The Women of Duck Commander by Kay Robertson, Jessica Robertson

he had to suffer the consequences of some of the things he had done, but he has thoroughly and completely changed from the man he used to be. After a lot of hurt and disappointment, and a lot of prayer, God really did change him. He is now the kindest, most loving man I have ever known, and he is fearless about sharing his faith because he knows how much God changed his life. I can honestly say, after those terrible times in our early years, Phil truly became the man of my dreams.

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    HAVE HOPE
    Lisa
    As I mentioned earlier, I fell for Alan when I was in the sixth grade. When we finally got married, after some drama in both of our lives individually and in our relationship, I was thrilled! In our early days of marriage, I thought Alan walked on water. He was wonderful! My thinking he was too wonderful got our marriage off to a bad start, but I did not know that for several years. I did not realize I not only loved Alan, I actually worshipped him. He was more important to me than God was, and I had a greater love for him than I did for God. Having a terrific husband is a blessing, but when a wife gives her husband the worship God deserves, trouble is on its way.
    Within the first five years of our marriage, we had two beautiful daughters. I wish I could say we lived happily ever after, and ultimately we did. But we went through a painful process to get there, a process that began when I was just a little girl.
    I S HOULD H AVE B EEN S AFE
    I was the youngest of three children in my family. My brother was twelve years older than I, and my sister was seven years older. Because I was so much younger than my siblings and my mom worked outside the home, I spent most of my time at my grandmother’s house. Until I started school, I was at her house five days a week. After I started school, I stayed with her every day during the summertime.
    One of my favorite things about being at my grandmother’s house was that she served eggs, bacon, biscuits, and sweet tea for breakfast. I do have some pleasant memories of being there, as a lot of people do, but I have a lot that are not so pleasant because something tragic happened to me at my grandmother’s house, something that damaged me deeply and haunted my life for years.
    One of the things Miss Kay and I have in common is that both of us understand firsthand how dangerous alcohol can be to a family. Miss Kay dealt with her mother’s alcohol use and later, to a much greater degree, with Phil’s problem. A number of people in my family abused alcohol, and both of my siblings eventually died young because of it.
    As a little girl, I had an extended family member who had major drug and alcohol problems. Unfortunately, that person lived with my grandparents, so I had to see him often. Because I spent so much time at my grandparents’ house, I was easy prey for him. My earliest memory of being molested was at the age of seven when he started to do things to me, things that made me feel bad and dirty. I don’tremember how he threatened me (every abuser threatens) if I ever told anyone about it, but whatever he said worked. Chances are, he probably told me my dad would be upset with me if he found out. I adored my dad, and I would never have done anything to upset him. The abuser knew that.
    One morning at my grandmother’s house, I became very frightened and called my mother at work, begging her to come get me and take me home. I would not tell her why I wanted to leave, so she probably thought I had gotten into trouble with my grandparents. I don’t remember what triggered my fear, but my mother did not come get me that day. I never told her or my dad about the abuse.
    The abuser continued to abuse me whenever I visited my grandmother’s house until I was about fourteen years old, when my grandfather died. During a big family gathering at my grandmother’s house after the funeral, he got me alone. He was planning to continue his actions right after we’d buried my grandfather! But