The vision of
Mountaintop Church is to be a
community where we are learning and sharing a better way to live.
We are convinced that only Jesus offers that
better way and a way to live forever.
The simple truth is that life is better with Jesus and Jesus makes us
better at life!
This Sunday we are celebrating the baptisms of six individuals
who are embracing that better way to live.
Each one has a story of a life transformed by the love of Jesus Christ
and each one is a reminder of what can happen when we share what we are
learning.
I’ve had the privilege of reading through their testimonies
and asked the permission of one those being baptized, Ashley, if I could post her story here so that I could share it with all of
you.
A backstory to Ashley's story is that of Henry, a 7-year-old whose family are members at Mountaintop. Last year Henry began to
invite his friends, Harper and Lake, to come and join us for Vacation Bible School
and Punk Your Trunk. Their family
accepted the invitations and when they came discovered the people they met here
to be “nice and normal.” In December
those invitations led to the family joining us at Mountaintop on a Sunday morning,
and this Sunday I will have to joy of baptizing Harper and Lake’s mom, who by now you've figured out is Ashley. With Ashley’s permission (and
Henry’s mom’s permission) here’s her testimony.
As you read this remember the role that a 7-year-old played by inviting his
friends to VBS and Punk Your Trunk!
Ashley’s Story
My name is Ashley and I have been
attending Mountaintop Community Church since December 2013. A little about me…
I am almost 31 years of age.
I am a wife to my wonderful husband and
best friend for almost 7 years.
I am a mother to our 7-year-old daughter,
Harper & to our 5-year-old son, Lake.
I am a hard worker in the multi-family
industry when I handle advertising and marketing for apartment communities as
well as serve on the committees for the Alabama Apartment Association.
I am a volunteer with The King’s Home.
I am a sister to my younger siblings,
Blake & Brittany, 22 years old.
I am what my friends call a “bohemian.” I
was raised “differently” and have somewhat just floated through life looking
for something, when it was in front of me the entire time. Here is a
short version of my life in a nutshell.
I was born in Tuscaloosa. I have an
amazing extended family, but God gave me my parents for a reason. My
parents were alcoholics…hiding wine through the house, fighting, DHR visits,
police visits, locking me outside at an extremely young age; my mom was also
addicted to narcotics. My dad was a hard worker by trade of maintenance,
HVAC, Electrician, you name it. My mom was a RN who later lost her job
when I was around 13 due to forging prescriptions for her own use.
When I was 14 years old is when I started
a vicious path of destruction. My younger brother and sister were 6 at
the time. My mom was not watching and my sister was struck by a speeding
car in our neighborhood. The driver was a doctor’s wife with her 5-year-old
son in the car as well. Everything stopped. I ran outside and saw my
brother holding her then I called 911. She spent the next 9 months in
Children’s Hospital in Birmingham hooked up to life support. There was no
brain activity so my parents made the decision to pull her off life
support. We were at the hospital with our entire family and a
preacher. As we sat around the bed the monitor started to beep…this was
the first real miracle I had ever witnessed. She was back! She then
went through many surgeries and therapy to learn to crawl, walk, talk,
everything again. She is now 22 and lives with her father who is
amazing. She is able to help around the house, but will never be able to
live alone, drive a car or do some normal things that we take for granted. She
is an angel, God kept her here for a reason.
When Brittany was released my parents drugged
us all to court. My father had filed for a divorce and claimed that I,
nor my younger brother & sister were his. We took paternity
test. I was my dad’s daughter, but my mom had had an ongoing affair and
my brother & sister had a different father. My dad would get drunk
and yell that I wasn’t his daughter my whole younger life and then at 14 I saw
why.
While Brittany was in the hospital, in a
different town, everyone forgot about me. I was in 9th grade
and went to school when I was home, but missed so much school that the board of
education said it was not excusable and I needed to repeat the 9th
grade. I was in all accelerated classes. Straight A’s, played
sports…this didn’t make sense. It happened so fast, but I ended up
dropping out by age 15 and started walking to Shelton State Community College
for GED Classes. I tested extremely high and was allowed to take my GED
and “walk” on my 16th birthday. At least I had a “piece of
paper” but I missed out on some really important High School memories.
By 16 my dad had moved out. My mom
was bad on drugs. I hopped on the bandwagon of being what I was
around. I got a job as a hostess, got older friends; I started doing
drugs, sleeping on friend’s couches and in my car that I bought for $500 from a
friend. Just a blur… At 18 my mom lost the house to foreclosure and lost all of
my material possessions, baby items, etc. My virginity was stolen from me due
to rape. I attempted suicide twice. I ended up getting arrested for drugs
and spent 2 months in jail. No one in my family knew. I see now
that it saved my life.
At 19 I started actual college and
worked. I attended Shelton State and then The University of
Alabama. I never actually finished but learned a lot until my grant money
ran out. I then moved around to Gulf Shores, Orlando and back to
Tuscaloosa and went back to UA for Business Law, started leasing apartments
while in school and fell in love with the multi-family industry.
At 23 I found myself pregnant, alone and
scared. This is my second miracle I have witnessed. Harper, my
beautiful daughter came into my life and I met my now husband who adopted her
when she was a baby. We bought a house and then welcomed our son into the
world. From 25-28 my husband gave up his career to be a stay at home dad
and focus on my career path. We moved to Houston, Birmingham, Memphis and
then back to Birmingham with my company. Now we are here and I switched
career paths to give my children the childhood they deserve with stability,
friendships and now our newfound faith.
Over these past few years my dad has
passed on. He found God, he found sobriety, He asked me for forgiveness
and then in a blink of an eye he was gone in a car accident.
I also had an older brother that my mom
“gave up” when I was 4. He and I were close as I became a teenager.
He spent 8 years in jail because of drugs in New Orleans. He then got out
and was sober, but relapsed and passed on 3 years ago due to an overdose.
My mom…is still addicted. We have
sent her to rehabs and have tried to help, but she doesn’t believe she has a
problem. This is where my new faith has played the largest role. I
have spent the majority of my life thinking I was a horrible daughter.
My first service at Mountaintop was in
December. I sat there and listened and I swear Pastor Doug was speaking
directly to me. I had not been to any church but twice in over 15 years…I
was scared to even be there, but I was in tears. They were good tears.
Something stirred in me. I am here; I am on this earth for a reason!
After Christmas I gave my troubles to
God. I pray daily for my mother, but I just now see that I can give it
over to him and what will be will be. Since attending Mountaintop Church
I feel like a better version of myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son
of God…God sent his son to die for us! How amazing is that? I could
not imagine being a mom myself. I asked God into my heart for the first
time in my life just 3 weeks ago in the First Steps Class. I am overjoyed
with excitement about my life and that my “hole” in my heart is now overflowing
for the first time. My walls are coming down; I cannot help everyone nor
carry their burdens any longer. But God can.
My future is my little family, our
spiritual growth and development together. For the first time in my 30
years of life I finally do not feel “lost” …I have a purpose, I have a reason
and that reason is to be a Christian and to spread the word with my family.
Blessings,
Ashley
