mousie75's 2011 Dodge Avenger

** Rising Up. ** (The testimony of Melissa Muniz)

My story begins before I was even born. When my father found out my mom was pregnant he hit her and forced her to drink a bottle of Whiskey, but nothing happened. That did'nt stop his intent in not becoming a father. One day my dad took my mom to see this lady, who than gave my mom a large round pill ( I belive this was supposed to make my mom lose the baby ). God had a diffrent plan for me.

When I was born my father looked at me and said I was not his. I remember as a little girl seeing my dad come home from work and get drunk, and when he was wasted he would beat me mom. There was this one time when he had my mom by the hair and hit her in the face with a coffee mug. He then called me to the kitchen and said "You see your mom? Look at her!". Being 5yrs old I was terrified but loved my parents regardless, but wondered why this was happing in my life. At the age of 8yr's was when my mom began to physically and verbally abuse me. The first incident was when I was reading a a book for homework and I could not pronounce a word, my mom got upset and punched me in the stomach. I could not catch my breath and she said to me "Quick faking, cant you do anything right." My mom got caught pinching me under the dinner table by grandma and my mom told her "She's my daughter I can kill her if I want to."

Alot of the times she would wait till my dad took off after one of their fights and she would take it out on me saying "Its all your fault your father fights with me, I hate you Melissa. I wish you were never born!" This stayed in mind for a long time thinking maybe they would be more happier without me. My mom would make me strip naked as she would hit me with extention cords, belt buckles all over my body. I had huge welts all over and it hurt, I would go to school all bruised to scared to tell anybody. My mom said if I was to tell the police she would tell them how bad I was and that I deserved it. At 13 yrs I bottled in all the hurt and pain, that I became depressed and soon enough it turned into suicidal thoughts. I did not want to live, much less cause my parent's anymore pain. I began to cut my wrist's and this a way to get my pain out. I started to get into fight's at school and got into trouble. I never had very many friend's and it had alway's been like that since elementary. I had been used to being rejected by my parent's so I didnt care about making friend's at school. In High School the fighting between my parent's stoped but the abuse didnt stop with me and my mom. I came home from school one day and my mom had this crazy thought that I was some kind of drug dealer and demanded to search my backpack. When she found nothing she got upset and grabed a softball I had on top of my entertainment center and hit me on the head with it. I had a huge knot on my head but I did'nt raise my hand at her not once. I skiped alot of school my Sr year that I had to stay an extra semester. My parents divorced two wks before my Senior Graduation and they both never attended the Ceremony. I felt let down and rejected once again.
God had a diffrent plan and now I look back and thank God for letting me go through it. I backslid from the Lord a time or two but when I was pregnant with my second child and their father left, I knew it was the beginning of a new journey trusting in God and letting go of every aspect of my life. It was not my will but God's will, and now here I am.

God show's his love and mercy even through the hardest of times. There are so many children abused, neglected, and rejected. Its up to us to love on them and be role models for them.