My Testimony

My name is Kayla Shepherd, I'm 19-years-old and from Montana.
I gave my heart to Jesus at a very young age. After being raised Mormon, my mother got saved when I was very young and my father got saved a few years later. So as a child, I grew up in the ways of the Lord. But when I was 12, I had a friend commit suicide, and my father was killed in an avalanche. This was a fatal turning point for my whole family. My mother was pregnant at the time of my dad's death, and was overwhelmed with circumstances, so she sent me to live with another family for my 8th grade school year.
I was battling serious depression during the months after my dad's death. I felt a sense of insecurity and loss of purpose without my dad around, and during my middle school year, I started experimenting with sex, alcohol, drugs, and partying to try to fill an empty void I had in my life. This cycle I created continued in high school, and instead of my immoral lifestyle filling an empty void I had in my life, it only increased it. My drug use escalated from marijuana and mushrooms to ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, and heroin. I ended up getting kicked out of my house because of my temper and violence. And ultimately, I ended up selling both drugs and my body for money and housing. I had a boyfriend who was a Satanist, and we would entertain demons, practice witchcraft, and attend rituals. I was 16-years-old and this his how I saw myself living for the rest of my life. My lifestyle fed my depression to the point where I was put in a mental hospital, and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and paranoid schizophrenia. I was contemplating suicide daily, and I'd become a "cutter", and would slice my arms and legs with a knife. I had shut myself off from all relationships. I was devastated with the way I was living, but I couldn't seem to get myself untangled from this web of immorality I was in. My junior year of high school, I was put on probation for theft. It was during my probation that my drug addictions had surfaced, and after being caught with my "supplies" on me, I was arrested. I was taken to jail, and was later court-ordered to a rehab. I was in the rehab for 40 days, and decided to break out and run away with a guy I had met in rehab. We broke out and were on the streets, hiding from the cops for days with no money, no house, no food. We broke into houses and gas stations for food. I was spotted by the cops and arrested again, and ended up back in jail. This time things were serious. It was decided that because of my repeated actions and crimes, I would go on trial as an adult for a series of misdemeanors and felonies. I was facing prison time, and awaited my trial for 5 months in a jail cell. Being locked up and sober gave me time to think, and I had decided to end my life. I hung myself in my jail cell, yet I awoke in a psychiatric ward. I couldn't believe I was alive. I remember the nurses telling me my mom was on the phone and wanted to talk to me. I hadn't talked to my mom in months, but got on the phone and she told me she loved me, and that she'd found another "program" for me. It was a miracle I got to enroll, because it was faith-based, and I wasn't supposed to be cleared by my probation or by the courts.

I arrived in Phoenix, AZ, in November, 2005. I didn't want anything to do with God, but the moment I arrived, something inside of me told me that things weren't going to be the same. I was in the rehab program for 2 weeks, and then I gave my life to Jesus Christ at a Friday Night Live service. That night, I had an encounter, and Jesus touched my heart. Walls came down, and He broke off bondages of addiction, depression, guilt, and bitterness. At that point I knew that I was born again; I was made new, and my sins were washed away!!!. This transformation in my life has become more evident every day. I currently am in full time ministry; I serve as a young women's pastor at Spirit Life Church. God has given me a passion to always pursue Him, to live a life of purity and holiness, to operate in His power, and ultimately to spread the Gospel to the world.