I am what most people would call, accident prone. The most common sentence said by my mother while I was growing up was "Eryn, I swear your middle name should've been Grace!". In the course of my 30 years, I have walked into 2x4's, fallen off swings face first, been hit in the face and head by every sports ball out there, had the wind knocked out of me by more than one soccer ball, have been kicked by horses and cows, bitten by rabbits, fallen off of hay stacks, fallen into ponds, been shocked by electric fences, tripped over my own two feet to land and dislocate my knee cap, and most recently, I have fallen out of a 5th wheel into the side of the house knocking myself unconscious and reinjuring my shoulder. There is so much more, believe me, my medical records look like Tim "the tool man" Taylor's, but I'm on a time limit. Despite all of the mishaps, God has protected my from any major injuries. I have only had one surgery, and one broken bone in my entire life. My physical therapist is part of the family, but nothing major.
As a young child, I was not raised in what would be called a
"Christian home". I didn't attend church on Sunday's with my family,
we didn't have family Bible study or prayer time, to be honest I don't think we
even had a Bible in the house. However, my mom worked shift work and so did my
step dad, which meant that our babysitter had to be flexible. Linda and Joe
Newton were more than willing to watch my siblings and I any day of the week,
including Sunday. But Sunday's came with a stipulation; We were to come dressed
for church, and permission had to be given to attend church with them. And so,
on the Sunday's that our parents worked, we were dressed for church and
attended Woodburn Baptist Church. Joe and Linda gave me my first Bible as a
teen, and I will be honest, I didn't use it that much.
Life went on, I grew up, got pregnant, and married. My first
husband Josh, wasn't what you would call a stand up guy. Two months of yelling
and screaming came to a head when he put his fist through a wall, bent the
kitchen sink faucet into the back of the sink basin, and ripped the phone out
of the wall to prevent my calling for help. By God's grace my daughter and I
were uninjured, we were able to leave that night to somewhere safe, my daughter was too little to remember it, my family was in a position to help me out by
allowing me to move back into the house the very next day, and I have awesome
step brothers that helped move me for beer and pizza.
Shortly after my divorce I felt like something was missing
in my life. I knew it was God. I researched religions and decided on becoming
LDS, Latter Day Saint, more commonly known as Mormon. Baptized LDS in June 2003
I was LDS for 9 years. Life as an LDS member is NOT easy. There are a lot of
rules to follow, and if you don't follow them you run the risk of not getting
into the top tier of heaven. I spent 9 years scared I was doing it wrong,
trying as hard as I could to follow all the rules laid out. I felt inadequate,
stupid, and wondered if I would ever be able to get into heaven. Once again,
God intervened and saved me. I met Justin at school, and we became fast
friends. As we talked we discovered that while we had different religious views
we were committed too, we were also curious about the each other's religion as
well. I saw this as my chance to gain points with God. I would convert Justin
to LDS, and get in good with God at the same time! Boy was I WRONG! The harder
I tried to defend my faith the faster my boat sank. Soon, I agreed to attend First Baptist
Independence with Justin, and I have never gone back to the LDS church since.
While I was looking for God in the wrong place, God still
saw me and kept me safe. In 2004 I drove a 1998 Eagle Vision. As I was coming
home from Oregon City along 99E one day, a guy in a red pickup passed me,
slammed on his breaks, paced me, rolled down his window and started screaming
"Pull over! PULL OVER! Your car is on FIRE!" About then the smoke
started drifting into the car through the steering column. As I pushed on the
breaks, I realized that the break lines had been burned through; I couldn't
stop. I hit the hill just outside of Barlow, coasting to a stop across from Top
O'Hill restaurant. I grabbed my cell, jumped out of my car, and ran from it
toward the man in the red pickup. Just as I reached the truck, my car exploded.
I called my parents, who were on their anniversary trip at Multnomah Falls, and
told my dad I needed a new car. He asked why, as I opened my mouth to explain,
my car exploded again. He asked what the noise was, I told him it was my car
exploding. He responded, "Guess you do need a new car then don't
ya?". As I was talking to my dad, I hear a familiar voice call out to me
from across the road. I look up to see my best friend TJ coming across the road
making sure I was ok, asking where Chyenne was. It so happened that because I was
car shopping that day, Chyenne was at the baby sitters, and not in the car with
me. I finished my conversation with my parents, telling dad that TJ could give
me a ride wherever, and to finish enjoying their anniversary date. TJ had a
conversation with the gentleman in the truck. It so happened we were the only
two drivers on the road at that time. The gentleman had finished his home
chores early and left for work a little earlier than normal. God had me pay the
babysitter, something I wouldn't normally do, to watch Chyenne to keep her
safe, put this man in my path to keep me safe, gave me a hill to slow me down,
and sent TJ into Canby for lunch that day, also unusual, to cross my path.
Without all of these things working together, this could be a story of tragedy
instead of a funny anecdote.
My time here at Grace has been a wonderful one. Full of
friendship, laughter, love, and learning. I have learned from Ephesians 2:8,
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God.". I have learned that all of my
feelings of inadequacy, and failure were because I was trying to change all by
myself instead of through Jesus. But through Jesus, I am adequate and I am not
alone. I am no longer scared, and I know that when it is time, I will go to
heaven. I get baptized today not because I HAVE to, but because I WANT to.
