Testimonies

Michelle Richee's Testimony By Michelle Richee People always want to know: Where are you from? That is a tough question to answer. I was born in Staten Island, New York, in the military hospital closest to Groton, Connecticut, where we lived. But, I'm not from there. I was just born there ... We traveled so much. My earliest memories are at the beach in Louisiana (I think) with my Mom. Mom liked to stay at the beach from sun up to sun down. Well, almost. Dad couldn't be with us at the beach much. He was busy with his work for the United States Coast Guard. Oh, how I loved my Dad. When I was about 4 or 5, I was terribly ill with the Mumps. At the time of this very painful illness, something else happened. I was molested. This ugly event haunted me for the coming 30 some years . . . Because of Dad's work in the Coast Guard, we traveled a lot! These travels caused me to be uprooted and enrolled in new schools 13 times! I knew the chances of moving were always great, so I had no motivation to make friends. Plus, Mom and I never had a real good mother/daughter relationship. It just didn't happen. We went to the Mormon church some, though I don't remember much. I remember getting baptized "into the church" at age 8 and the Elders laying hands on me and emphatically telling me "Receive the Holy Ghost!" But, they never taught me anything about salvation or the new birth. I never heard anything about becoming a new creature in Christ. By age 15 insecurities and an inferiority complex had taken root. Out of all the schools I went to, not one classmate told me about Jesus, or invited me to church. I had been in 10 schools and felt like I didn't belong anywhere. I never heard a word from anyone about Jesus Christ being the answer. I had a very low self-esteem and Mom didn't seem to even like me. Dad was gone a lot with his work. I would lie in bed at night and cry, and wonder why was I born?. My Sophomore year I began sampling whiskey, vodka, gin, rum - whatever was available, over at a friend's house. I stayed all night with her every chance I got. One day Mom announced to my astonishment that she and my Dad were getting a divorce. It totally devastated me. To make matters worse, we would be relocating to Carlinville, Illinois. Carlinville High School was my 13th school in 12 years. I hated Carlinville. I missed my Dad. There was always a wall between my Mom and I that prevented us from being close. I hooked up with some kids who drank and smoked. My new friends also got high. This was during the Vietnam era. I had always heard the U.S. military forces brought a lot of powerful dope back with them. We smoked marijuana (pot) and hashish -- and I thought it was great, until I had to get up for school. I'd sneak up a ladder to my second floor bedroom. It worked great until the night Mom found my ladder! I was locked out of the house, in the dead of winter, with snow all over the ground. I slept in the car and almost froze to death. Soon, I discovered Acid, Mescaline, Quaaludes, THC, PCP, Cocaine, uppers, downers -- whatever I could get my hands on ... As long as I was wasted on drugs and alcohol, I didn't think about how unhappy and depressed I was. Unfortunately, no one told me the hell it was being an addict -- and, no one told me about the Lord either. I had been to 13 schools and not one classmate had enough sense to talk to me about Jesus! I ended up pregnant my senior year. This was more than Mom could handle and she totally turned her back on me for years. I got married and, somehow, graduated with my class. I took speed (amphetamines) in the mornings to get me going. It took larger and larger amounts to give me a buzz. After five years and two babies, the marriage went sour. I walked out the door one day never to return, leaving everything behind except the kids and my habits. My doctor conveniently prescribed tranquilizers and sleeping pills. I became addicted to them and couldn't live without them for 13 years. I tapered off of the hard stuff, but still alternated back and forth between amphetamines and barbiturates. My brother, Frank, overdosed on PCP (an animal tranquilizer) and attacked 8 people with a hammer. He received a 30 year prison sentence. But, before he went, a wife of one of the victims came to see him at County Jail, and told him she had come to forgive him for what he had done ... and that she didn't know how any good could come from this crime, unless Frank would get saved and become a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He did get saved and he spent his prison sentence studying the scriptures and praying. During this time our Dad, diagnosed as Manic Depressive, committed suicide and I attempted it, overdosing on Tranxene. After Frank's release, I didn't understand the change in him, but whatever it was -- I'd been looking for it my whole life. Finally, in 1988 he led me in the sinner's prayer in his home, and I was filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues shortly thereafter. Frank told me something that I've shared in churches across the world: if I would go to church, read my bible, and pray, my life would never be the same. I was still taking large amounts of tranquilizers and sleeping pills. After being saved less than one year, my doctor referred me to a psychiatrist, who concluded I had the same illness as my father. He said there was no cure, and it was basically hopeless, but there were lots of anti-psychotic drugs available for me! I had just enough Word in me to know I didn't have to receive that diagnosis. I knew the bible said God sent His Word and healed me, and that Jesus bore my sickness and carried my disease and with his stripes I was healed ... so I claimed my deliverance from that devilish disorder in the name of Jesus and by the authority of God's Word. I never took any anti-psychotic drugs and, was totally delivered from the tranquilizers and sleeping pills. I simply believed God's Word. I had such a strong desire to serve God burning within me. I served on the Board of Frank's prison ministry. I helped draft his first book which tells his story. Before long, my pastor said I needed to get a license. I wrinkled up my forehead and repeated that word, license? Since 1995 God has allowed me to share this story of his amazing grace in North America, Africa, Europe and Asia, seeing men, women and children's lives impacted in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God. When you mean business with God, God WILL mean business with you. This ministry is available to come to your church, as the Spirit leads. If God wants me somewhere, you can rest assured, I'll be there.