Woody Overton - Jesus Held Me

JESUS HELD ME

By Woody Overton

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Woody Overton

Smashwords Edition,License Notes
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Hello, this is my story. It is a true story.I will leave out the names of most of the doctors and hospitals asI am not angry with them. I have a huge distrust for most doctorsand there is no place I loathe more than a hospital. Thecombination of the doctors and hospitals nearly killed me and sentme into a state of mental and physical anguish which I never wouldhave dreamed possible. The following is the story of my journeyinto deep darkness. More importantly it's the story of how Jesusheld me!

Woody Overton

I have always believed in God. I was raisedin the Catholic Church by my parents. More so, at the time, by mymother than my father. My father, I believe, went to mass onSundays to appease my mother. From the beginning, I never doubtedwhat I was being taught. I became an alter boy as soon as I could,following the path of my older brothers. I continued Catholicismuntil after I was confirmed at the age of 16. When a personcompletes the Sacrament of Confirmation they are considered anadult in the eyes of the Catholic Church. It is then theirresponsibility to continue their journey with the CatholicChurch.

From that point on I did not chose to followthe rights and rituals of the church except for the occasionalChristmas or Easter Mass I attended with my parents or a funeral orwedding that I could not duck out of. Even at these masses I nevertook communion as I knew my heart was not in it.

I was busy living the life I wanted to liveand God was not a concern of mine. I was not an atheist. I stillbelieved in God but he was not foremost in my mind as I lived thoseyears according to my rules.

In 1998, I was working as a correctionalofficer on a Sunday, on the night shift. I was working at ajuvenile detention center and on Sunday nights preachers would cometo the detention center to hold non denominational services for anyjuvenile offenders that wanted to attend.

The juveniles were housed in one man cellswith thick iron doors and concrete block walls. They had nointeraction with the other juveniles and nothing in their cellother than a mattress, blanket, and a bible. The only time theywere out of their cell was to go to or from chow or to shower orthe occasional trip to the recreation yard. The juveniles wanted toget out of their cell for any reason that they could and Sundayservice was always full.

Let me make mention that these juveniles wereincarcerated for serious crimes. Rape, robbery, murder etc. Infact, as my law enforcement career progressed to uniform patrol andthen detective I arrested many of these juveniles as they becameadults and continued their life of crime.

On this Sunday, a black lady preacher camewith some helpers for a service. I had never met her before.Correctional officers escorted the juveniles to the assembly areafor the service. I went to the secure area at the front of theprison where the pastor and her helpers were waiting to be escortedthrough security. I was surprised that the pastor was a female. Sheappeared to be in her late forties or early fifties, had glasses,was very well dressed and carrying a bible. As I supervised theirclearance through security I noticed she was staring at me veryintently.

She said to me, Brother may I speak to youfor a minute?

I answered Yes. and she waved me over awayfrom the others.

Without introduction she said, Brother, whenI saw you God told me to tell you something.

Now I am thinking, Okay, here we go

She continued and asked me Do you want tohear what God has to say?

I said Yes, thinking to myself, thisought to be interesting.

She then told me something that no one onthis planet knew, when she finished describing the event shequieted and looked me straight in the eye.

She then said, God has told me to tell youthat what you went through is okay. That what happened to you washorrible but necessary.

She continued to say, God has not forgottenyou and you should not forget or give up on him.

I was blown away. She knew the one thing thathappened to me in my life that no one knew or would ever know aboutbecause I surely wasnt going to speak of it. I intended to takethe secret to my grave. In fact, the incident had happened over 16years before and I had never told anyone. So here I was meetingthis black lady preacher for the first time in my life and shespoke in detail of my deepest secret and that God had told her totell me he had not forgotten. I was speechless. I didnt know whatthe emotion was that I was feeling, but I knew it was overwhelmingand I knew it came straight from God through the pastors mouth.

She smiled her gentle smile and gave me amotherly hug and said, God bless you brother.

I did not usually sit in on the Sundayservices as I was a supervisor and once the juveniles were securedwith the other correctional officers in the service I would leaveand go do paperwork. All staff members carried radios and if therewas any type of disturbance I would be contacted and would respondaccordingly.

Not this Sunday. After listening to what Godhad to say I was more than intrigued by this pastor. I would havenot missed the service for anything.

I went into the service and found out thepastor's name was Shirley Vicks. She was the pastor of the Churchof God of Prophecy in Hammond, Louisiana. She began the servicewith singing songs and to say the least it was a eye opener for me.This was as different from a Catholic Mass as darkness is to light.Pastor Vicks led the service with several more songs that I hadnever heard before. People were raising their hands and singing.Some were swaying back and forth with their eyes closed. This wenton until the music stopped and a quiet hush fell over thecrowd.

Pastor Vicks then began to preach and mancould she lay the word down. I had never seen anything like it. Shepreached with conviction. Sometimes loud and sometimes soft butalways with authority. She preached about God and Jesus and Satan.She often times would say open your bible to such and such chapterand verse and then quote the scripture that verified what she waspreaching. I had never owned a bible and I had never been taughtfrom one. In Catholic mass someone would get up and read ascripture and then the priest would give a sermon. Pastor Vicksservice was powerful and moving.

As the service went on I could feel theatmosphere in the room change and it gave me goose bumps. Thejuveniles and correctional officers were responding to theemotional feelings of the service and it rose to a crescendo to thepoint at which she asked for any sinners to come forth that wantedto know Jesus.

To my surprise several juveniles and even twocorrectional officers went forward. She prayed openly with them andasked them to accept Jesus into their lives. People were crying assongs were continuously sung and multiple people went forward andopenly accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

The service concluded and the juveniles werereturned to their cells and I made a point to escort Pastor Vicksand her church members out of the facility.

At the front door I asked Pastor Vicks if Icould speak with her. She consented. I told her how I was movedbeyond words and that I had never witnessed anything like herservice and that I knew she was with God. She then invited me toattend her church the next Sunday morning and I agreed withouthesitation.