Testimonies: Suzi Caughran (Part 1)

Allow me to introduce to you Suzi Caughran, a woman who has an amazing story. She volunteers at iChoice (Life Services) in Cheney and is a consultant there. There will be four parts to her story, so stay tuned! The sharing of testimonies may become a regular feature on We Can't Ignore, so look for those! But now, read what Suzi Caughran has to say about her life and the amazing forgiveness God has poured out on her.



I entered into this world on February 19, 1958. I was born into a family that had two boys aged 1 and 2. My mother and father were in their early 20’s and my father was in the Air Force at that time. I was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana at St. Patrick’s Hospital. We moved a few times due to my father being in the Air Force. My dad finally left the Air Force and moved the family to Culver City, California. At that time, a small suburb on the west side of town. My mom then had my younger brother 4 yrs later and then following 11 yrs later, her final son was born.


We were all raised as Catholics. We all went to church on every Sunday, and holy days. There were sure a lot of holy days! As I grew older, I really didn’t understand God., I knew he was big and good and in heaven. I did understand Satan. He was evil and I was very scared of him. I attended a catholic grammar school run by nuns. We were taught a lot of our religion through fear. We had, as many know, a few different levels of sin. We had venial sins, mortal sins….we had white lies (not so bad of a lie), we had purgatory (limbo land) and of course heaven, and hell.

When I was finished with 8th grade, I attended Culver City Jr. High School (public school). It was quite different, nobody really cared what you did. I saw things and experienced things that were very new to me. As I continued on through high school, I was very shy and did not have many friends. I was not a popular girl and not many people knew I existed. I was known by the fact that my older brother was a big man on campus because of his baseball pitching skill. I was known as “Michael’s sister”. I had a few girlfriends and joined a swim team. I liked the swim team. My family was very involved in my brother’s activities such as baseball, football. Everything we did was based around my brothers. I have been asked many times, since you are the only girl, you are either very spoiled or very tough! I was not spoiled…and I learned to take care of myself. My father was very involved with the boys and we did not spend time together. I helped my mom clean and cook for the family. I would clean the house and set the table, and serve the boys and clear the table, and help with the dishes. We did not talk in our house about feelings. I grew up in a very emotionally and physically abusive household. As I know many people have. I thought this was normal.

As I got older, I didn’t have a boyfriend till I was asked to go to a senior prom when I was a junior. I was excited. I went and had fun. This boy that asked me was a Christian boy. We dated sort of for about 6 months. Then I started my senior year….I hated high school, because I was not popular and thought I wasn’t smart enough too participate in class. I barely squeaked by on my grades. I had no desire to go to college, because I was so miserable throughout high school.

The summer before I started my senior year, I attended a baseball game with a friend of mine who had a crush on the pitcher. We went and later that day, I had a phone call from him. I was shocked! He was so cute and popular and he was calling to ask me out!! We went out on a couple of dates, and I thought I was truly in love. To make a long story short, he had made a bet (at that time, I had no idea of this), with his teammates on how long it would take to get me in bed with him! Unfortunately for me, not long. And that, was the start of my ruin.

After I graduated high school, I started working full time and spent most of my time going out in the evenings and dancing and drinking . I never did do drugs in high school, or drink. So, now, I was making up for lost time.

Stay tuned for the rest of Suzi Caughran's story!