Never Never Never Give Up!: The Ed and Cindy Gainey Story God Has a Plan.

By Sandra Brewer Gross

Take a man beaten and discarded as worthless as a child, homeless as an adult, living on the streets, in prison, finding relief in drugs and alcohol . . . until he meets Jesus!

Meet Cindy Graves Gainey, his wife, who never stopped praying for her husband to come to know Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Through the good times and the hard times, she never, Never, NEVER gave up believing for Ed's salvation and deliverance from drugs and alcohol. A valiant woman of God!

And now, they are both standing on the Word of God as Ed battles Stage 4 cancer with an unknown primary. In 2013, Ed was given one to three years to live. It is now 2015, and he is still praising God, knowing that God has a plan for him.

Psalm 8:4..."What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?"

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512764802

Sandra Brewer Gross

Sandra Brewer Gross has been active in church activities for the last forty plus years. She has been Director for Children church, Adult 4 Sunday School teacher, Christian speaker for women’s meetings, and a prayer warrior. She has written a prayer booklet entitled “Mama’s Favorite Scriptures for Troubled Times”, and an article in “Leah’s Sisters” entitled “The Power of Forgiveness”. Through the years, she has learned to rely and trust God’s Word regardless of the situation. Sandra lives with her husband John David in Crosby, Texas. Their children are daughter Robin, son Craig and his wife Cindy, and grandson, Addison. She loves studying God’s Word. One of the most important things she has learned is the only thing that can stop a believing prayer is God;’s purposes and plans already set for that person by God Himself.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Sandra Brewer Gross.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD

BIBLE ©, Copyright © 1960,1962,1968,1971,1972,1973,

1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by

permission. All rights reserved." (NAS)

Scripture quotations taken from the AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Copyright © 1954,1958,1962,1965,1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (AMP)

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6479-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6481-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6480-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919399

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/29/2016

Contents

Dedication

Special Thanks

The Beginning

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE Ed and the Early Days

CHAPTER TWO Ed and Cindy Meet Again

CHAPTER THREE Marriage

CHAPTER FOUR The Journey Begins

CHAPTER FIVE Ed Meets Jesus

CHAPTER SIX Chemo Begins

CHAPTER SEVEN Ed Gets Baptized

CHAPTER EIGHT Life Goes On

CHAPTER NINE Ed’s Awesome Journey

CHAPTER TEN New Challenges

CHAPTER ELEVEN What Could Happen Next?

CHAPTER TWELVE Jesus, My Everything

CHAPTER THIRTEEN I Gave It All to Jesus

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Surrounded with His Love

CHAPTER FIFTEEN Getting Ready for Chemo Again

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Sick, Tired, and Bald

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN We Had Fought Courageously

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Faithful Friends and Family

CHAPTER NINETEEN Ed’s Ready to See Jesus

Epilogue

Take a man beaten and discarded as worthless as a child, homeless, living on the on the streets, in prison, finding solace/relief in drugs and alcohol … until … he finds Jesus!

Meet Cindy Graves Gainey, his wife, who never stopped praying for her husband to come to know Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Through the good times and the hard times, she never, Never, NEVER gave up believing for Ed’s Salvation and deliverance from drugs and alcohol. A valiant woman of God!

And now, they are both standing on the Word of God as Ed battles Stage 4 cancer with an unknown primary. In 2013, Ed was given one to three years to live. It is now 2015, and he is still praising God, knowing that God has a plan for him.

Psalm 8:4 … What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of (earthborn) man that You care for him? (AMP)

Some will say this true story is about a man who in the eyes of his father was worthless, had become a drug addict, been in prison, and lived on the streets for five years … until he met a woman who would not stop praying for him.

Some will say this is about a woman who never gave up on her husband to accept Jesus as his Saviour and be saved and delivered from drugs and alcohol.

But this true story is really about the Saviour Who still saves, Who still loves, Who still delivers, and Who still forgives. His name is Jesus Christ the Lord, The Son of God!

DEDICATION

I want to take this time to give God all the glory and honor. He has saved me. He has delivered my life from drugs and alcohol. He has filled my life with such love and peace. I am so very, very thankful. Thank You, my Jesus, my Saviour. Thank You for taking me on this glorious journey.

Cammie Edward Gainey

I am so very thankful to my Saviour Jesus Christ for being by my side. I don’t know what I would have done without Jesus giving me strength and comfort during this difficult time. I pray that many who read this book will be saved and know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. May they know His great love and mercy and forgiveness.

Cindy Gainey

May all the honor and Glory be given to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I want to thank You, Father, for giving me the words to say and the opportunity to serve You. I pray that You will bless this book to encourage those who know You and to save those who are searching for You. In Your loving arms, may they find the peace, love, mercy, and forgiveness they have been looking for so long. Thank You, Lord.

With a Grateful Heart,

Sandra Brewer Gross

SPECIAL THANKS

I wanted to give special thanks to Moreland and Diane Chapman for all they did to encourage and help Cindy and me during this difficult time. Words cannot express our love and grateful hearts. May God richly bless you and your family in the coming years. May you know His peace and love always.

Thank you to all of you from Family Church who have faithfully prayed for Cindy and me. To those of you who were able to come see us, we want you to know how much your visits meant to us. We love and appreciate each one of you. How I have enjoyed all the times the guys from The Table came to see me. I love each of you.

Thank you to all our Facebook friends. You will never know how much your encouragement and prayers have meant to us. Many times, your words were exactly what we needed. I wish that I could tell each and every one of you how much you have meant to us. Know that we love you. Thank you so much for being there for us. May God bless each and every one of you.

In His glorious name, I pray. Amen.

Ed & Cindy Gainey

I would like to thank Ed and Cindy, Joshua and Emily for allowing me to be a part of their lives. You opened your home and shared your thoughts and hearts with me. I hope that each of you is proud of the book. Cindy, you are so precious to me. I’m so proud of you!

To my dear little brother Ed: Boy, do I miss you, our talks, and your great sense of humor. Who would have thought that this old Christian lady and the cocky rebel would ever have become such good friends? But we did. The last thing I said to Ed was for him to save me a seat in heaven. I know he will. I love you, Ed.

I would like to thank my husband, John David, for all the times he listened and encouraged me as I wrote the book. His encouragement meant so much to me. He kept telling me that I could do it when I wasn’t too sure. I love you so much.

Thank you to Denise Vessels Cathey who was also a great encourager to me during this whole process. She was very meticulous (which I needed) in proof reading the book. I don’t think I would have been able to do this without her. Thank you!

Thank you to my daughter, Robin, who rescued me when the computer wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do. You were always there to calm me down and fix whatever was wrong. You are a wonderful daughter and best friend to me. I love you very much!

With a thankful heart,

Sandra Brewer Gross

THE BEGINNING

When Ed Gainey told me that he wanted me to write a book about his life, little did I realize the journey we would go on for more than two years. There have been times we, Ed, Cindy (his wife), and I have laughed, and there have been times we have cried as we have received bad news concerning Ed’s battle with cancer. We have had times of mountain-top faith and times when we have been trapped in an abyss of despair. But regardless of the circumstances, Ed stayed faithful to his God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

With everything that was going on in Ed’s life, I could not help but be reminded of a gentle, sweet man who had gone to our church. His name was Julian Davis. He died after a long and torturous battle with cancer.

I had a hard time with the death and suffering of this gentle man. How could God turn His back on such a good, godly man?

After several months, the Lord revealed His purpose to me. God knew that He could trust Julian to stay faithful to Him regardless of the hardships he had to face. During Julian’s battle with cancer, he was moved to five different hospitals. In each of these hospitals, he prayed and witnessed to all that came into his room. A truly faithful son!

I believe it is the same for Ed Gainey. If you had known Ed Gainey before he was saved, you would know without a doubt that Ed had had a real encounter with Jesus.

In a single moment in time, he went from a man lost and hopeless … to a man filled with the loving, forgiving power of Jesus Christ. Saved, redeemed, forgiven and sanctified by the Blood of Jesus!

Ed felt in his spirit that God had a plan for his life … a life of purpose. Little did Ed realize that God wanted him to be a witness for Him across this nation and the world, and that Ed’s pulpit would be the fun social media called Facebook?

Shortly after Ed was saved, he began to write down his praises to God regardless of how he felt. He hoped that this would remind others to praise God for His many blessings. He would also share times when he needed the prayers of others to lift him up when times were bad. And yet, even in those hard times, Ed would always end his messages by praising his God and Saviour.

God had reached down and delivered him from the sins that had held him captive for so long; and in one moment, let him experience the loving touch of His Son Jesus Christ.

God had trusted Ed Gainey to be faithful to God’s plan for his life, and that was to tell others of God’s great love and mercy. Regardless! What an awesome plan!

What a privilege it was for me to see and watch God’s plan for Ed and Cindy unfold before my very eyes. Thank you, Ed and Cindy, for letting me be a part of your lives. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Thank You, Jesus!

Before I started writing the book, Ed, Cindy, and I had agreed that above all else, God would get all the honor and glory. We prayed that when people read the book that God would touch their hearts, and that they would want to know Jesus as their Saviour.

Every day, I would pray that God would give me the words to write. As I would begin to write, the words would just flow easily across the computer screen. I knew that God was giving me the words to write for there was no hesitation. It wasn’t like I was trying to put a square peg in a smaller round hole. It just came easily to my mind, and for this I give all honor and glory to God.

The book was written in the first person, (as if Ed and Cindy were speaking directly to you, the reader). Since I had prayed that God would give me the words to say … I felt that I should follow God’s directions.

There were times when Ed would tell me about some event in his life in just a few sentences. I would ask him more questions. Later, I would read what I had written to Ed and Cindy, and they would say, That is exactly how it happened, or That was what I was feeling. We would look at each other and start laughing and praising God! It was such great fun! It was during these times that we felt that God was confirming that we were on the right track. We had His approval!

Sometimes, in the midst of hard times, God would step in and lift us up. He would remind us that He wasn’t finished with Ed yet! We also received encouragement from all the people on Facebook. It always seemed to come at exactly the right time! Those moments were such treasures to each of us!

On August 8, 2015, Ed went back to the doctor and once again the news was not good. Regardless of the news -- good or bad -- Ed continued faithfully to praise his Lord and Saviour. There was no fear. There was no bitterness. There was no doubt of God’s love.

On October 5, 2015, Ed Gainey was called home to be with his Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ forever. Ed would be greatly missed. Cindy, Joshua, and Emily were there by Ed’s side as he was ushered into the presence of God Almighty! Glory to God!

Before Ed passed away, he was asked what he needed, he answered, My Father God is all I need, and all I want is to walk by His side forever. I am His, and He is mine! What could be better than that?

Thank You, Father, for this opportunity to serve You. Thank You for reminding me, that You have a plan and purpose for each of us. Wonderful, glorious plans!

Sandra Brewer Gross

INTRODUCTION

What a day! The day was filled with sunshine and blue skies … or at least what I could see of it. Hard to focus on the weather outside when you are confined to a 8’ x 10’ cell in prison!

Yeah, Happy 40th Birthday to me! No birthday cake, no presents, and no family singing off key. Maybe, I should just sing it to myself.

What a mess I have made of my life. Just like my dad used to say, You ain’t worth the price of gun powder to blow your brains out. You ain’t worth killing. That was the kind of stuff I heard when I was growing up. I wonder if he would be proud to know that he was right all along!

Time for a change, boy! Need to get a hold of my life. Get out of this place and find me a good woman. Stop the drugs and just get a life.

Yeah, Happy Birthday, Edward Gainey!

I looked back over my life at all the wasted years. Years when I lived on the streets taking drugs, selling drugs, and dealing drugs. And I was good at it. I would take your money and never think anything about it. It was just about the money and me. Yeah, let’s stick to the basics … the important one . . . Me.

All I cared about was me, certainly nothing about God. The only time I heard about God was when I was in prison. The prison would have someone come in to preach in the chapel. I only went to get out of my cell. I didn’t even care to listen. The words just went over my head. I never paid any attention to them or the man speaking.

God? Who was God? And what did He have to do with me?

Dear Reader,

This is just a reminder that this book written as if Ed and Cindy were talking directly to the you – the reader.

CHAPTER ONE

Ed and the Early Days

Ed and His Dad:

In prison, you have a lot of time to look back over your life; time to think of all the things that you might have done or should have done differently. It all came down to choices. It seemed to me that whenever it came to making the right decision, I always made the wrong one.

I wish for your sake, (the reader’s and mine), that I had been an obedient son who never did anything wrong and that I was a son that any man would have been proud to call his own. Maybe, then you would have sympathy for me for having been unjustly treated by a cruel and unfeeling father due to no fault of my own. But that would be a bald-faced lie!

Having been in the military for so long, my father ran his home as if we, my sisters and I, were in the service. He was very strict and domineering. After all, it worked in the army; it should work at home with a bunch of kids. Right?

There were four of us children. I had three younger sisters. Not only was I the oldest and the only boy— but I was the son, the heir, and the bane of my father’s life. He was of the old school where the man was the master of his home, and everyone else was under his authority and rule.

As far back as I could remember, I have had a problem with authority. The truth was that it just wasn’t in me to be subservient to anybody. I guess if you were told time after time that you were worthless and not worth killing, you had a choice … either you bowed down under the constant onslaught or you rebelled. Guess which choice I made.

There were never explanations, or any discussions concerning his decisions. It was always his way, his orders, and his demands. Just do what I say. If I say jump, you ask how high! I didn’t jump! Never did like jumping!

I guess I was as much of a thorn in my father’s side as he was in mine. We were two totally different people -- coming from two different places. He came from a twenty year career in the military with its strictness and order, while I was a person who rebelled against any and all forms of authority … especially, my dad’s.

Why couldn’t I just shut up and do what he wanted? But no, not me!

My mother was raised to believe that whatever the man of the family said was the law. She was a sweet and caring woman. She would run interference for my oldest sister and me. My oldest sister was four years younger than I. The next sister was eight years younger, and then the baby sister was twelve years younger. By the time the two youngest sisters had come along, dad had mellowed out a little.

Mom could tell when dad got home what kind of mood he was in that day. If it was a bad day, she would warn us to stay away from the house for a while. Rarely, would she argue with him. I think for her, it was just easier to let things slide. She probably hoped that things would blow over. But when she had no other choice, she would stand up for herself and her children. Many a time, she was my life saver!

After retiring from the United States Air Force, my father owned a successful jewelry store. We lived in a prosperous neighborhood. I guess the correct way to put it would be that we lived a ‘privileged’ life.

I have wondered what would have happened if I had been the son he wanted. Would we have been able to talk … just talk? Would he have put his hand on my shoulder and told me that I had done a good job? Oh, he put his hands on me plenty, but it wasn’t to tell me that I had done a good job! But I really didn’t help matters. I felt that it was my role in life to make him as miserable as he made me. And I did a good job!

What a disappointment I was to him. But I don’t know why he would be disappointed. I was exactly what he said I was … not worth killing!

I never knew or even thought that life was a journey. I thought you just existed. You lived until you died. And in between, if you were lucky, you had a good time. I never thought of being on a journey with a destination that was part of a bigger plan.

I certainly