She Owns It by Power & Grace

2 responses to “Your Stories….”

1. 

   Amanda Lindsey Sunday

   December 1, 2025

   Richelle I am excited to watch your vision grow. If there is anyone that I could encourage or give hope with my testimony I am posting it here. As you can see it continues to grow daily….

   Born and raised in Waco Texas. My mom took my brother and to church on a regular basis to church on Sundays. When my Dad was off he would join us sometimes too. 

   I knew about Jesus and all my life had Faith in the Lord. It wouldn’t be until more recently that I would mentally put the stories in Bible together. 

   So growing up I had a younger brother and my parents that are still married going on 45 years. My parents were very supportive parents and very controlling. They argued a lot, yelling was a constant in my house but yet it was filled with love. 

   My mom worked in insurance and my Dad worked and still does for a grocery store. They always instilled in me to live within my means. I cannot say I have always done that but I try.  So life was really pretty good other than the yelling and arguing between my parents and of course the little annoying brother. 

   Mom says at 13 I grew horns and started talking back and although I have changed a lot since then somethings just never change. 

   Well at 14 is when my first dead end would happen. I was in my first real “boyfriend” relationship with the boy down the street. I had lot of friends and I was just starting to test the waters of independence. My cousin was more like my sister and even though she lived an hour away we spent most weekends together. Her Dad was a vice president of a bank and they had a very nice house. Her mom had recently left to be with another man in a town pretty far away. Well one night I stayed the night with my cousin and her Dad most likely after drinking and doing who knows what molested me while I lay sleeping in the bed right next to my cousin. He came in the room 3 times that night. I was so scared I wouldn’t move. He didn’t know I was awake. Anyway the 3rd time I moved my leg and he walked out and he did not return. I finally woke my cousin up to tell her what happened and we made a list of all the people in the family and if we told them what their reaction would be. We didn’t have cell phones at that time so when the sun came up, I called my mom and told her to come and get me. I went walking around the block until she got there. She took me to doctor to get checked out they reached out to police. I had to relive that night many times giving many statements to the police. So that traumatic event eventually got put behind me and I never really thought about it after that. 

   Then when I was 18 I had got in a relationship with a guy that I thought was sooo cute. I had never had this feeling before. Turns out he was not a good guy. We got engaged pretty quick and soon after at one point he held a knife to my throat, he was cheating on me with multiple people and close to end of the relationship he had a group of girls beat me up, hitting my head into the concrete. During this time I also went to jail for stealing which was another fork in the road moment. I stole $51 dollars worth of underwear, picture frames and sunglasses from Mervyn’s at the age of 19. I would never steal again after that.  It was about that time my mom literally drug me to see a counselor, her name was Jeannie Williams my angel from God. After just 2 weeks of going to counseling I left that relationship. As much as I would never think this, God also blessed me with a miscarriage during that time. 

   I went on to college at that point. I partied a lot, made some great memories and some of those I don’t remember only heard about. I dated a lot and any time I would get somewhat serious with anyone I would break up with them. I had come from College Station for a semester to go to MCC as I was transferring to UNT. I had a serious boyfriend for a little but we broke up when I moved home. My first time out with friend we went to Graham Central Station. There was guy in one of my classes there that night that I thought was so cute and I finally got the nerve to ask him to dance. Well the second to last song of the night another guy asked me to dance. His name was Eric. Eric could dance and he became my life dance partner for 17 years.  

   Throughout those 17 years we had mostly really great times. We did have a few challenges along the way because let’s be real no marriage is perfect. Our last 7 years of marriage, we had a love that made most people wish they had. We also experienced our first losses of close loved ones in our life together, our grandparents. During those 17 years we had two girls together and when we got married I also gained a bonus son. Now our girls are 11 years apart because I had to beg for the 2nd one. I had a career in sales and could not close the deal on having a 2nd baby. I finally gave him an ultimatum either you give me another baby or someone else will do what will it take? He said we have to buy a house. At the time we lived in Georgetown renting a house and I was a branch manager at Enterprise. So I started looking for jobs in Waco. I quickly found one as a Director over claims for a life and health insurance company and moved in with my parents while he stayed in our house in Georgetown. 

   Within 3 months we bought a house and within another 3 months we were pregnant. 

   Then after 3 years of working at the insurance company another dead-end hit. I had never been written up and never been fired from any job and always received outstanding on every performance review. I grew up learning to never quit and always give everything 100 percent and my career was no different. I did notice some numbers weren’t adding up and I questioned them. After doing so my work life became very stressful, I started having anxiety attacks almost daily as the work and expectations became unrealistic. Then for the first in my life I got fired. I had insurance through the end of the month and I finally went to my doctor that I had seen since middle school and said to him I am going crazy I need medicine. I started seeing Jeannie Williams again after all the years she was still practicing. She gave me coping tools that used frequently and would later use in a very different way. A doorway was then made. My doctor said Amanda I will give you medicine but you are not crazy, you needed a new job. You are hard working, smart and that place did not deserve you. As a matter of fact I happen to know of job that I think your skill sets would be perfect for. He asked for my resume so I took it to him the next day. After becoming a clinic manager with his company I found out that my then boss who hired me was his nurse when she first started. She was now over all the clinics in the area. My doctor had given her my resume that was crumbled up in his lab coat during a board meeting. 

   I worked there for a couple of years and oversaw 2 clinics. This is when the biggest dead end would hit. My husband was killed in a car wreck headed home from his mom’s house. A 16 year old girl was distracted and driving. She was doing 85mph in a 55mph zone applied brakes .3 seconds before hitting him head on. Her driver’s side tire landed in his driver’s compartment. Telling my 14 year old daughter that her best friend was dead and not coming home was the hardest thing I hope I ever have to do. When my mom got that call from his mom, we were at my parent’s land waiting on him so he could fix their water pump to the pool. It was getting dark and I had texted him and called but never got a response. So when we got “the call” my mom had me sit down. My body started shaking I was in complete shock. We had a huge celebration of life with everyone wearing Hawaiian shirts, a luau including a smoked hog, margaritas and key lime pie. 

   After 2 weeks off I was ready to get back to work I needed some normalcy and to keep my mind busy. My work was absolutely amazing and took such great care of me and my family. It felt for a long time like I was just floating through life. Everyone would say you are handling this so well, you are so strong and I was but it was just my mind and body protecting me from falling into a very deep depression. After a month of being so lonely I began desperately longing for the partnership I missed so much, the companionship of laying in bed talking about life together, going out to eat, making memories together, and building our future. 

   That is when a co-worker suggested Facebook dating. This was foreign to me as I met my husband at the club. Now the dating scene was much different than it had been in 2004. 

   After a few dates that didn’t work out I met this man, Jermy, that I swear I had seen in a previous dream. We met for lunch at On the Border. I was on the phone with another clinic manager and he was on the phone with his boss for the first 5 minutes of us meeting. We had an instant connection and from that moment on for 3 weeks we talked and saw each other every day.  In those 3 weeks we met each others kids, started going to church together and finally after 3 weeks he kissed me!!!  We met September 17, 2021 and opened a restaurant together January 1, 2022. My dream of owning a business and his dream of owning a restaurant was amazing. At the time it was exactly what I needed to keep my mind busy. Our restaurant took off like a wildfire meanwhile I was still a clinic manager. I was getting very little sleep but life was good and fun. April 16, 2022 Jermy proposed to me on stage, completely catching me off guard at his oldest son, Andrew’s going away party to the Air Force.  Life was going great except my parents were at a different stage of grief than I was. They were not accepting of my new relationship and the fireworks that were happening were not the good kind. This planted the seed for many arguments to come between Jermy and I. Then Andrew left for the Air Force and not only was I grieving the loss of Eric but then Jermy started grieving the loss of Andrew. He had raised Andrew by himself from the time he was 8 until that point. Being at the restaurant Jermy would drink most Friday and Saturday nights. Those seeds of hurt turned into emotional outbursts many Saturday nights. Still most of the time life was pretty good even though it was stressful.  

   But another dead end was forming. I was one of 30ish people laid off at my company due to reorganization and some other very stressful situations that had been happening just prior to that at work as well. Luckily as God always does He had a plan and a doorway was being built. I was sitting at Moon Nails in China Spring when these two ladies about my mom’s age walk in. I had a glass of wine by this point I was pretty relaxed. I said Oh my goodness your glasses are so cute. Well that led to a long conversation and these two ladies would come visit the restaurant many times after that. They told me about this job opening where they worked at the VA. They told me about a job fair that Thursday so I went that night (Wednesday) and applied. The next day I stood in line with my suit and heals along with over 600 other people hoping for a job. I got there at 9AM line wrapping around the block and finally at 4PM interviewed received a job offer on the spot. 

   Jermy’s anger at my parents lack of acceptance started intensifying slowly along with his drinking. We got married  and it was awesome the only things missing was my Dad and my brother. The relationship was so strained mostly because of my words and actions they did not attend. Within six months of our marriage I was wondering if we made a mistake; the anger and drinking were taking its toll.  I began having an affair and the stress of owning the restaurant was all becoming too much. Our relationship was an emotional roller coaster. We were hurting each other and ourselves. One night I caught him texting a female asking for a place to live and I lost it. I broke 3 TVs and caused 1800 in damage. I was falling apart. 

   We somehow put bandages on the wounds and kept going. We created this sinful hurtful cycle that would only grow day by day.  We loved each other but we were hurting. Then to add fuel to flames the economy took a nose dive. Gas prices soared along with food prices. I noticed a decline in business . Our personal marriage struggles didn’t help along with a declining economy. We received a call that our landlord wanted to selling us the building for a crazy amount of money or go up on rent. We couldn’t find consistent help and we were maxed out on stress. I told Jermy we have to shut down the restaurant. We can’t get in hole by signing a long term lease. I had not had a day off in almost 2 years, he was spending 16 hours a day at the restaurant so we closed the doors on our dream. 

   Meanwhile our cycle of hurting each other with mental, emotional abuse and adultery continued. The emotional outburst on occasion would turn physical. We were broken. During this time my oldest daughter moved in with my parents as that relationship was strained. In a last ditch effort to save our marriage we went to marriage counseling. 

   It took a full 2 hour session just to get all of the issues that we needed to work on out. When we left you could tell our counselor was even exhausted. After a couple of sessions things were not getting any better in fact many bandaids got ripped off and the wounds were bleeding. 

   In the meantime the relationship with my oldest daughter got better after she moved out and I took her on a cruise for her senior trip. 

   While I was away Jermy moved out.  We had given up on our marriage. For the second time, this time he filed for divorce. We didn’t talk for 2 weeks. I started dating and so did he. I really had lost all hope in our marriage but God had other plans. A new doorway was being built.

   Jermy had moved money into our joint account for our business loan and I messaged him because I thought he made a mistake by doubling the amount. He said no I meant to do that, I love you and do not want to hurt you. He invited me to go to his baseball game out of town but I had met someone that I was starting to like and did not go, in fact I never considered it because in my mind our relationship was over. 

   It was during this time apart that Jermy stopped drinking completely and started going to counseling on his own. I had been going to counseling to the same counselor we started going to couples counseling with. 

   I have a terrible memory so I cannot recall the exact events that unfolded but I remember after Jermy got back from umpiring that game out of town we texted and in one of the text he said I miss you, I want to see you. I said well you know where to find me. 

   He came over and we had a long conversation. That same week a friend had invited him to a fatherhood seminar at Harris Creek on Thursday mornings. The friend didn’t show up that had invited him but Jermy went anyway. 

   It was then that God’s work in his life and the restoration of our marriage began. He would meet a couple of guys that have become his mentors. We went to church that Sunday and found our new home. A funny thing also happened at church. Our divorce lawyer that I had  just called earlier that week to make sure Jermy signed papers ran into us while taking our kids to their class. The looks on our faces was priceless, I am sure. 

   During this time we learned about this 12 step program called Regeneration. I am proud to say that we are in week 9. Meanwhile, I had started going to Griefshare classes with a friend on Wednesdays at a different church and when she stopped going it was about the time Jermy and I reconnected and I invited him. Much to my surprise he came with me. We grew together and Griefshare became an important piece of our healing process. Our marriage and relationship has never been stronger. Some very small baby steps have taken place over the course of this week to what I pray will be another doorway that I have been longing for to open. I pray that God will bring Jermy closer to my family especially my Dad and my oldest daughter. There are deep wounds there but God is BIG enough to heal them so until then I lean on a piece of the message from today’s sermon ,  God’s delays are not denials. 

   We have a long way to go on our journey but our cycle of destruction by God’s grace has ceased. 

   I wrote everything up to this point May 25, 2025

   Fast forward to today November 30, 2025 God’s work has not let up…

   On September 15, 2025 I receive a call at 4:42AM from Jaydybug, who is my 16 year old step daughter. She said Amanda can you and Dad come and get me. I was actually in the bath tub during my meditation time which is how I start every day before going to work. 

   It took me a minute to realize it is Monday morning, why is Jaydyn who lives with her biological mom calling me to come and get her. 

   She proceeded to inform me that the she was with the police somewhere in a neighboring town 30 minutes from the house. She told me that she had been drinking and that her Dad and I would need to come get her so we could drive her car home. 

   When we arrived, her cars parked in a very nice neighborhood  cul-de-sac with 2 police cars. The police met us as soon as we pulled up and explained someone had called on the loud noise and that apparently she along with 2 girls had gone into the woods being loud and drinking. The told us she was intoxicated and the officer that was talking to us said I am not sure what is going on in her life but it seems like there is something really bad happening. 

   We knew that a month or 2 prior to this she overdosed and tried to take her life. My husband was told by her mom and grandmother to give her space. This was the day that everything changed. 

   She moved in with my husband and I along with our youngest daughter and son. She had already started weekly therapy visits with her counselor and psychiatrist and my husband would join her. Slowly she started improving week over week. She joined us for church and started youth group, got a job and the beautiful girl that never smiled, began smiling, laughing and enjoying life. She always had someone around her to laugh and joke with. As parents she brought even more joy to our house. We knew that we had show her a Godly home and be a good example for her just like we were for our other kids. It has been a delicate balance of setting rules that she really never had before but also allowing her freedom. We told her that we would trust her and not “micromanage” her actions until she gave us a reason to not trust her. On Thanksgiving we had a lot more to be thankful for this year as our marriage was stronger than ever, the kids were thriving and God was front and center. Thanksgiving night Jaydybug asked if she could stay the night with a friend. I had a gut feeling about not letting her go but didn’t say anything and off she went to her friend’s house around 9:30PM or so. I even checked her location for the first ever to make sure she made it to where she was going. She made it and I feel asleep. At 3:30AM my husband phone rings. “Sir this is Officer King” are you  Jaydyn’s Dad. yes ma’am he says in his I am

   sleeping voice. She says Jaydyn is going to be okay but she was just in a really bad wreck she says. After getting the hospital information we get dressed and head straight to the ER. After what seemed like forever the police officers met us in hospital lobby to inform us she is shaken up, she was conscious but that she had been in a very bad wreck and alcohol was involved. The first police officer on scene told us she was very lucky. He thought he was pulling up

   to a fatality accident. They then took us back to see her. She had sticks, grass and blood basically head to toe. By God’s grace after X-rays and CT scans she came away with only a broken ankle, cuts and bruises. God saved her for a purpose which is what we and she knows. 

   The trauma from getting a similar call just 4.5 years when my late husband passed away in his wreck,  has surfaced this week. 

   It hasn’t been bad but rather a blessing knowing that she has been given a second chance at life.  Today’s message a church is that even as believers and followers of God we will face temptation and we will fail and sin time and time again but God’s love never fails. Jesus is with us in the darkness as well as the light. Until we are called to our eternal home He is with us, He loves us and He will never fail. 

   If you are still reading this my name is Amanda I have a new life in Christ. I am in recovery for grief, sexual abuse, adultery, control, and fear. 

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   1. 

      Richelle

      December 2, 2025

      Wow, Amanda, I knew that you had been through a lot, but I was in tears and am now as I write this. My heart hurts for you and the grief you have had in your life. I truly believe that we should not go through such pain, yet I also know that the pain we experience is what makes us grow…or at least it is an opportunity to grow. Unfortunately, not everyone choices to grow. My hope is that this blog, through REAL women sharing, like you, will help someone who is maybe not quite as strong and that our stories will truly make an impact and help to change lives. Thank you for being vulnerable and for sharing. Love ya girl….Richelle

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