Testimonies
Do you have an inspirational story about your Christian walk that
might help others, or be of general interest?
If so, we offer you an opportunity to share it with the world.
Write your story and E-mail
it to us. We will review it for posting on this web page. Your
testimony could be about your salvation experience, answered prayer,
or a Good Samaritan in your life. It could be about physical or
emotional healing, or your experience with the Healing Connection
CD. We look forward to sharing your inspirational story with the
world. Please limit it to 1000 words.
A Healing Walk
by Peggy Avent, author of Healing Connection Prayer
As I look back over my life, I am puzzled why God chose me. I was
an insecure, spaced-out, uncoordinated little girl who could not
make even average grades. I could never keep up with what my teachers
were saying and constantly chewed my nails. I believed I was really
stupid, and many of my teachers seemed to agree. But with God's
help, I now have a Ph.D. and have been able to help thousands of people
in my counseling practice over the years. My whole career, including
many personal struggles, seems to have been leading toward establishment
of Healing Connection Ministries. Here is my story.
I am the younger of two children born and raised in a loving Christian
family in Los Angeles, California. When I was 11 years-of-age, my
dad took us to a beautiful picnic area he found in Simi Valley.
My best friend, Bonnie, went along and we had a great time. Three
days later I regained consciousness in a children's hospital. I
cried for my Mama. A man in a white coat told me my mom and Bonnie
were dead, my dad was not expected to live, and my big sister might
never even be able to feed herself.
You see, a drunk driver, who was speeding and running people off
the road, decided to change lanes in order to avoid a car in his
lane. He hit us with such force that we were suddenly going backwards
and were sandwiched between the drunk and the car behind us. My
mother went through the windshield, and Bonnie bled to death on
the way to the hospital. For a long time my family members did not
know if the dead girl was me. Even her parents had a hard time identifying
her. My father was smashed by the dashboard and had multiple breaks
in his jaw, ribs, knee, and elsewhere. He was permanently disabled
until his death 10 years later. It was my father that inspired the
words in the Meditation CD that say "Physical healing depends
as much on our mental, spiritual, and social health as on medical
care. Take, for instance, a healthy person who is seriously injured
in a car crash. His injuries are purely physical, yet his chances
for recovery depend as much on his attitude, his will to live, his
social support, and his spiritual health as on his medical care."
There was no medical reason to explain why my father survived. I
believe he survived because many people were praying for him and
because of his determination. The day I got to visit him in the
hospital, he was in traction with clamps lifting his flesh off his
lungs so he could breathe and his jaws had been pieced together
with wires. He wrote me a note that said, "I will not
die, I know you need me."
My sister and I were critically injured. Something penetrated my
sister's brain and she was not expected to be able to function.
Miraculously she was able to finish school and raise three children
in spite of continued difficulties. The top of my scalp was sliced
off, various bones were broken, and I was unconscious for three
days - indicating some brain trauma.
After the crash, I became an out-of-control anorexic delinquent.
My father, who continued to go in and out of the hospital, felt helpless
and thought I needed a mother figure. So a year later he sent me
to San Antonio, Texas to live with my mother's big sister. I continued
my rebellious, out-of-control behavior for another year until I
had a life-changing encounter with God at age 13. I knew immediately
that God had a purpose for me and that God would somehow make that
traumatic crash become an asset in my life's work. I made a commitment
to make a contribution that would leave the world a better place.
This calling has been a central force in all of my work since that
time; and everything I have done in the last 45 years seems to have
led to this Healing Connection Ministry.
School had always been difficult due to severe learning disabilities
and attention deficit, which went undiagnosed. I felt God telling
me that He would give me the tools necessary to do the job he had
called me to do. Today, I marvel that in spite of my learning disabilities
and trauma history, I was able to excel in graduate school and earn
a Ph.D. without any problems. I owe my success to God's infinite
grace. Many of the messages in the Healing Connection Prayer are
ones that helped me overcome my disabilities.
I think it is remarkable that God has used my disabilities and
made them an asset in all my work. Not only has my success in overcoming
them been an inspiration to my patients, but my disabilities have
also become my strengths. I have almost no ability to visualize in
pictures like most people, which is a real handicap, however all
of my professional creativity has involved intense visualization.
You see - because I can not visualize, I am constantly creating
word pictures for myself. It is these word pictures that have made
my meditation and other works particularly beneficial. "In
all things (even car crashes, death, and disabilities) God works
for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His
purpose." Romans 8:28
After graduating from high school, I attended Howard Payne College
in Brownwood, Texas. I married my high school sweetheart and moved
to Lubbock, Texas where I completed my bachelor's degree at Texas
Tech University in 1968, with a major in Sociology. I then completed
my Ph.D. at Texas Women's University.
I have four beautiful, healthy, precious adult children, including
twins. All four earned full academic scholarships for college and
continue to make me proud. I am also the proud grandmother of a
five-year-old boy, Gage; a four-year-old girl, Gracen; and a one-year-old
boy, Ross.
GOD IS TRULY GOOD!
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