The story of 17 years old Kristen Anderson
Kristen Jane Anderson grew up in a typical American family. She had the freedom to do the things she enjoys and was well provided. She had wonderful siblings and supportive parents. “I had everything I needed, most of what I wanted, and there were no major trials or tragedies in my life,” she said. Towards Junior High, she met people who she realized weren’t as genuine as she thought, neither was the world as great as she thought it was growing up.
I was happy until death and sickness surrounded me
I wanted to do something to help make a difference in the world but felt like there was little I could do. So, I decided to focus on my little world and making myself, my family and my friends happy. That seemed to work for a while. I was playing soccer, I had a lot of friends, and I was dating the Prom King. Then, everything seemed to go wrong.
My grandmother died, three of my friends died, another was dying of cancer, and I was raped by a friend. I became very discouraged. The pain that I felt inside simply overwhelmed me, and I didn’t think I could take it anymore.
→ Testimony of Danny Urquico who wanted to kill his family.
Suicide at the railway train
On a cold January night at the age of 17, I attempted suicide by laying on a set of railroad tracks, and I was run over by 33 freight train cars at 55 mph. I lost both of my legs and 8 pints of blood, but I was still conscious and alive.
“When it was going over me, I felt pain, but more than anything I felt a tremendous weight or wind pushing me down. When it stopped, I opened my eyes and I started to look around to figure out if I was dead or alive. I didn’t know what it was like to die. I’d only seen it in movies. I just didn’t know what to think.”
“I looked behind on my right and about ten feet behind me on my right, I saw my legs. And I knew they were my legs because I had these new bright, white tennis shoes on them that I had just gotten for Christmas, and it just seemed unreal to me. It seemed like it was a horrible nightmare.”
→ Why successful people like Joseph Ubalde would commit suicide
A friend of Kristen’s shared God’s Word
Afterward, I struggled with depression for another 3 years. During this time, a friend shared several Bible verses to Kristen. She accepted Christ and began attending a Christian church. Her life began to be transformed and God helped her get out of depression and suicidal thoughts from time to time.
“John 14:6 was the verse that stood out to me the most. And when Jesus says, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. There’s no way to the father, but through Me.’ And so I knew that the Father was in Heaven. Heaven was where I wanted to know I would have gone. But I came to the understanding that I would have been sent to hell if I died. So I realized at that moment that God had given me a second chance to go to Heaven and spend eternity with Him. (CBN)
→ Root cause of depression that Psychologists would not tell you.
God’s purpose in her life
Almost 10-years after, Kristen Jane Anderson is happily settled. She founded ‘Reaching You Ministries,’ and wrote “Life, In Spite of Me.” She graduated at the Moody Bible Institute and has been featured on Oprah and is a popular speaker at colleges, women’s and youth events, churches, and suicide prevention outreaches.
For more info, visit: Kristen’s website.
