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St. Cloud State University
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Pastor's story astounds students
By Amanda Degen
Published:
Monday, January 20, 2003
Media Credit: Amanda Degen
Janette Lorey sings �Praise to the Lord� in the Atwood brickyard. Lorey, a pastor from Kingston, Jamaica, spoke of her traumatic life and how Christianity saved her from the destructive life she was living.
Janette Lorey spoke about her traumatic childhood and her eventual triumph over hardship with the help of Christianity in the Atwood Brickyard Thursday night.
Lorey flew in from Kingston, Jamaica, to share the story of her turbulent past to SCSU students and reveal how organized religion helped save her life.
The trouble began for then 10-year-old Lorey when she was raped by her biological father. She was hospitalized for months and unable to walk for over a year and a half.
After the rape, Lorey had a hard time with personal relationships, so much that her fiance backed out of their wedding.
Depressed, she turned to alcohol and drugs as a source of comfort. She also engaged in an adulterous relationship with a father of six.
"He was my sugar daddy," Lorey said."He paid for my apartment, car, clothes and everything."
He also supported her when she opened her own business.
But, Lorey said, there is nothing in life that you do, that you do not pay for.
After three years in the relationship, she was unhappy. Just when she planned to leave, she became pregnant. After she told her lover about the pregnancy, he began to abuse her. Since he had a weight advantage of over 200 lbs, Lorey simply gave up and took the abuse.
Six months into the pregnancy, she was kicked down a flight of stairs. As a result she lost the baby and suffered several additional injuries: three broken ribs, a broken foot and a broken hand.
Despite her pain, she returned to her lover and the abuse not only continued but got worse. She decided that life was not worth living and attempted suicide by taking painkillers and sleeping pills. When those attempts failed, she ran away.
"I just wanted to die and was prepared to hang myself," said Lorey. "So I thought, maybe I should go to church."
After the service, she prayed and cried for the first time in ten years. The priest's assurance of Jesus' love, gave her the strength she needed to go home and end the relationship. She decided she wanted to devote herself to the church.
When she returned, her lover attempted to kill her by locking her in a room and holding her at gun point. He told her she was ungrateful of his kindness and how he was going to leave his wife for her, which Lorey saw as empty promises. A knock at the door gave Lorey the opportunity to escape before her lover pulled the trigger. She left everything she owned behind.
Although she was poor for many months and couldn't afford food or clothing, she continued attending church, as she felt it was her only salvation.
She later married a "very weird, small man, who has a very big heart" but was still miserable because of her painful past.
Upon her husband's advice, she found some closure by meeting with her parents and former abusive lover and giving them forgiveness. She had not talked to her father since the rape.
The meetings were difficult but worthwhile.
"I felt so free after that," she said. "Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders."
Since then, Lorey has been happy in her marriage and her faith. She became a pastor like her husband. Together they help prostitutes, drug dealers and mafia men who live in Kingston's inner city find the word of god.
They make up her entire congregation and follow her presentation. Lorey led the audience in prayer and song.
Student reaction to the Lorey's story was positive.
"It was very powerful," said Sarah Hoberty.
Joe Hernandez agreed.
"I enjoyed it, as I've never been to Jamaica, I learned some things that I never knew before," he said.
Miles Seppelt, director of the City Center in Hutchinson praised Lorey.
"I thought it was fabulous, and very profound. It's kind of amazing to think that a person went through all that," said Seppelt.
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