Ann Kling, of Foley, is out to share her story and strengthen the women on the Gulf Coast. Her story is one that is a powerful testimony to God’s great love for His children. After she and her husband accepted the Lord in their kitchen one Saturday night, she committed herself to the Lord and His calling on her life. “You can have all the broken pieces,” she told Him.

She was raised in Tuscaloosa by parents who were teachers. By age sixteen she had decided, “If there was a God, He didn’t care about me.” When she went to college for social work and psychology, a psychology professor got her involved in the occult, channeling spirits and self-hypnosis. She says she was a “great candidate” for his experiments because she didn’t believe in God. Later on in college she met and married her husband, Larry. They had problems for a while.

She and her husband were married for about three years before they separated. She decided to reunite with him in Fort Myers, Florida, where he was living. So she left Biloxi, Mississippi, to go back to him and her father told her she was on her own. They would not help her anymore if she decided to go back to her husband. “I was alone…in less than four months, I was very depressed; no money, no car, no friends, new job, new house, and no family.” She became so depressed that she started medicating herself with alcohol and any kind of pills she could get her hands on.

She decided that she couldn’t take it any longer. She was going to commit suicide to be rid of the pain. She planned to take her husband’s gun to an inn and take her life on her 25^th birthday. She was in the kitchen making her birthday cake before her husband came home from fishing. In one last desperate attempt she said to God, “I do not believe you’re there, but if by some slim chance I’ve missed you…if you can prove yourself to me that you are real and you care, you can have all the broken pieces of my life and I don’t care what you do with them because I’m checking out tonight.” She did not expect anything to happen.

She heard “If you really want to know I’m real, then this is what you have to do.” She says God told her to sit down with her husband when he got home and tell him everything she had ever done to hurt someone or herself in her life. She says she heard this continuously, over and over. Her husband came home from fishing early and she thought she had nothing to lose since she was planning suicide, anyway. So she proceeded to tell him everything as she had been told to tell. She expected him to get angry when she told him everything because it included an affair she had earlier on in their marriage. The exact opposite happened. He said, “How can you ever forgive me for the things I have driven you to do?”

He then opened up to her about all of his faults. They stayed up the whole night talking and sharing, and turned their lives over to God together. The morning after they accepted Christ, they went out searching for a church. They went to one and stayed there for 10 years, learning and growing in the knowledge of God’s Word. They were asked to start a young couples’ class and went out knocking on doors. They had 125 people coming to their class within a couple of years. They opened their home on Friday nights for fellowship and took the time to get to know the people, and they still keep in touch with some of them today.

She was teaching elementary school in Florida at the same time and also started serving on the Board for Christian Women’s Club. It changed her life. “It made me realize that God has His people in all different denominations.” She had the privilege, while teaching in the school, to lead several of her colleagues to Christ. One was Catholic and she discovered a charismatic Catholic church. They had a “Life in the Spirit” seminar that they went to together. The people in the church were laying hands on people, speaking in tongues and praying over them that they would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She says that she wasn’t ready for that at the time.

Even after she was in church, studying the Word and learning so much, she was haunted by the evil spirits she had encountered while she was in the occult. One night she woke up and she had a vision that looked like a video playing on the wall of her bedroom. She said she wondered, “What is this?!” The vision was of the room where she used to practice the ways of the occult. There was a big hand that came out and a big voice said, “You loose My daughter, now. You cannot have her any longer.”

“When that happened something came off of my shoulders. It was like a little round black blob.” It left her and went out her sliding glass doors. She felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her and she was no longer afraid. She never had trouble with the spirits again.

Her husband had become a Bible scholar and wanted to ask their pastor a list of questions, but couldn’t go see him; she went for him with a list and was going to write down the answers for him. She ended up confessing a fear of sharing Christ with people and the pastor laid his hands on her. Before she knew it, she was in the middle of the floor. “I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and starting speaking in tongues, and I laughed for 20 minutes.” He just sat there with her and let her laugh.

She kept the knowledge of it from her husband at the time, and would pray in her closet by herself for a time. She says she even had prophetic visions. One of which, was God telling her she would cross an ocean, live on an island, and share the Gospel. A friend of hers also had a vision for her saying she would cross an ocean, live on an island, and slay a dragon. She wondered what it meant since both were similar. It was three years later when the prophecy was fulfilled.

Her husband quit his job and they “crossed an ocean, lived on an island, and slayed a dragon.” They were in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific and were there a year sharing the Gospel, slaying the dragon of the devil and helping the people there become released from their demonic hold. It was a small island with a lot of people. “It was like sardine city,” Kling explained. She said they met many wonderful people, and the ones who accepted Christ while they were there continue to be leaders in their community.

Later, when they had moved on and served God in other areas, Ann’s elderly parents needed care in Orange Beach. Her father passed away 30 days after they arrived. But another wonderful miracle of God was that she got to patch up the relationship with her father and care for him during that time before he passed away. Her 93-year-old mother still lives with them and they care for her.

Ann is grateful for her husband, she said. They have been married almost 48 years and have served God together for most of those. “It is such a joy to have a husband who is my best friend, and who loves the Lord, and has such a compassionate and giving heart.” It is all because God faithfully reached out to her when she called to Him. Through their love and testimony, many others have come to know Christ.

“The Lord gave me a dream one night about women from different churches coming together to worship and fellowship. The ladies in my church were excited and we tried to get it started. No others were interested at all. Wrong timing.” About three years ago, God told her the same thing and that it was time. She started Gulf Coast Women of Freedom, which promotes unity in the Body of Christ, encourages women to discover their gifts, empowers women in their faith, and connects ministries that are working to fulfill the Great Commission.

“It is the prayer of Jesus that we have unity in the Body of Believers and I am passionate to do my part in bringing that to pass. I would love to meet with different women's groups to share the vision and have them become a part of the answer to Jesus' prayer.” Ann’s ministry email is womanoffreedom@gmail.com. “I would welcome comments and questions or requests for prayer counseling.” Gulf Coast Women of Freedom’s website is www.gcwof.com.

Ann Kling’s story shows us that anyone can be transformed by God to do wonderful things. She and her husband have served and taught in many places following God’s leadership. One person can make a difference in people’s lives if they are only willing to give of their time and talents. Ann explained that God has equipped each one of his children with special gifts, and we are to use them for Him.