Work:
Family Resource Clinic - Clinical Director
Education:
Delgado Community College - Private Investigating, Blue Cliff School of Massage Therapy - Massage Therapy, Sumner High School
Tagline:
My name is Brenda McDaniel and I am the proud mother of Brittany 24, Adrian 16, and Shia 9. I have 1 grandchild....Sebastian 3. I am a PROUD CHRISTian and I am NOT afraid to let anyone know that. I owe everything that I am to God and I want everyone to know that. I am a single mother....a PROUD single mother! I am also a survivor.....a survivor of Domestic Violence. I was married for 9 years to someone that controlled every single move that I made and made my life so difficult that I became someone that I no longer recognized. When I almost died from something that was done to me by this person I decided that ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH and I started my LONG journey to get out and to protect myself and my babies. I knew that it would be hard, but I knew that it couldn't be any harder than facing the fact and admitting that I was a victim of abuse and that the person that I had given so much to, and had taken so much was also the one responsible for me almost dying. I went through many hours of therapy and lots of medications just so I could survive day to day at first.....then little by little I became stronger and wanted out.....HAD TO GET OUT!!! I have spent my entire life in and out of church being a "here and there Sunday morning bench warmer that could only say I had gotten Baptized sometime back in my 20's".....but I NEVER had a relationship with God. When I finally was ready to make the exit out of the living hell that I and my babies were in, I asked God to please help me. I asked Him to please just reveal Himself to me in everyway....."including the paint peeling on the walls"....reveal Himself to me in ways that I couldn't even begin to imagine. And with this request, I promised Him that if He could prove to me that I could be forgiven for ALL of the horrible things I had done....said....been a part of....thought.....and even wanted to do, that I would give Him myself and my children and I would turn my life around. I promised Him that if He would just teach me how to learn about Him and how to teach my babies that I would be the woman that He intended for me to do. And I promised Him that if He would see us through and protect us that I would give Him ALL of the praise and glory. I also asked Him to please just keep us laughing.....something that we were not use to. To teach me how to be the woman and the mother that He had always planned for me to be. And I asked Him to please let my story be told. To please let me share with others what "Domestic Violence" is.....and to help me make others understand that you just don't have to have broken bones and black eyes to be abused and controlled. To help me find my voice again and learn to speak about what mental and emotional abuse does to someone. And when I asked Him all of this I meant it with everything in me. And THAT is where this journey truly started. And as I have come to know the "real" Brenda, I stay in awe of who God has revealed to me that I really am. I've spent most of my life wanting to be "Mrs. Barnaby Jones"....a P.I. that you didn't want on your case....or that you did. But little by little God has replaced that desire as I've continued to ask Him to PLEASE put me in a position to help women and children and to let my story be told. And as time has went on He has done just that. I am so much stronger than I ever thought of myself to be....and that's ONLY because I KNOW that "I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME"......I believe that with my whole being. He has led me to a church with the most awesome God loving people....and the best Pastor that I have ever heard preach. God has used my pastor to help me and my babies heal by doing what he does.....preaching! It was like I had stepped in a child's Sunday School class and started learning from the bottom up about WHO Jesus WAS/IS and WHO God IS!! My relationship with God is the MOST IMPORTANT part of my life....and my relationship with my babies is next....and these relationships are so close that I like to say "you can't even get air in between them".....I spent years being an abused woman and in turn I was NOT a good mother. I stayed curled up on the couch sleeping most of my days away....not attending sporting events, field trips, going outside to play, and MANY other things. I wasted SO MUCH of my time, and I will NEVER waste another second. Single parenting can be hard at times....especially when everyone needs to go in different directions....but God has taught me how to slow down and let Him figure out all of the little details. And the amazing part?! He has worked it out EVERYTIME!!! :0) I have been through more horrible times than I care to remember, but those things mixed with ALL of the Grace, Love, Mercy and Blessings that God has POURED into our lives are the reason I am who I am today. I am also working on a book about what all I have survived because it seems like something that couldn't actually be true....and if it wasn't for friends, family, doctors, dentist, etc that can stand and say that these things are true....I can guarantee you that no one would believe me. But as bad as the marriage was....that was a day at the park compared to the divorce because I've had to stand in front of a judge that thought I needed to be taught a lesson but never felt that I deserved to be heard. But God has taught me a very valuable lesson by keeping my mouth shut....."being still".....and with all of those lessons, He has brought TRUTH OUT INTO THE LIGHT FOR ALL TO SEE!!!! And for those of you that are on my FaceBook, you know that I love to write and do so from my heart. I have been asked numerous times to start a blog....but close friends and family....and even by people that I have only known for a short period of time and that do not know anything about what myself and my babies have been through. I have also been asked time and time again "have you ever thought about becoming a writer" :0) .....and my answer has is always "yes". I KNOW that God has given me a way with words....more so when I'm writing...because sometimes when I speak people think I've lost my mind or I offend them because I just speak the truth....NEVER MEANING TO BE RUDE.....just speaking the truth, and some people just do not know how to take that. I have been Blessed with the MOST AWESOME friends.....my best friends from High School....Tamara and Pam, and the wife of a classmate Arlene. I could not have survived ALL of the things that I went through had it not been for them being by my side and KNOWING the truths about things and helping me to survive and get through them. I have a wonderful family that I am finally getting to know all over again after being separated from them for 5 years. I thank God that He has put me back with my family, and I thank God that I have the awesome Mother and Sister that I have that has helped me so much during this terrible time. I now have a job that God has Blessed me in SOOOO MANY ways to have....and guess what?! It's helping women!!! I LOVE MY JOB!!! I work with some wonderful God loving CHRISTian women and I couldn't be happier!! So with all of this being said....I want to thank EVERYONE that has prayed for me and my babies, supported us, cheered us on and helped provide for us when I couldn't. I love each and everyone of you and I pray that God Blesses each of you with more than you could ever imagine. I love you all!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!