So help me LORD,

I wish to do you Justice in the telling.

Will you please lead my keystrokes

So I might do Just that?

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FIRST, My Testimony of the Spirit –

My name is Kailey Ann, and I am Saved.

I am Saved by the Spirit of Jesus,

Who over the course of Three Key Events1.) 2.) 3.)

Made me just as I am.

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1.)

At age Eleven I ‘Prayed the Prayer’ toward the end of one Sunday Evening Message,

Holding a hardback copy of Order of the Phoenix on my lap.

I said to the LORD, “Please come into my life and make me more like you,”

But I didn’t look up when Pastor Eddy asked me to –

I was afraid – even though I thought I prayed the prayer right,

I didn’t wanna admit how many times I’d prayed it already in my life –

Always wondering whether it counted if

I doubted right away

Or if I kept asking for Proof.

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2.)

I was Baptized in 2006 right after my little sister –

We got dunked in the Name of the FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT by Pastor Marion,

Who’d performed my parents’ wedding ceremony that very same school year.

I was wearing a maroon gown which could’of fit three of me,

And a silver cross necklace my Mom put around my neck that morning,

And my hair was in a ponytail because it always was –

I tried not to feel shame about the fact that I was older,

And my little sister was getting dunked first –

My parents said being Baptized was my choice,

And I’d said, “If she’s ready, I am!”

Because I Twelve and not ‘Out’

And I could not bear the secrecy

Of seeming Unsure whether I was Saved

Any longer.

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3.)

In July of 2008, It Happened:

I spent the summer saving money so I could go to Supercamperific,

And my Mom spotted me half the funding I needed to go because

She loves me, and Thirteen isn’t old enough to make minimum wage.

At the tail-end of Pastor Terry’s first Evening Message, he explained:

“Salvation is a Gift: All you have to do is take it.”

And then, Out of Nowhere –

Terry Foster called My Name:

“Kailey, would you come up here for a minute?”

The Camp Nawakwa amphitheater

At McCormick’s Creek was abuzz –

I stood in front a great sum of campers,

Joined my church camp pastor center-stage,

And he held out his hand:

And I saw –

In his upturned palm:

A face – Sakakawea smiling:

At me!

Her eyes flashed:

Made contact!

And Terry said to Me so All could hear:

“It’s a Gift: All you have to do is take it.”

So I did * I have this token of Wisdom with me always, wherever I go.

———–END (Part 1 of 7)———–

SECOND, My Authority to Write on Behalf of the Spirit –

———–(Soon To Follow)———–

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@bykaileyann