Young Woman shot repeatedly and left to die.

The story that I am about to share with you is my testimony of how God gave me a second chance and saved me, not only from spiritual death but also from physical death and eternal life without Him.

My story takes me back to 1988. Almost twenty one years ago. I was 31 years old, divorced twice and living with my 4 year old daughter from my first marriage. My marriage to my first husband ended after 3 years, shortly after our daughter was born. I was on my own for 3 and a half years when I met my second husband. We were married  3 months after we met. My first husband had just remarried and I knew that although I was still in love with him, I had lost him.. I married my second husband on the rebound and the consequences were disastrous.

It was only after we were married that I realised that he had a serious problem with perscription drugs and alcohol. He was also an extremely jealous and possessive man. I realised after a few months of marriage that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. My life was a living hell. I was very unhappy and realised that his jealousy and possesiveness was a serious problem. I was not prepared to expose my daughter to a family life of this kind. After 7 months of marriage I opted for the “unthinkable… another divorce”. My second husband was not prepared to cut ties and kept on trying to win me back. I remained friends with him but realising the hold he had on me I knew I had to cut him out of my life. He would not accept my decision and kept on trying to contact me. I eventually gave in and he started visiting me occasionally. This went on for another 7 months. ….This leads me to the most terrifying, yet life changing part of my life.

I had made it clear to my second husband that I wanted nothing more to do with him… I remember so clearly the day I spoke to my sister about how I wanted him out of my life but he had his “hold” on me….She suggested that I pray for guidence….

For 30 years I thought I knew God. I prayed occasionally and believed in Jesus. Although I never attended church or read the Bible, I always classified myself as a Christian. I never felt that it was necessary to go to church. I never for one second believed that I would go to Hell if I died. I was a “good” person and always believed that I would go to Heaven.

Friday 29 April 1988…. I had told my second husband that I wanted nothing more to do with him. He came around to my flat but I would not see him. I remember looking out of the top story window and seeing him checking something in the front of my car… I still dont know what he did or was intending to do.

Saturday 30 April 1988…  I spoke to my sister about the seriousness of my situation. She said that all that was going to help was that I pray for guidence from God. She would also be keeping me in her prayers. I was not used to praying but that night I went home and tried to pray. Everytime I closed my eyes I had a vision of terrible creatures and horrible faces… I just couldn’t pray. “Something” was stopping me. I realised later that it was Satan. He knew what he had planned for me and was stopping me from praying. I believe that what I saw in that vision was “Hell” .

Saturday 1 May 1988…..My Moms birthday…We all went to my sister and brother- in-law for a braai. The only one missing was my daughter who was spending the weekend with her Dad. I got home around 5pm after dropping off my Gran. I was expecting my daughter around 5-30pm. I wasn’t home long when I received a call from her Dad saying that they had been delayed and that she would only be home later that evening. (I believe that God caused the delay. If they had been on time my daughter would have witnessed everything and may not be alive today.)

At the same time that all this was happening my uncle was on his way to church. I was constantly on his mind. God had told him to ask me to go to church with him. His thoughts were “she would never agree to go “.. so he never asked me. ( I am sure that I would have made some excuse because I wasn’t “into going to church” )…That evening at church he was given a Bible as a gift and felt strongly that God was telling him to give it to me….What he was not aware of was that while he was in church I was going through a life changing ordeal.

At about 6.30pm there was a knock at my door. I thought it was my daughter with her Dad…. it wasn’t, it was my second husband. He promised not to be long. He just wanted to say goodbye as he was leaving and would never see me again. He really looked genuine and for the first time in ages he appeared calm and sober. He asked where my daughter was. I told him that she was due back soon and that I wanted him gone by the time she got home. He wanted to talk so I invited him into the sitting room. I remember leaving the front door open as I was not happy that he was there and I was expecting my daughter home soon.. We chatted for awhile. He said he was going to the coast and that he would be out of my life for good. I really can’t remember what else we discussed. After about 15 minutes he got up and said he was going to the bathroom. The guest toilet was right next to the front door. I heard him close the door but never felt threatened,  just thought it odd. He then called out to me and said he would be leaving. I felt relieved and walked towards him. When I was about 1.5 metres away from him he lifted up his jersey and that was when I saw the gun. I screamed. He never said a word. He just pulled the trigger. The bullet hit me in the chest. I can’t remember how long it was before he fired another shot but that was from the back. I was running up the stairs to my bedroom.(I am sure my feet never touched those stairs…it was as if God was carrying me)…  The bullet hit me in my side and through my chest. It must have ricochet again off the wall hitting the tip of my finger. The next moment I was in my bedroom holding the door closed. I remember thinking if he fired a shot through the door it would hit me again. He was too strong and pushed the door open. I turned to face the bed and he fired another bullet into my back.. it also exited through my chest and into the bed. Then he fired the fourth bullet straight into my right leg. It shattered my femur. I fell to the ground and then remember hearing this voice inside my head.. telling me to pretend to be dead. (I know now that it was God).. I then heard a “click”.. I opened my eyes and saw him checking the gun… the bullet never went off. I will never know if that bullet was intended for my head or his. (I know that God stopped that last bullet from going off)
He then left me and shut the bedroom door. I was left lying on the floor at the bottom of my bed.  I managed to pull myself around to the side of my bed where the telephone was. I phoned my Dad and told him that my second husband had shot me. No sooner had I put the phone down when my he walked back into the room. I will never know if he knew I was alive or if he knew I had used the phone.( I lay still, pretending to be dead, praying and silently calling out to God not to let me die.) He pulled the telephone plug out of the wall, switched off the lights and shut the door (not tightly). I lay there in silence.  I then heard very loud music coming from downstairs. He had put on a record ( I was busy listening to it when he first arrived). I can only assume he did this incase I wasn’t dead and tried calling out for help… no one would have heard me.
As I lay on the floor in my bedroom I knew for some reason that I had to try and get down stairs. It would have been impossible if the door was closed tightly as I would not have reached the handle and could not stand up. Even if I managed to stand up on one leg I would never have been able to open it because it was very tight and I always battled to open it…he had not closed it properly. I magaged to slide on my bottom down the stairs…it was only God who got me down those stairs. While I was going down I distinctly remember it being “light” and the music had now stopped (the record must have finished). When I was almost down stairs I heard my Dad calling out to me… he had arrived… noticed that my car was gone and the flat was in darkness…my second husband had taken my car and turned off all the lights….
The reason that I had to get down those stairs was to hear my Dad. If I was still upstairs I would not have heard him arrive and he would have gone around to my second husband’s flat as I never mentioned where I was phoning from and with my car gone and the flat in darkness he may have gone there.
While I was still upstairs my first husband had arrived bringing back my daughter… noticing that the place was in darkness and my car was not there they also left and went to the cafe to kill some time while I was out. (He assumed I had just slipped out for a while).. there were no cell phones in those days so he couldn’t  phone to see where I was… My Dad must have just missed him.
All my Dad had on his mind was to get to me and get me to hospital. When I phoned him he was in such a panic that he left my spare keys to my flat, behind. (my parents had a set of my keys.) When he heard me he knew he had to try and get into my flat. Next to the front door, below the guest toilet window was a flower pot. He stood on this and with a tin of oil that he had in the car, broke the window “out” .. the flower pot toppled over while he was lifting himself up through the broken window. In the process of doing so he cut both his wrists on the broken glass. Both his arteries were slashed. (I believe God used this to stop him from moving me… all he had on his mind was to get me to hospital).
It was a miracle that I was so aware of everything that was happening… all I knew was that I wanted to live and kept hearing  this voice in my head telling me to stay concious. I remember telling my Dad where to find the spare set of keys for the front door. He was trying to break the security door open from inside. It was another miracle that he was able to do all this because he was bleeding so badly.. He was losing a lot of blood from the severed arteries in his wrists. When he got the door open he went to one of my neighbours for help. Her husband was at church at the time so she came around to help us. Not long after she arived, my first husband arrived with my daughter. He was usually always alone with her when he brought her home after she had spent the weekend with him but this time he had a friend with him… (another miracle from God)…His friend was able to take my daughter away without her having to witness anything… He stayed behind and helped me and my Dad. He phoned for the ambulance.
My Dad and I were both taken to Far East Rand hospital… I was then transferred to Johannesburg General Hospital and my Dad to the  Mines benefit society hospital in Joubert Park. God saved us both that night.
I remained concious throughout the night. My Mom and brother- in- law stayed with me throughout the night. The doctors were only able to operate on my leg the following day… I believe it was because I had experienced such trauma that they could not operate immediately. I landed up in intensive care for a few days. There was slight damage to my one lung but no other organs were damaged. All the doctors were amazed because this was the only damage from the three bullets that went straight through my chest. It was a miracle from God…Two of the bullets were within millimetres to my spine.
While I was in intensive care  many of my friends and family came to visit me. My Uncle Bill, also came to pray but I could not rememeber much because of all the drugs I was on. The one occasion I remember so clearly was when Dries, (an old friend who I had not seen for years) and my best friend Alan, stood over my bed. Dries had come to pray for me. When he prayed for healing I honestly felt like  “what am I doing in this place..I feel wonderful..” I had no pain and didn’t feel as if I had been shot.  I honestly believe that God healed me that night. After four days I was transferred to Parkland Clinic in Springs. While I was there I welcomed anyone and everyone who wanted to pray for me. The one occasion that really turned my life around was when a lady I used to work with came to pray for me. When she asked if she could pray for me I said “yes”… I really felt wonderful because for the first time in my life I knew that it was prayers that saved me. She never prayed for healing… all she said was “Jesus, touch Bev’s heart..renew her mind”….I felt two hands on my shoulders…. she was sitting next to my bed holding my hand……My entire body felt warm and it “tingled” and I knew that I had been touched by God.

After she left, without even realising it I gave my life over to God. I cried like a baby. I asked God to forgive me for all that I had done wrong and promised never to go back to my old ways. I was truely “born again”… I became a new person. I thought differently and althogh I never knew a thing about the new birth, the Holy Spirit revealed so much to me that I was amazed at myself.
I spent the next 10 days talking to God. Something that I had never done before. Not like that anyway. I was pouring out my heart and soul to Him and talking to Him from my heart.
I couldn’t stop telling everyone what had happened. All I could talk about was how Jesus had set me free. The sudden change in my life caused some people to think I had gone a little “crazy”. Everyone was concerned that there was some mental damage… If only they realised that my brain had been affected.. God had taken control and my old way of thinking was “damaged”…
God healed me physically and mentally. I suddenly could love everyone. I forgave all those who had hurt me in my past. I even forgave my second husband for trying to kill me. Unfortunately I was unable to forgive him to his face… after he locked me in my flat he went to his own flat and commited suicide.

I know that I was saved by the Grace of God and that I was saved for a very special reason and that is to witness to others and lead them to Christ.

My experience has also taught me… never assume that we will go to Heaven. We must be “Born again”
                            …God always turns a calamity into an opportunity.