Leaving (Part THREE) *** Please Read Parts ONE & TWO ***

Later that night, because it was a Saturday, my dad had to go to the church to study or something.
I asked my mom if I could go out and spend some time with the horses.(I used to do that almost every night prior to living at the college)
She said yes, so on my way out I grabbed my purse and also the portable phone. I hid my purse behind a tree stump in the front yard and took the phone with me out to the horses.

I dialed my friend's number (the one my parents had taken me from) and the line was busy. 
Because of the comments my dad had made, I didn't think that I could call the police.
Oh how I WISH I had!
Then, stupid me, I tried dialing my friend again...Only I didn't listen for a dial tone.
There I was, making dialing noises and my PARENTS were talking on the phone!!!!!

"Laura, is that you?" my father asked.
"Yes sir." I replied.
"Were you trying to call your friend?"
"Yes sir."
Then came my moms' voice, "Laura, get in the house RIGHT NOW!"

When I got inside, my mom stood staring at me and (not knowing what else to say,) said, "Go to your room and read your Bible!"
I almost laughed at that, but...I went up to my room, read Psalms 23 (The Lord is my shepherd) and fell asleep.

At church the next morning, I didn't have much to wear except the clothes I had slept in. My mom made me play piano for the church choir,and had me stay with her in the church nursery during part of the service.
The service that I did attend, my grandma and mother sat on either side of me.

That afternoon, I had an impromptu meeting in the ladies washroom with two friends of mine.(one of which was the one that I had gone to the day before)
Neither of them wanted to get involved any more than they already were, it was just too risky for them.
I understood, and yet.......

Unfortunately, as we were exiting the washroom, my mother saw us.

Here is one of TWO lies I made.

Lie #1 - My mom asked me if I was trying to run away again....I said, 'No' (Now, that was OBVIOUSLY a lie because I HAD been trying to find a way out)

Then, I sat in the college van and somewhat 'vented' to a fellow student about how I wanted and NEEDED to get away. Even if it was just for a few days or weeks. I even told this girl that I had tried to get my two friends to help me but they wouldn't.
Well....That so-called friend went straight to my dads' secretary and told her what I had said.
GREAT!! 

My dad then called me to his office, and asked me a question.

Here is the second lie I told.

Lie #2 - My dad asked me if I was planning on leaving with my friend again, I replied, 'No'.

He pointed his finger in my face and yelled...."LIAR!!!"  "I know for a FACT that you WERE trying to run away again!!!"

I called it and said who I thought had told him, but he refused to tell me how he had found out.
(I found out later from that fellow student how he had known. She DID apologize afterwards for having betrayed my confidence)

After that, my dad continued to yell and berate me.
It was during this 'conversation' that I asked my dad, "So what you're telling me, is that God will NOT tell me what His Will is for MY life unless He tells you first??"
"That's right!" was my father's reply.

That's when he told me I had to make a decision, to choose 'God's way' which was to yield to he and my mom's God given authority and do what they say, or choose the 'way of the transgressor'.
I told him that I couldn't make that decision because I did not believe that what he was doing was right.
He said I had to make that choice anyway, so I told him, "well, I guess I choose the way of the transgressor."
He LOVED that!
He told me that I would now have NO place to go, and not to call any of the other pastors in the area for help because he would just tell them that I had chosen the way of the transgressor and that was that.

He then left to go deal with something involving his church and I went downstairs. I snuck into the secretary's office and made a call to yet another friend. She wasn't at home, but for some reason her dad gave me the number to reach her at.(he must have heard the desperation in my voice when he told me she wasn't home)
I called her and she came to the church parking lot with a different vehicle so that people would not recognize it. I lay on the back seat as we exited the church property.
I stayed with my friend that night, and the next morning the guy who I had a crush on had worked something out with family of his in Winnipeg for me to stay there with them.

They were so nice to me, they bought me some new clothes and underwear (I only had my duster,hat,denim skirt and shirt,cowboy boots and sweats for sleeping)
Words will never be enough for me to express my thankfulness to those people!

A few days into it, THEIR pastor came to the house and told me that I was no longer welcome to stay there.
This pastor told me that he and his wife would be going out to the Winkler area to visit a family member and that they could take me back to my parents.
I said that I didn't want to be 'spanked' again. That pastor then dialed my dad on the phone and had him talk to me.
I can't say I really remember what me OR my father said, my head was just rushing. Where else was I supposed to go???

I finally agreed to go with this pastor and his wife. On the way there, yet another pastor talked to me on a cell and said that they (the other pastors getting into this) just needed me to TRY and reconcile with my dad, that I needed to show THEM that I was trying everything in MY power to make things right.

Once we got back to my dads' church, the other pastor and his wife just left.....they left me there at my dads' church.
We went up to my dads' church office, and my dad sat down and asked me why I had come back.
I said that I was going to try and yield to their authority.
He just looked at me and asked, "Why don't you just say you WILL, not that you'll TRY??"
"Because I don't know if I can." was my response.
"Well...she'll be gone again." he said folding his hands together over his belly and looking at my mom.
That was on a Friday.

That Sunday was quite a blur for me, the afternoon was again filled with my dad yelling and pointing his finger in my face.
Then, he told me I just needed to go and he walked out of his office.
I got up to leave, and my mother stood up sobbing and asked, "Where do you think you're going?"
"Dad just told me to leave, so I'm leaving." I replied.
She started crying again and pointed to my youngest brother Jeremy sleeping on my dads' office couch.
"He loves and adores his big sister,I will do everything in my power to keep you here with him!"
Right as she said that, my dad returned. He walked around his desk and sat back in his chair.
"What's going on?" he asked my mom.
"Mike, you can't just let her leave like this." my mom cried.
"Well, she made her choice...She told us with her own mouth that shes choosing the way of the transgressor." Then he looked at me and said, " What are you waiting for, Bye!" He gave me a sickening smile and waved his hand.

As I was going downstairs to call yet ANOTHER friend, (one who I had tried meeting with in the washroom the weekend before)
One of the deacons' wives stopped me and said she wanted to talk to me.
She asked me if I was planning on leaving again, I said probably. She also asked who I was going to call, I said I wasn't going to say who.
She then asked if she could pray with me about the situation, and I said 'sure'.
As we bowed our heads, she then proceeded to pray that should God see fit, to end my life so that I would not 'continue on in my rebellion'.
As soon as she said those words, I lifted my head up and just stared at her.

THIS WAS CRAZY!!!!!

Pretty much as soon as she stopped her 'praying' I went downstairs. There was a phone in the hallway and I used it to call my friend.
We could only talk in 2 or 3 minute intervals because I didn't want anyone to know I was planning on leaving.
My friend had an AWESOME idea and told me that she would call our former youth pastor and his wife and see if they could somehow help.(they had been kicked out of the church prior)
After several phone calls back and forth, the plan was set in motion.
As I put on my cowboy hat and duster, I glanced back at my little brother sitting by the stairs. Then I walked out.
I walked down the street and hid behind a tree as my youth pastor and his wife picked me up.

I WAS FINALLY SAFE!

They took me back to the college so that I could get my clothes,but the locks had already been changed. They then brought me out to Steinbach to Pastor (Dr.) Dave Millar's home.
Doc Millar and his family, allowed me to stay with them for many months until I was able to move out on my own.

I was able to start a new life.