Suicide Survivor Speaks To Odessa Church
By: Alanna Quillen
Updated: March 24, 2012
ODESSA -- A life can change in a matter of seconds, and every life is important.
That's the message Kristen Anderson shares to audiences around the country. Hundreds gathered to hear her story Friday night at the First Baptist Church in Odessa.
The inspirational speaker tried to kill herself a decade ago.
"I could feel the power of the train shake our home," recalls Anderson. "I could hear the whistle blare through the windows and I thought, that's one way i'll never live through it."
And she almost didn't.
At 17 years old on a January night, Anderson laid down on railroad tracks wanting to end her life.
She survived, but she lost her legs.
"Very quickly, when I could feel myself being sucked underneath the train, I felt something push me down and almost hold me to the ground," she said. "And I really seriously believed that was God protecting me and holding me down, and sparing my life somehow."
She had an "All-American" childhood in Illinois with few struggles in life, until things started to change in her late teens.
"All of the sudden, within about a year and a half's time, I lost four friends, I lost my grandmother, I was being stalked by two young men and I was raped by another," she said.
That pain brought her to those train tracks, where 33 train cars ran over her.
"I was so overwhelmed and burdened by the pain that I felt inside," she said. "I didn't know what to do with it, I didn't know how to find healing or help."
Her survival brought her down the path of helping others deal with difficult emotions, through sharing her story.
"I just got unbelievably amazing feedback from people who needed that hope and encouragement," she said. "Even to this day, I get emails and letters and phone calls from people telling me they chose life over suicide."
She shared her story to a packed church Friday night. Pastor Byron McWilliams wants his community to learn that there is hope.
"I think Kristen is a great example that life is worth living and that even in your darkest days, things can be better," he said.
Anderson wrote a book about her experience called Life, In Spite of Me. She was even featured on the Oprah show in 2006. She knows the book and speaking to others about her ordeal is what she was meant to do.
"Things are going to get better," she said. "No matter how things feel on the inside or no matter the circrumstances are on the outside. Things are always eventually going to get better.
To learn more about Kristen's story and what you can do to prevent suicide, visit the website for her mission, Reaching You Ministries.
To learn more about Kristen's story and what you can do to prevent suicide, visit the website for her mission, Reaching You Ministries.
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