Finding Freedom in the Bible Belt

“In my brain I was screaming to God, 'I hate you. I hate you,'” said Kara Diehl. Her early exposure to God quickly faded when her parents divorced and stopped going to church. Soon after, a frightening darkness entered her life. “We had a man that lived with us and he brought with him satanic worship, and seances, and calling of the dead, and teaching us forms of witchcraft and things like that as little children,” said Kara. “We would see weird things happen in the house and if you knew something was around, you didn't feel safe.”

She endured abuse and lived in constant fear as evil consumed their home. She remembers, “It was like this darkness presented itself to me. I could feel this presence, this force, just like a blanket. There was this euphoric sense of not caring anymore.”

Kara began disassociating from her life to cope with the pain. Still the torment continued. “I felt like I cried out to God on multiple occasions to just take me and He didn't. At the age of 12 was my first suicide attempt,” recalled Kara. Feeling hopeless and alone, she attempted to take her life multiple times. “When I found myself in another hospital or in another institution, the evidence to me was that I'm unlovable and I'm just too messed up. The shame of that when I would come out of the hospital or whatever program I was in and go back to high school was that, 'I was that girl.' The thing that I sought most was the thing that was the most elusive to me.”

Throughout her high school years, she used alcohol as another way of numbing. She moved out and still had no peace. “I went down Cape Cod and I partied and I just numbed out. I was a waitress and I spent all my money on partying,” says Kara “That was a good year, year and a half, and I hit rock bottom. I realized I'm going to die like this.”

Kara kept pursuing a way of escape from her dark past. After graduating college, she got married and had a baby. Still, something was missing. “We moved down into the Bible Belt in Houston, Texas,” she says. “Everywhere was scripture verses on car washes and gas stations, everywhere you look. There was this little voice inside me, this little place that was longing for something that I knew was truth. I went to church and started to ask questions. For two years, I asked every question about dinosaurs, and the age of the earth, and what about this and what about that.”

She continues, “Finally, one night when I was pregnant with my second son, I went to a concert. Afterwards they had what they called an 'altar call.' They said, "Raise your hand if you want to have someone pray with you to give your life to Christ." So, I raised my hand and this sweet young girl came down off the stage and she prayed over me that I would fall in love with Jesus. Just like that force had come to me as a child, this whole new, much more cozy, wonderful, and powerful force came in and overtook me. I was head over heels in love and loved with Jesus.”

She began studying the Bible, and as God's Word started healing her, she was inspired to share with others in a unique way. “I thought, 'I just need a way to share what happened to me and that they can have it too and how amazing this Father God in heaven is.' As I would read the Bible and a verse would pop out at me like, 'He rescued you out of the deep waters.' Oh my goodness! I would choose gemstones and crystals that represented each verse that were healing me,” states Kara. “So as that would happen, I would put it together and string together a bunch of them and create a bracelet theme. So hope or faith. And then when I would see someone, I would say, 'Hey, let me show this to you.' And I would go through the bracelet. And then there was this connection where people, their eyes were opening, and I could feel Holy Spirit reaching through and grabbing this person's hand. And I was connecting people to God's heart.”

Today, Kara has shared with thousands of people God's story of redemption through her creation, Gracelets.  “He's my everything and I want everyone to know Him, not about Him, not have a verse memorized about Him, but know Him,” says Kara. “He's so good, and wonderful, and beautiful, and kind, and powerful, and loving. He's...family.”

Disocver Kara Diehl's jewerly at her website: www.Gracelets.com.