Close to Home- Part 2

I hope you greatly enjoyed hearing my niece Kathryne’s testimony on yesterday’s blog. And I hope that my niece Janet’s story will be a huge encouragement to those who are facing some of the issues that she shares about. Janet is actually quite a writer and she is beginning to have some things published in different Christian magazines. Because of her writing gift, I asked her to write her own story. Here it is…

Nancy has said that when she founded Mercy she never imagined her own family would be among the multitudes who would have need of the ministry. Yet, here I am today: Nancy Alcorn's 26 yr. old niece, a former “Mercy girl”, and absolutely bubbling-over with abundance of life! I'm truly happy to share my story with you. Though I was raised in a Christian home, I was fully invested in the lies and compulsions of anorexia by the age of 12. Anorexia easily morphed into bulimia, and I lived in a world consumed with self. Though I had given my life to Christ at an early age, my heart was far from Him. I desperately needed and wanted freedom from the bondage that was controlling my life. Being of course familiar with Mercy Ministries, it seemed the necessary next step. At Mercy my heart was opened like never before to the life-transforming love of God, and I grew to know Him in deeply meaningful ways. Even still, I’m sorry to say, I graduated the program and walked right back into a lifestyle of destructive eating and blatant sin. In my high school and college years, the grip of darkness upon my life grew much deeper. I did have brief good-spells during which I would seek God with all my heart and plead for His deliverance, but overall my memories are of hopelessness, guilt, and shame.


Though I was obviously not one of the wonderful Mercy success stories, Nancy and the Mercy staff continued trying to help me. Though I stayed involved in church and surrounded myself with strong Christians, the extents of my eating disorder, depression, and destructive dating relationships finally became such that I couldn't finish college. My precious parents and everyone who cared about me could do nothing more to help. I lived in a constant battle. I was defeated and hopeless.

Then, as impossible as it sounds, my life was completely transformed in the course of four months. One September Sunday morning in church, my dad introduced me to a gorgeous, curly-haired guy named Nick. At the time, I assumed Nick would be just one more guy whose affection would provide temporary escape from the emotional pain of my daily life. Praise be to God, I could not have been more wrong! By December of that year Nick and Iwere deeply in love, and the freedom for which I longed had quickly become reality. Compulsions that were woven into the very fiber of my being loosed their grip with miraculous speed. The only conceivable way to explain those four months is that my merciful Heavenly Father finally looked down upon my brokenness and said, “I will not let you and Satan ruin your life any longer! It's time to get on with the plans that I have for you!”

And—that's exactly what I am doing today! I serve the Lord with gladness because He rescued me! Nick and I have been married for 2 ½ incredible years, and Jesus Christ is truly the Lord of our marriage. God has

healed and blessed my relationship with my family. Nick and I serve in leadership positions at our church. I regularly have opportunities to counsel and disciple hurting young women in our community. I also recently campaigned for a seat on my local School Board, and God gave me remarkable victory in the election! So, now I have become involved in our political community; aiming to advance God's kingdom in the trenches here on Earth. I love my life! It is full of purpose. I walk in consistent victory over the sins that once paralyzed me!

I am deeply grateful to my Aunt Nancy for founding the ministry that has and will continue to have eternal impact upon my life and the lives of hurting and hopeless young women all around the world!

I hope you enjoyed getting an inside look into some of the issues that my own family has had to face. The one thing that I am continually amazed at is the faithfulness of God. Janet is such a huge blessing to my life and I’m glad she chose to write her own story to share with you.

Have a great weekend.

Love to all,
Nancy

Close to Home…

It was November of 1982, and the time was fast approaching that I would be leaving Nashville to move to Monroe, Louisiana. Long story, but God had given me clear direction that I was to step out in faith and move to Louisiana to open a Christian-based home for girls who truly wanted to get help with the issues they were facing. I found myself really torn about leaving – I knew God was calling me to go, but I also knew that I would miss getting to watch my nieces and nephews grow up. I was a very proud aunt, and one of my sisters had just given birth to a baby named Kathryne in July of 1982, and another sister gave birth to a baby named Janet in November. I knew that leaving a salary and going to Louisiana by faith meant pretty much that I would be separated from hearing these baby girls speak their first words and seeing them take their first steps. I found myself kind of struggling with that because when you don’t have any kids of your own, the closest thing you have to that is your nieces and nephews. Little did I know that making the decision to obey God in 1982 would prove to be what both of these two little babies would need me to do. More than 26 years later, I’m writing about what I was going through at that time, and I am so glad that I didn’t let my emotions win out. It always pay to obey God, but little did I know how much it would pay in my own family. Let me explain…

I never dreamed that on January 15, 1983, as I was driving to Louisiana and thinking about those two little girls and all my other nieces and nephews who were still little kids, that those two little girls who had just been born would one day need the very place that I was stepping out in faith to begin. Janet, the baby girl born in November, grew up to be a very beautiful girl and typical teenager, but found herself in the grasp of a serious eating disorder that she could not shake. You are going to hear about her a little bit later, but first let me tell you about the other little girl that was born in July of 1982. I knew in my heart that many girls would get the help that they needed over the years through Mercy Ministries, but I never dreamed that these two baby girls, my nieces, in their late teens, would look my way to find help for the desperate situations they were facing in their lives. I’ve asked Janet to tell her own story to you, so I’ll probably post that tomorrow, but I want to tell you about Kathryne myself.

In May of 2001, I was speaking at a conference in Australia when I received a message on my cell phone from my sister, Rebecca. She said it was urgent that I call her. It was unusual for my family to track me down when I was outside of the country unless it was important, so I knew I needed to call. When I did call, my sister told me that Kathryne was pregnant and she wanted to ask for my help and consider coming to Mercy. I was so stunned to hear this news because I found myself on the other side of the fence. It was now my family that needed help. I am used to being the one that’s looking at the family who needs help, so I sort of had one foot in Mercy and one foot in the emotions of my family. Obviously, I was trying to deal with this news from a whole different perspective.

Kathryne had just finished her first year at college in Charleston, South Carolina. Three weeks before she left for college, her high school sweetheart was killed in a tragic car accident, and it totally rocked her world. She went off to school feeling really depressed about her loss and trying to deal with the grief. It was there that she met a guy who played in a Christian rock band and they became very close. I was really happy that she was dating a Christian guy, but Christian kids struggle with the same things that non-Christian kids struggle with, and in clinging to her new-found friend to fill the void in her life, they ended up getting sexually involved and as a result, Kathryne was facing an unplanned pregnancy. I assured my sister that I would reach out to Kathryne as soon as I returned from Australia. To be honest, I was kind of glad that I had some time to cope with my own feelings about it before returning home. I spent some time pouring my heart out to my friends, Mark and Darlene Zschech, and I shed a lot of tears about it. Mark and Darlene very graciously offered their home for Kathryne to come and live, and they prayed with me to help me cope with my ‘aunt’ feelings. I was very grateful for their friendship and prayers, and I went back home ready to face the situation and be a support to Kathryne.

I met with Kathryne and her boyfriend and laid out all the different options. I was so proud of them when they told me that abortion was not an option and they knew they wanted to choose life. Kathryne said she wasn’t really sure if she wanted to parent or place the baby for adoption, but she knew she was going to have the baby. She expressed her desire to come to Mercy, followed through with the application process, and was admitted into the program. Through much prayer and counseling while in the Mercy program, Kathryne made the very courageous decision to place her baby for adoption. The way she chose the adoptive couple is another story in and of itself, but it’s definitely a God story. I am happy to say that Kathryne made that decision with the full peace of God that surpasses all understanding in her heart and mind. She told me later that the only thing she felt guilty about was not feeling guilty, and that she knew she had done what God wanted her to do. It was an open adoption. She was able to have the adoptive couple, Greg and Tracy, come to the hospital so they could be there when little Jackson was born. She named the baby Jackson after her high school sweetheart who was killed right before she went to college, and it all came full circle when the late Jackson’s parents came to the hospital to celebrate the precious life and the namesake of their lost son. A lot of tears were shed, but mostly tears of joy.

Now for the rest of the story…Kathryne left Mercy with her life fully committed to Christ, went back to college in Charleston, and got her degree. She returned to Nashville and worked at the National Federation of Independent Business in the compliance department. Eventually, she decided to put her resume in with Mercy Ministries. Because she was my niece, I told the personnel department that I was refusing myself from any interviews with her, and I would not be involved in any way with helping her get a job. I only wanted her to work at Mercy if it was a God thing. It wasn’t long before a position opened up in our intake department. You see, we have a number of people in the intake department, but we reserve one position for a graduate of the program because we want at least one person who has actually experienced the program and can speak first hand about the effectiveness of it. So Jana, the director of our intake department, interviewed about 15 graduates and finally called me to seek my permission to interview Kathryne because every time she prayed, she believed that Kathryne was the one who was supposed to have that position. I said OK, but told Jana not to hire her unless she knew it was right. After one interview, Jana called and told me that she hired Kathryne that day. Kathryne now works in our intake department talking to other girls who need the same help that she herself once needed. God is using her in a special way and she has been at Mercy now since May 15, 2008.


On October 4, 2008, I had the privilege of attending Kathryne’s wedding. God has blessed her with a wonderful guy named Jonathan and here they are pictured together.

For those of you who are facing things in your family, just know that none of us are exempt from problems. Like I said, all those years ago when I first started Mercy, I never dreamed that the two little babies I didn’t want to leave would one day need to call on me for help, and that they would be blessed in their later years through my obedience to God. Tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to my other niece, Janet – you are going to love her story.

God Bless!

Nancy

Super Bowl® for a Super Guy- The Real Kurt Warner

Like most people, I receive many emails every day about many different things. The truth is that there is just not enough time in a day to read them all. However, I recently received an email about Kurt Warner that I wanted to share with you. I found it very inspiring! Even for those who do not follow sports, you will love this story. Especially for those of you who do not follow sports, let me explain who Kurt Warner is. Kurt Warner, quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, has already one one Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams in 2000 (to my great dismay, the other team in the Super Bowl that year was the Tennessee Titans, which is my team). I was sad that the Titans got beat that year, but I could not be more proud of the way Kurt Warner shared his faith as he was front and center on the world’s stage. Now all these years later, Kurt Warner is back in the Super Bowl this weekend with the Arizona Cardinals. He is such a strong Christian and such a great guy that I will definitely be pulling for him this weekend to win that Lombardi trophy. Please take the time to read his personal story. You will love it.

NFL quarterback Kurt Warner (now with the Arizona Cardinals) married the mother of two children, one of whom which had severe medical problems.

Kurt and Brenda met in 1992 at a country bar while he was Northern Iowa's starting quarterback. The next morning, Kurt brought Brenda roses and wanted to meet her youngsters.

She'd told Kurt about her children the night before, so there was no dramatic surprise when she introduced her disabled son.

The Warners' was a lengthy courtship. They married in 1997 after meeting in 1992.

Brenda (who is four years older than Kurt) had two children by a previous marriage. Zachary is three years older than his sister, Jesse Jo. Zachary Warner (born in 1989) does indeed have serious physical infirmities. He was a perfectly healthy infant, not a Down Syndrome child.

When he was four months old, his father dropped him, and in the blink of an eye, this previously healthy baby was suddenly clinging to life, his grip slipping fast. He suffered severe brain damage, and both of his retinas were ruptured. At the time, few thought Zachary would live, and fewer still held out any hope he would ever see, sit up, read, walk, or talk.

Zachary's recovery has been long and arduous, but he now walks and talks. Though still legally blind, he can make out colors and shapes. No longer strictly a special-needs student, he is integrated for half-days in a regular high school classroom.

Kurt adopted Zachary and Jesse after his wedding to Brenda in 1997. The Warners have since added five more children to their brood: Kade in 1998, Jada in 2001, Elijah in 2003, and twins Sienna and Sierra in 2005.

As for what sort of lad Zachary is and what kind of relationship he enjoys with his adoptive father, this anecdote should say it all: After the Rams victory in the NFC Championship game in 2000, 10-year-old Zachary presented Kurt with a homemade card done in Rams blue and gold. Inside, in childlike scrawl, it read: "You're as good a dad as you are a quarterback!" Zachary's birth dad could hardly be described in similar fashion. An inability to come to terms with the injuries he'd visited upon his son led to the breakup of his marriage to Brenda. He left her when she was eight months pregnant with Jesse.

The Warner’s have overcome incredible odds including all of the following:

·All the heartbreak Kurt endured trying to get into the NFL, and the many setbacks he had to weather along the way. So many of our gridiron heroes go in as highly touted draft picks it's sometimes hard to realize some take a tortuous path to the pigskin paradise of the NFL. Kurt presented as a free agent to the Green Bay Packers in 1994, was signed, and then cut by them that same year. In 1997 he had a tryout scheduled with the Chicago Bears which fell through when an injury sustained during his honeymoon rendered him hors de combat. (A venomous spider had bitten him on his throwing elbow.) He had to muck about in the Arena and European leagues before finally being taken on by the Rams in 1997 as their third-string quarterback. In 1999 he stepped in during the preseason in place of injured Trent Green and began almost immediately to rewrite Rams' history.

·Brenda's battle to make a life for herself and her two children after her first husband deserted her. This former Marine had to return to her parents' home when she was eight months pregnant with her second child and with a brain-damaged child already in tow. She completed her nursing training during this period, getting by with the help of food stamps and student loans.

·The death of Brenda's parents in Mountain View, Arkansas, in a tornado in 1996. They'd retired there just a year earlier. Kurt's embracing of Christianity in 1996. (Although he was raised a Catholic, he dates his spiritual awakening to those dark days in the wake of the deaths of Brenda's parents.)

·Kurt's throwing for a record 414 yards in his 23-16 Super Bowl XXXIV victory over the Tennessee Titans and being named that contest's Most Valuable Player. This new mark topped the previous record of 357 yards set by San Francisco's Joe Montana in Super Bowl XXIII and capped an astounding 4,353-yard, 41-touchdown regular season that won him league MVP honors.

As you can see, falling in love with and then marrying a gal who had two children, one of them a special needs child, was just part of this most remarkable story. In Super Bowl XXXVI, Kurt Warner led the St. Louis Rams in their quest for another victory; although they came up just short, Warner was already the stuff of legends. Deservedly.

Barbara "it's a warner-ful life" Mikkelson

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/warner.asp

I hope this blesses you as much as it blessed me!! Would love to hear your comments, even if you are a Steelers fan – ha!!

Love,
Nancy

Generational Impact- Part 3

I want you to meet my beautiful young friend named Rachel. Although you may not recognize her from this picture, you have actually seen her before. On Friday, January 16th, I blogged about looking back at a picture that was made on our property in Nashville before any of our buildings were built with four babies that were born to girls that came to Mercy and chose life. The little redhead sitting to the right of me has now grown up to be beautiful and talented Rachel. She was born in March of 1992, so she will soon be 17 years old.

As you can see, she is amazingly beautiful, and she is also extremely talented in music. God has given her a great gift to lead worship, and she is currently helping out at the Nashville House of Prayer every Thursday night. Rachel is completing her high school education, and she plans to go to college to pursue music. Rachel has recently been asked to sing at an IHOP (International House of Prayer) event with nationally known speakers, as her gift is being recognized by those in Christian leadership. I have had the privilege of watching Rachel grow up. Her parents actually live here in Nashville, and they have done a fabulous job raising her. Just wanted you to meet Rachel and hear the awesome things that God is doing in her life.

Rachel is pictured here, to the left with me, at our 25th Anniversary Celebration. She is truly beautiful on the inside and out, and we thank God for his continued faithfulness to save and transform lives.

God Has A Plan For the Unplanned

Since I have been giving you a look at some of the babies that have been adopted through Mercy Ministries’ adoption agency this week, I thought I would introduce you to one more. I received a Christmas card from this couple, who 18 years ago were desperate for a child and unable to conceive. They were praying and believing God with all their hearts for a baby. It always amazes me how God can take what seems to be impossible and turn it into incredible blessing.

There was a young birth-mother who found herself pregnant and unmarried. She contemplated abortion, but in her heart she knew that was not what she wanted. She found out about a place called Mercy Ministries, where she could come and choose life. She not only chose life for her child, but she also chose life for herself. She has gone on with her life today…she is married, has other children now, and is doing very well. Her brave decision to place her baby boy for adoption was an answer to this couple’s fervent prayer. This awesome couple named their adopted son Gabriel, and I just wanted you to see what a handsome young man he has grown up to be.

At age 17, he has his whole future in front of him. This is yet another one that I have kept in touch with over the years and have been privileged to watch him grow up. His family lives in another state, but they have even visited me in Nashville and we all went to a Titans game together. I’ve also visited them in their home a number of times.

For anyone out there, and you’re facing something difficult, I hope this will encourage you that God has a plan for the unplanned, and He makes a way where there seems to be no way. Hope this encourages you. Have a great weekend!

Nancy

Generational Impact- Part 2

I want to remind you again of the picture of the babies on our property in Nashville that I showed in my blog dated Friday, January 16. A couple of days ago, you met Merri, and today I want you to meet Parker. Parker is the baby in that picture on the far right. On the same day we took that picture in 1992, another picture was made of me holding Parker – pictured here: Below is a picture of Parker when he was 12 years old. He came to visit me at my office, and I showed him the picture of me holding him as a baby. We were standing in the very building that had not yet been built when the first picture was taken. Being close to his family, I have had a privilege of watching Parker grow up. He has such a heart for God and for people. He loves sports, but he is also very kind and sensitive. He keeps in touch with me through email and on Facebook and through occasional visits.

Here is a picture of me and Parker (at age 16) at the annual Jeff Fisher Celebrity Softball Tournament that is held each year in Nashville to raise money for Mercy. I just wanted you to see what a fine young man he has grown up to be. It's hard to believe that he'll be 18 years old this year!!

The day that I met Parker’s mother, Chris, and got to talk with her heart to heart, she actually had a doctor's appointment that afternoon to get an abortion. Because of that special time, Chris chose life and Parker was allowed to be born. Chris is so grateful that she has this wonderful blessing in her life and he is the joy of his grandparents’ heart! This entire family supports Mercy to this day because they are so grateful for Parker’s life.

I hope you enjoy seeing the longevity of these relationships. As I said before about Merri, Mercy Ministries is not just impacting one generation, but generations to come.

Breakthrough

I received this email a few minutes ago, and I just had to share it with you. On Tuesday, January 13th I did a blog called “Mercy Has A Voice” and I actually offered to send our issue related books free of charge to those who might be struggling with one of the issues named in the blog. I offered to send these free of charge to those who would write in and ask. Quite a few people have written in and requested books. Our goal is always to help people – not to make money. That is why I chose to offer the books free of charge to those who need them. This email that I just received is from one of those people. I will withhold her name to protect her identity, but I do want to share with you what she had to say.

Dear Nancy,

I just received a copy of your book Violated today, and for once in my life...for every time I have been abused... I feel acceptance from God despite it all. I can't tell you how much of a breakthrough that is. Even in the first few pages, I read and felt the Spirit say, "This is you. We're going to work through this. Listen to this truth, soak in it, don't run away." Thank you...thank you for giving me the chance to hope.

-Name withheld

The reason I am sharing this with you is because undoubtedly there are others of you out there who wanted to ask for one or more of the books, but either you didn’t follow through or you were afraid to hope. Please know that there is always hope. The worst case scenario is that you read it and it doesn’t help you. Then you’re still where you were and nothing’s lost. The best case scenario is that you will receive help from the truth that is being offered. If you’re out there and you still need help, I dare you to take the step today. Let me end this blog by sharing with you a verse in the Bible that has always been very encouraging to me and the people I share it with – Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, but to give you hope and a future.”

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Love,
Nancy