyone else come and he told me no. I told him to measure the oil again and he was in awe that the tank was full and the oil man had not done it. I told him we prayed for a miracle and God answered our prayer and an unbeliever walked away in awe because God had allowed him to witness his amazing miracle power!!