BY L IBBY WHITE PHOTOS BY BR IAN JONES
I nside each of us is a story. A story that reveals the ups and downs of our journey through life and all the choices we make in between. For Karen and Artie Rayfield, theirs is a story of second chances and silent heroes who came alongside them… heroes who did not give up on them in their darkest days but gave them a reason to look up and keep going. Now they are the silent heroes for so many in our community, all because someone down the road stepped in and made a difference in their story. Karen moved to Chicago at 19, leaving her home and an abusive relationship behind. Despite wanting to start over and live her dream, she instead found herself living on the streets, pregnant and alone. In her darkest time, she met a woman who helped change her course in life and find new purpose. “Rose gave me a ‘hand up,’ not a ‘hand out,’ because she made me accountable,” Karen said. “She helped me get back on my feet and able to live on my own. I knew that one day I would be able to give back because somebody gave to my life. She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself.” Able to start again, Karen relocated to Texarkana and raised her son.
At the same time, Artie was also finding his way after the mother of his two young daughters walked out on them. A full-time single dad, Artie worked hard to provide for his girls. He did not want them to struggle like he did as a child. As one of nine brothers and sisters, Artie remembered life with no electricity or running water or shoes to walk to school. Now in charge of a family of his own, he worked multiple jobs to pay the bills, cooked, cleaned and sacrificed for his daughters. Over the next several years, Artie credits the relationships he made through Church on the Rock and discovering a relationship with Christ as the thing that carried him through. “My co-workers kept inviting me to church, and I finally went because I wanted what they had. Then during my divorce, Pastor John (Miller) would call me and pray with me,” Artie said. “I barely knew him, but that meant so much, and it was during that time that I found Jesus. I found what was missing in my life.” The next piece of the puzzle for Artie was a wife. “I told the Lord, ‘It’s been eight years. I need a wife. I can’t be like Paul! I want her to love you more than she loves anything else in this world. Because if she loves you, then
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