MY STORY / Patrick Roddey

My Story / Patrick Roddey

I grew up in Edgemoor, SC. I lived there with my mom, dad, and sister. My life there had good times and bad with my parents not getting along and divorcing when I was 8. At that point I began to see the power that manipulation has on people. Because of my parents’ divorce I was able to manipulate them and my teachers. As a teenager I continued to manipulate but added alcohol to the mix. I would drink and drive with no consideration for the people I was putting at risk. I lived my life to make myself happy, that was all that mattered.

During my early twenties some of my friends started a class at church and invited me to go. I went infrequently, but one week the church was having a special service and I went. The speaker talked about the sacrifice of Jesus, the son of God, how he lived a perfectly obedient life while on earth, then sacrificed himself at the cross to pay the punishment that I deserved, that we all deserve, for my (our) disobedience to God. He said that Jesus died, was buried, and then on the third day he rose from the dead. While I had grown up in church it was that night that Jesus became real to me. I spoke with the pastor and that night I surrendered my life to Jesus and He became my Lord.

I was used to manipulating people, but that night as I prayed God impressed upon me that I needed to serve others not use them. After that I quit manipulating others, but my binge drinking persisted until God used the children at the church I attended to show me that I was modeling what could be a destructive behavior in their lives. While at church I connected with a girl named Amy. We were attracted to one another, but she was my friend’s sister. We worked through that awkwardness and began a relationship. 6 months into our relationship I bought a ring and proposed a few months after that. We married after a couple years of engagement and wanted to start a family. After some time, Amy got pregnant and we went to the midwife and I can vividly remember seeing that flickering little heartbeat. A few weeks later Amy realized that something was wrong and we returned to the midwife. When she put the ultrasound wand on Amy that flickering little heartbeat was gone. Our world fell apart, I searched for anything to blame for the loss of our child and somehow that blame landed on my wife. Our relationship began falling apart, but God was not done with us. We struggled through the hard times and Amy got pregnant again then again, first a boy named Hayden, and then a girl named Laney. Now, we have two awesome children and though Amy’s redheaded and feisty, and we drive each other crazy sometimes, we love as hard as we can and strive to be the best family we can be.

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