THE HOLLINGER'S
Well! Where to start??? I grew up in a college town- Kent- Can't read, can't write, KENT state! LOL!!!! I have lived here pretty much my whole life. I have two parents that are still married today. They gave birth to 6 kids: Stephanie (32), Jennifer (30, Me (28), Jessica (25), Tiffany (22), and last but not least David (18). He is my dude. My best friend. I waited 10 years for him.
We were kind a a Christian family. Whatever that means!
I was a very active kid. I was always getting into everything. My least favorite thing to do in life was to listen. I always did the opposite of whatever I was told And that's where I got the my nick name, "trouble"! I even got a shirt from my grandma one year that said, "Here comes trouble"! Pretty soon trouble was my middle name- my identity.
Because, I was such an active kid. My mom decided I needed something to do to channel my energy. So she signed me up for dance lessons with my two older sisters. After a few lessons, the teacher told my mom that, I was pretty much horrible and so that is when I found SOCCER! Soccer became my EVERything! It became my identity. I would practice outside for hours. Just by myself. My sisters all hated me. So- I was all I had. I have played now for about 23 years. I played one year in college. I was red shirted because I had surgery on my ankle. 
I got saved through the ministry of Young Life. It happened the summer before my junior year. I had never felt so loved by anyone until I met Jodee Bentley. She was the reason i would go for awhile. She would just come and hangout with me after school and take me home from school. She would invite me over to her place to watch movies and sometimes go out for ice cream. She always made me feel special and loved. She became my best friend. At a fall weekend- i decided to give my life over to Jesus. I could no longer live the life style I was living. I needed more- I wanted more! Smoking and drinking never did it for me. They always left me wanting more. So- I gave my life to Jesus! And I haven't looked back since.
I became a YL leader after high school. I got the chance to love on other kids and to walk them into a relationship with Jesus! It was so humbling and rewarding to be used by God. He totally just changed me from the inside out. He started with my heart. Because it needed so much repair. It was so broken and so wounded. It had walls built up all around. As he started breaking those walls down and the healing started. It allowed me to feel. To feel a human touch. To hear the words- I love you. He tought me how to forgive…
See I was physically abused by mom growing up (please don't hate her). I was such a handful that she didn't know any other way. She loved me- she hated doing it. But she was dealing with to many other issues in her life- and didn't know how to handle me. After hating her for so many years. God decided that he was going to teach me what real forgiveness looked like. So- he laid it on my heart to ask her to forgive me. And it broke her- and for the first time she admitted to me what she had done. And where there used to be hate is now love and where there used to be pain is now joy. Where there used to be anger is now peace. God did that. Only God could mend a broken relationship caused by pain and bitterness.
God has blessed me with an awesome testimony. He has given me so much. He gave me an awesome spiritual mom- Who I have learned so much from and I would not be the person I am today if it wasn't for God using her in my life.
So that's Me! Any questions???
