Joy Came in the Morning (pt 4)

Early August 1998

“The next year, 1977, I got pregnant again. Jesse and I had moved to Farmington, New Mexico. I remember we drove there the night Elvis died, pulling a small trailer with everything we owned. Jesse was working a lot of hours as a boilermaker for a power plant there. We rented a double-wide mobile home, and it was one of the nicer places we lived. I fixed it up, and I was the typical little housewife—except that I smoked pot all the time. We weren’t doing major drugs then. My grandma Graham died, and when I flew to Phoenix for the funeral, I made a doctor’s appointment. I needed to have a cyst removed, and since I had just found out I was pregnant—and Jesse didn’t want the baby, of course—I decided to have an abortion at the same time. That was the only abortion that was done in a hospital.”

Chris and Jolene asked a question now and then to prod my memory, but mostly they just let me talk.

“Jesse and I separated for a while, and he had a girlfriend. When we got back together, we moved to Pinetop, up in the mountains; it was very beautiful there. Because of Jesse’s work we moved a lot, little towns all over Arizona and New Mexico. I once counted fifty different apartments or houses or hotels where we had lived in the ten years we were married.

“We went to Prescott for the fourth of July. It was wild there in the ‘70’s. The Hell’s Angels would ride into town, and the police would close the streets for the holiday. Prescott is a quaint little town with antique shops, and there’s a street called Whiskey Row with a bunch of saloons. Jesse and I were doing Quaaludes and partying in and out of the bars. I was so spaced out, I was offering Quaaludes to cops; there was no way they could control the drugs and alcohol, so they simply tried to keep the peace. We were in front of the courthouse, in the center of town, when Jesse went nuts and started hitting me, and the cops had to pull him off of me.
“Jesse screamed, ‘Just get the ______ out of my life. Go find somebody else.’

“I literally took him up on it. I turned around, walked across the street, went into a bar, and met a man. Paul took me to his cabin, and I spent the night there with him. We had an off-and-on relationship for the next couple of years. Whenever Jesse beat me up, I called Paul; he came and got me and nursed me back to health. He was a very gentle guy. I don’t think he ever wanted me to leave Jesse to marry him, but he was always there for m. Jesse never knew about him.”

…..more to come.

Joy Came in the Morning – Part 1
Joy Came in the Morning – Part 2
Joy Came in the Morning – Part 3

5 thoughts on “Joy Came in the Morning (pt 4)

  1. Hi Lori,
    God Bless you. You are a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul and lovely outlook on life. Please keep the blogs coming. It helps the souls of many of the woman out here. PS…I loved Tammy’s singing today. She reminds me of Winonna Judd. Awesome and both you and Jim were too cute for words. I was crying before I surfed this web site but I have a smile on my face now. My husband and I have faced a huge hurt in our lives. You see my adult son was in an off road accident falling almost 50feet in the air. He was air lifted to a wonderful hospital where the presence of God and all of his angels roamed the hallways. After 5 tough weeks in a coma He came out of it on Christmas Day. He had to rehab for months after but the prayers kept coming his way and the angels kept him in their arms. He is now living back home with us and almost back to himself except for a few axions that confuse him every now and then. Yes He has meltdowns and confusion and sometimes it’s hard on my husband and myself because we are dealing with a 44 year old who sometimes acts like a teenager. but God sent him back to us. He had an out of body experience in the coma and speaks about the rolling hills of heaven. He saw his Grandparents and said that his grandmother is still the same. She rules the roost on the other side. He spoke about a playground where He said He saw Jesus. He didn’t speak to him. He was told to go back and not to come into the playground. It’s an amazing story. Although I believe in God and love Jesus I’m a bit shy about going to church by myself. My husband isn’t interested in going to church and is very cranky when mentioned. Anyway I won’t go further but Thank you so much and I’ve watched Jim in early years and can see the goodness that comes out of that man. If you could find it in your heart please pray for my family. Thank you for being so kind on T.V. It really shows.
    =^.^= Karolyn “ormond beach fl”

  2. Thank you Lori, for sharing your heart with us all. Many who hear it will know the mercy and love of God for them too!

    Revelation 12:11

    11“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

  3. I had a friend who went through a similar situation. She tried to drive off a cliff, but the car ended up back on the cliff, w Jesus in the passenger seat. She received a call to preach and is a fireball for Jesus…& a missionary on foreign soil. She never could quite shake the guilt or grief of abortion until a dream she had one night. She saw her aborted children in heaven… the exact age they should be now, a boy and a girl. They walked toward her and said, “Hi, Mom… we will see you when you come home.” I believe this is substantiated in the book, “Heaven Is For Real” by Todd Burpo where the little boy sees his miscarried sister in Heaven and she is the age she’d be on earth if she were alive. This boy never even knew he had a sister… and they were shocked when he knew details. Lori, I believe you will see all of your children again… they will know you and be their correct age. Just wanted to share these thoughts with you… blessings, Deborah

  4. I read this blog yesterday and wondered what purpose God had for revealing so many details of your past life before Him. I was involved in the party scene in the 70’s and early part of 80’s. So I was not surprised at your own story. But yesterday I was on the phone talking to a precious loved one who is really going through a hard place. I said you need to be in a church..But she said I’m trying but I don’t want to be judged for what I am going through..this just made me break down and cry with her!!I said don’t you dare give up on the real Jesus! Because He loves you regardless of how you dress or where you came from or what you are going through….I know the Lord cries for these ones who want to go to church but are not strong enough to stand against the spirit of religion. Great testimony to share with those who think they are not good enough to be in the house of the Lord..I will show my friend your blog…God Bless!

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