I got married when I was 19 years old. I had my first child when I was 23, and by the time I was 26 I was divorced. My mom was mostly a single mom. She was married several times, she ended up working in nightclubs and different things like that. My father was out of the picture when we were babies, he was a heroin addict. My first husband became an addict and was addicted to drugs and my third husband, there was a lot of infidelity.
My second husband was a sociopath. The custody that I ended up into with him with my daughter was over abuse and he won, and I lost custody.
The judge said that she was settled and doing well, and when a child is settled and doing well that you don't move them. That was very devastating. She stayed there until she was in sixth grade and then in sixth grade there was a incident, and so we started proceedings right away, and ended up getting custody back of her when she was in sixth grade.
I started thinking I was going to be like my mother, and be married many times. I didn't really have a strong relationship with God, but I come back to church because I wanted my children in church, and I wanted them to have a relationship with Jesus, I didn't even really know what that was. As I was going to church they asked me to teach, but with the class you start studying, and so as I began to teach I began to study and studying God's word and reading the stories out of the Bible for yourself may become more real to you and Jesus becomes more real to you.
The children were up front one Sabbath afternoon and they were going to do a children's program and just feeling that experience of just watching the children sing Jesus Loves Me up front and it affecting me in such a way that it was so real that I knew I felt the song. It's like they were singing I could hear Jesus telling me that He loved me.
My name is Mary Snead and I have reclaimed my faith.