- I knew that I just needed to stay calm

for my kids and I just needed to do

what he told me to do.

Then he told me to kiss them goodbye

because he was gonna end it for me.

And so that's when he went to the closet

and got the gun.

- [Narrator] Stacy Taylor was no

stranger to abuse.

She grew up in a home filled with turmoil.

Her mother was verbally abusive

and her father was a truckdriver and often gone.

- So I just really grew up feeling unloved

and unwanted by my mother.

I just remember her making me feel like I

was never really gonna amount to anything,

like I was just gonna screw up my life.

You know, when you've been told

that your whole childhood,

you kind of start believing that.

And that really affectedhow I felt about myself.

- [Narrator] She was insecure and lonely.

But felt God protected her after she gave

her heart to Jesus as a young girl.

- I just would open my Bible

and I would just read the red letters,

and just feel God's presence.

And it was like, I would just sit

with just tears streaming down my face

at this love that this God,

the God that created the world had for me

and that I've neverexperienced here on earth.

- [Narrator] But Stacygrew tired of waiting

for things to change at home.

Eventually, she walked away from her faith

and instead, found an escape in the arms

of a man.

- I was desperate to be loved.

I would do anything for just somebody

to love me back.

I knew that he wasn't the one for me.

And I even felt God telling me no.

But I just decided that I was just gonna

choose my own path andI was tired of waiting

to see what God had planned for me.

- [Narrator] They got married

and started a family.

But soon after,

he began abusing drugs and alcohol.

His affection turned into control,

and Stacy felt it was her fault.

- This is the path that I'd chosen,

and this is kind of what I deserved.

It was almost like I was reliving

what I lived growing up with my mother.

I had a passion to goback to nursing school,

I wanted to go to school.

But he would tell me thatI wasn't smart enough,

I would never make it.

It was a very lonely time.

- [Narrator] Stacy longed for the peace

she once knew when Godwas active in her life.

One day, while listeningto Christian radio,

she heard a message thatprompted her to pray.

- And then she says, "Do you feel alone?

"Do you feel like you're doing everything

"you can but nobody sees you?"

And she said, "I justwant to encourage you

"to keep doing what you're doing

"because God sees you."

And I just, in that moment, closed my eyes

and I asked God, I said, "Do you see me?"

Well all of a sudden,I feel this little hand

on my leg and I look down and it's my son.

And he's looking up at mewith the sweetest smile

on his face and his eyes looked

a little different.

And we were kind of frozen in this moment

and I feel this peace come over me.

And as I'm looking into my son's face,

I realize that God is looking up at me

through the eyes of my child.

And he's saying, "I see you."

I just thought that hehad forgotten about me.

It was the most amazing feeling.

I've been searching for that for years.

And finally, I felt His presence.

- [Narrator] Stacy recommitted her life

to Jesus that day.

- When I finally did turn around

to turn back to Him,He just welcomed me in

with arms wide open.

And it was just a simple act of surrender

of just letting him take over

and trusting Him and obeying Him.

- [Narrator] Still, theverbal abuse and control

continued in her marriage.

When she finally threatened to leave,

her husband became violent.

- He came behind me, wrapped his arm

around my neck, and then he started

to choke me and lift me up off the floor.

All I could say was Jesus, Jesus.

And it was just saying the name of Jesus,

brought so much peace.

And in that moment, I knew,

that no matter whathappened, He was in control.

- [Narrator] Her husbandbarricaded the door

and held Stacy and the children

at gunpoint for hours.

Eventually, her coworkerscame to check on Stacy.

When her husband wouldn't let them in,

they knew something was wrong.

- I knew that when they left,

that they were gonna go call the cops.

So I felt like this is it,

this was gonna save my life.

- [Narrator] Her husband left before

the police arrived.

Stacy and the kids made their escape.

Her sister paid for a plane ticket

so Stacy could be nearfamily and start over.

She never returned to her husband.

- He took my name offof our bank accounts,

I didn't have access to money.

I feel like, at thattime, where I had nothing,

that I realized that Godwas all that I needed.

I just felt so free.

I had this freedom and I had this freedom

to finally serve God wholly and completely

without anything standing in my way,

without anybody standing in my way.

- [Narrator] As she rebuilt her life,

she says God has been faithful

at every step of the journey.

She eventually remarriedand says the scars

of the past have been healed,

as she accepted heridentify as a child of God.

- I know who I am in Christ.

I know that I am fearfullyand wonderfully made.

I know that I'm a child of the King.

And I know that He loves me and He's never

gonna forsake me, He'snever gonna leave me.

And I know that there'snothing in this world

that I can do that's going to cause Him

to love me any less.