My Spiritual Journey (Paige Parnell, 09/20/25)

He was Liberace's agent. Yeah, that's how far

it goes back. Liberace's agent. And Liberace

was old back then. And he was looking for new

talent, I guess so. He also represented Ginger

Rogers, right? So he needed some new talent.

But the agent wanted me to move to Los Angeles

to pursue a career as an actress and an entertainer.

My family and friends thought, this is amazing.

This is a once -in -a -lifetime opportunity.

And, you know, while it all sounded exciting,

to me, I just... like the idea of just staying

in Alabama and completing my degree at Birmingham

Southern, and then perhaps opening an advertising

agency, and I wanted to continue to date Hayes

as well. So I didn't make a decision right away.

I didn't sign the contract right away with a

Hollywood agent. I wanted to think about it,

pray about it, and let some time pass. And after

some time passed, several months, the more my

family and friends talked about how this was

such a great opportunity, I began to think, well,

maybe I should pursue a career in Hollywood.

And, you know, it could help my family, too,

my little sister, and, you know, it could open

doors for them. It sounded exciting. I did want

to see more of the world. You see how pageants,

you know, how it leads to, well, you enter the

pageant, and then you want more. Hollywood. You

see how that happens. And so that's what was

happening. I began to listen to others as well,

my family members, my friends, and I prayed about

it, and I didn't feel the peace. There was no

peace. But then I was torn because I wanted to

please my family and friends. And after all,

This was a once -in -a -lifetime opportunity.

I may not get this, and I can always come back

home if it doesn't work out. That was my reasoning.

See, I was torn, trying to please the arm of

flesh instead of wanting to please my Heavenly

Father. And I did not receive confirmation. No

peace in my heart. The pageant experience, as

I said, left me wanting more, bigger, better.

What's next? Satan, that's how Satan draws people

deeper and deeper into his trap. So I decided

to move to Los Angeles. But a few weeks before

moving, I got a call from Coach Bear Bryant's

secretary asking if I would sing at Coach Bryant's

retirement party. Remember, I mentioned we had

done commercials together, and he was just such

a great mentor. He helped so many young people,

and just a great, great man. And, of course,

I agreed and sang the song, Thanks for the Memories.

And then I had a chance to visit with Coach,

and I told him that I was planning to move to

Hollywood, and I asked his opinion. Well, Coach

had a concerned look on his face. And he said,

Paige, you need to reconsider this decision.

He said the people out in, he traveled quite

a bit, played golf with Bob Hope, and he said

the people out in Hollywood are different. They're

just not the same as what you're used to. Their

morals, everything, different. It's a different

world, and you, really, you should stay here.

I believe, as I look back, that God was using

Coach Bryant. to give me a warning not to move

to Los Angeles. God loves his children. He gives

us warnings. God knew that Coach Bryant could

get my attention, and it did make me stop and

think about it a little more. But in the end,

I decided to accept the agent's offer and move

to Los Angeles. And oh, my family and friends

were really happy about that. But now the heartbreaking

part was that I had to tell Hayes I was moving

and that we had to stop dating. Well, that was

another warning sign. The way I felt in my heart.

Hayes was my best friend. We prayed together.

He was a godly guy. And I knew that this whole

thing didn't feel right, yet I didn't want to

miss that once -in -a -lifetime opportunity.

I chose to ignore all the warning signs God was

giving me. You see, my spiritual eyes were closed.

I was blind. I couldn't see. Well, so I moved

to Los Angeles. I attended acting school. I did

commercials. I auditioned for movie roles. I

entertained at Liberace's resort in Las Vegas.

And at first, it was very exciting. But after

a while... I began to see what Coach Bryant had

warned about. In the entertainment world of Hollywood,

I saw an ugly behind -the -scenes picture. I

saw a lot of drugs, alcohol, no morals. It was

a dark, dark place without Jesus. And I thought

to myself, if I stay here much longer, all this

will become normal to me. So I knew that I just

had to move back to Alabama. I talked to my agent

about it, and he suggested that I stay a little

while longer because he was going to host a fundraising

event, and he needed to introduce me to some

very important people that could help my career.

Well, I should have said no, but my spiritual

eyes were not opened, and so I agreed and attended

that event. I met a lot of interesting people

there, including a real estate developer from

Arizona. He seemed to be a nice guy, very different

from the people I had met in Hollywood. He didn't

like Hollywood either. But we enjoyed each other's

company, and he said he was a Christian. So he

asked me out, and we began to date. But shortly

thereafter, I moved back to Alabama. And that

was no problem. He said, well, I'll fly back

and forth from Phoenix to Birmingham, and we

can continue to date. So this went on, and after

six months, he proposed. And here was another

turning point decision in my life, a big one.

I told him I needed to think about it and pray

about it. I had mixed signals. He was very nice

to my family, very nice to me. He said he was

a Christian. Yet there was something that was

just not right in my heart. I couldn't pinpoint

it. And this guy was very different from Hayes,

who had been my best friend. So I prayed, but

like before, I didn't wait to hear from the Lord.

And I allowed the opinion of others to dominate

my thoughts. My entire family loved this guy.

I admired him for how he had come from a struggling

family to become so successful in real estate.

He was very, very wealthy, successful at a young

age, and I really admired that. So I accepted

the marriage proposal, and the course of my life

was about to spiral downward, far away from God's

will for me. Again, I trusted in the arm of flesh.

and how sad it is to be blind, not to have your

spiritual eyes opened. You are just like a wave

tossed to and fro, just like what's described

in James 1 .6. God had to teach me how to wait

on him and how to trust in him and how to listen

to his voice. James 1 .3 says, knowing this,

that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

So when we go through trials, our faith is tested,

and that's when we learn how to wait on the Lord.

I'm thankful I know this today, but I sure didn't

know it back then. So I married the real estate

developer and moved to Paradise Valley, Arizona.

I was able to use my Miss America scholarships

at Arizona State University, where I earned an

undergraduate degree in Spanish literature and

a law degree from the Sandra Day O 'Connor College

of Law. And after 12 years, I lived a life of

a jet setter and Phoenix socialite. I was completely

enveloped in materialism and the world of mammon.

I hosted dinner parties in our home for prominent

Arizonans like Barry Goldwater, Cindy, and John

McCain. I traveled to England several times a

year. We owned a manor house in the New Forest

in England, a place called Bramshaw. I traveled

all over Europe and Asia. I had everything the

world could offer, but I was spiritually empty.

I had no peace. I wasn't happy. And although

my husband had told me that he was a Christian

before we married, I soon realized that I had

married an ungodly man who was ill -tempered

and verbally abusive. But God, in God's tender

mercy, he blessed me with two sons, and I was

able to experience that unconditional love. That

love sustained me during those difficult years.

Well, one day while I was preparing for yet another

dinner party, another political event, two Adventist

teenagers knocked on my door and gave me a copy

of The Great Controversy. Like I said earlier,

I thanked them, and I was busy. I had a dinner

party, but I flipped through it, and then I put

it in a box and forgot all about it. Then several

years later, my marriage fell apart when I discovered

that my husband was unfaithful. And since I had

a biblical reason to leave the marriage, I filed

for divorce, packed up my things in a U -Haul

trailer, hooked it to the back of my Tahoe, and

moved back to Alabama with my two sons and our

little cat, Oliver. So I arrived in Alabama,

and three days later, guess who called me? Hayes.

My high school sweetheart. Yes, he had gone through

a divorce involving unfaithfulness as well. The

same thing had happened to him. He had a son.

I had two sons. We both felt that God brought

us back together to be a family. I was so thankful

that Hayes had forgiven me for moving off to

Los Angeles years earlier and breaking up with

him. Hayes was a good man, and he truly loved

me, and he had always been a hard worker and

very diligent. While we were apart all those

years, he had earned his MBA and worked his way

up to being vice president of a community bank

and then president of a local community bank.

Now he told me that his plans were to open a

new community bank in our hometown. So we dated

for the next two years, and during that time,

he raised the capital to start the new community

bank. And also during that time, I started an

advertising business, something that I'd always

wanted to do. I called it front -page advertising.

And in 1999, Hayes proposed to me, and this time

I went to my Heavenly Father, and I said, Lord,

I'm going to pray and ask. I knew it in my heart,

but I prayed. And I waited, but I didn't have

to wait for very long. I immediately felt that

peace and joy in my heart. I knew Hayes was the

one. Confirmation from my Heavenly Father, it

was his will. So we were married on May 8, 1999,

and I finally made a right decision. Praise the

Lord. Life seemed to be on the right track now.

As Hayes and I were happily married, our sons

got along very well. We were attending a big

church. It was one of those big mega church,

you know, with the big screens, the celebration

choir, all that kind. So it was an interdenominational

church in Birmingham. to participate in church

Bible studies. And I led a children's ministry

there. And we had daily family Bible studies

at our home with our sons. See, we were Adventists

back then. We just didn't know it. And however,

about... For about two years there, after about

two years, we realized that because this church

was so large, so large, it was like a huge auditorium

type, and our sons could not make the needed

connections with the Christian teenagers their

ages. After much prayer, we decided to attend

a smaller Baptist church in our hometown. It

was the Baptist church that Hayes grew up in.

We really loved the traditional hymns and the

focus on preaching the word of God in this smaller

church. However, we had very few Bible studies

on the end times. I was so confused about topics

such as the secret rapture. Where is that in

the Bible? I couldn't understand. And the seven

-year great tribulation, I couldn't understand

that whole thing. And then the earthly millennium,

there was just so many things that I was so confused

about, and I couldn't get any answers, really.

So nevertheless, we attended this church until

our sons were getting ready to move off to college.

Then after our sons moved off, we decided to

stay out of church for a while because there

was a big disruption in leadership in the church,

and we didn't want to stay there and get involved

with all the taking sides and this and that.

So we said, well, we'll just stay out of church

for a while. Well, we ended up staying out of

church for 10 years. Satan was moving in to attack

us. Well, shortly after our sons went off to

college, I began to suffer depression. It was

a deep depression I'd never felt before, and

I sought the help of my doctor. He told me that

I had the emptiness syndrome, and so he prescribed

an antidepressant and told me to drink a glass

of red wine every night. Yes, that was the prescription.

I had never been on any kind of prescription

drug before. and I hardly ever consumed any alcohol.

I wish I'd known about Wildwood back then. But

I did what the doctor told me to do, and Hayes

was also under a lot of pressure at work, so

our family doctors prescribed the same thing

for him. Well, after 10 years on the antidepressants,

the daily glass of wine had turned into an addiction

for both of us. We didn't drink alcohol during

the day, but we had to have the red wine every

evening. We had drifted far away from Jesus,

and we had trusted in the arm of flesh by listening

to the doctor's advice and taking the antidepressant,

drinking the wine, instead of praying to our

Heavenly Father, the one who created us, and

waiting for his answer. Now, I do want to clarify

that some people really do need antidepressants.

I'm not discounting the use of antidepressants.

I'm just saying that we did not need them, and

we certainly didn't need to add wine to the mix.

Because there's something about the antidepressant

and the wine together creates a powerful addiction.

The antidepressant makes you crave sugar. It

releases the serotonin. and then the glucose,

and you're craving sugar. What is red wine? Sugar.

So it became an addiction, a very powerful one.

At a desperate, I knew I had never been under

this kind of control. It was the strangest feeling

to be in the clutches of this, to not be able

to say, tonight I'm not going to have any red

wine. I couldn't. I was trapped in bondage. I'd

never been addicted before and powerless. And

I knew that this was satanic. I knew Satan had

grips on me. And because my grandmother taught

me about the blood of Jesus when I was seven

years old and led me to the Lord, I remembered

that. See, grandmothers, plant that seed. And

so I went to my backyard. I fell on my knees,

and I cried out for Jesus to forgive me and heal

me from this addiction. I heard his gentle voice

speak to my heart. He said, my child, I have

been waiting for you to come back to me. He was

waiting on me. You are mine. I have redeemed

you, and I will. heal you. But you must learn

to trust in me. I will show you the way out of

this addiction. Listen to my voice. I heard him

say, listen to me. And then he told me he loved

me. The next day after this experience with Jesus

in my backyard, I felt a strong urge to go clean

out the attic. I mean, I don't like to clean

out the attic. Who likes to clean out the attic?

But remember, Jesus said, listen to me, listen

to my voice. And then I realized Jesus wants

me to clean out the attic. Oh, maybe he wants

me to donate some things. I have a lot of things,

clothes, shoes. I could donate to the Salvation

Army. Maybe that's the first step is to do something

good, help others. And so I said, okay, Lord,

I'm headed to the attic. And I got up there,

and I worked about three hours. I had three piles.

I had the throwaway pile, I had the keep pile,

and I had the donate pile. And I thought, okay,

this is good. I've found a lot of things that

I can donate. Well, when I was just about finished,

I saw an old battered box in the corner of the

attic. And I thought, that's something I can

throw away. But when I opened this box and looked

inside, You know what I found. I found a great

controversy magabook given to me decades earlier

by those two Adventist teenagers. Wow. Suddenly,

tears began to roll down my cheeks. I knew why

Jesus sent me to the attic. It was time for me

to read this book, high time for me to read this

book, so I read it cover to cover. I couldn't

put it down. The Holy Spirit was revealing so

much. I learned about the Sabbath truth. I started

to understand the books of Daniel and Revelation

and how they go together. You need Daniel to

understand Revelation. I learned about the sanctuary

and what 1844 meant. I understood present truth,

the three angels' messages. Wow. And I knew that

this book, The Great Controversy, was pointing

me to the Bible to open my spiritual eyes. I

wanted to know more. Oh, I ordered more and more

books by E .G. White. I was so impressed with

Mr. White's writings. He was so anointed. I had

to learn more from Mr. E .G. White. And I got

through about half of the Conflict of Ages series.

I ordered Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and

Kings. I just kept going. And I just kept reading.

And wow, this, wow. And then I learned who E

.G. White was. Ellen White. And then I said,

well, let me go to the Internet. So I went to

the Internet. Am I glad that the Lord had me

so intense on reading all E .G. White's books

that I didn't even look? I just kept ordering

more books. And then when I read the lies on

the Internet about Sister White, I knew this

is not true. That's not true. I could see the

enemy. I could see. Satan attacked. Hey, you

know, if he'd never attacked or done anything,

then, you know, that wouldn't be good, right?

But if Satan's attacking Sister White like that,

we know that there's truth there that Satan wants

to hide. And I said, I am so thankful that I

read her books first. Because if I'd gone to

the internet first, I don't know if I'd be here

as a Seventh -day Adventist. I'm just so thankful.

So I shared the spiritual insights with my husband,

Hayes, and I told him, this book, you've got

to read it. And, you know, it took a while, but...

After a while, he began. Of course, I had to

cook a lot of nice dinners. And then I'd say,

oh, let me tell you about this state of the dead,

immortality of the soul lie. And let me tell

you about this. Oh, yeah. And, you know, it took

a little while. But he came around. Before long,

God opened his spiritual eyes, too. And he began

to read the book. And he watched Doug Batchelor's

YouTube videos. And we were able to taper off

the antidepressants. stopped drinking the wine.

The saving grace power of Jesus gave us that

ability. We couldn't do it on our own, but Jesus

gave, empowered us to overcome that addiction

and to begin to learn the truths that he had

for us. Praise the Lord. Jesus had broken the

bondage of Satan, set us free. Praise the Lord.

As I mentioned earlier, my husband and I were

both baptized in 2018. And I just want to say

that because of the book, The Great Controversy,

not only were my husband and I changed, but five

other members in my family were impacted. I led

both of my parents back to the Lord. I said the

sinner's prayer with two of our sons. And our

grandson, I told you about, was baptized into

the Seventh -day Adventist Church in 2023. So

one book, two Adventist teenagers years ago,

impacted seven members of one family. See? See

the power in that? That's why Sister White said

it was the most important, the great controversy

was the most important book that she had ever

written. That's why. The exponential Holy Spirit

power to open people's spiritual eyes. Hallelujah.

I'm so thankful. And it was the lesser light

pointing to the greater light. That's what Sister

White's writings are. They point you right to

the Bible, which is just so beautiful. I did

it like a Berean. I compared, and everything

that I read, everything that she said pointed

right to the Bible. Hallelujah. How wonderful

it is to be a part of the remnant church, you

know, that keeps the commandments of God and

has the testimony of Jesus. So in my testimony

earlier, I said I made a lot of wrong choices.

I was so blind, but God opened my spiritual eyes.

You know, the whole thing about the pageant experience.

Just Wednesday, I was at Little Light Studios

in Chattanooga, and we had sort of a panel, and

they were recording. We taped this, and they

asked me, you know, would you recommend pageants

to other people? Or, you know, what do you think

about pageants? And I have to say that back then,

with the light that I had, it was what God had

for me. It was part of my journey. And I had

a choice. You know, I made the wrong choices.

God always gives us a choice. But God knows the

end from the beginning. So who am I to say that

someone shouldn't do this or that? I can't tell

how much light they have. I can't read their

hearts. And I certainly don't know the end from

the beginning. But God used it in my life. That's

what I have, my testimony. And he used it in

my life to get to where I am today. And I can

testify that in my experience, pageants led to

more and more. You wanted then Hollywood. You

kept wanting more. And so, again, that it can

lead to idolatry. And I realize that. But other

people, you know, maybe not so. It may be a platform.

I don't know. But I do know that I am thankful

to be here today with my spiritual eyes open.

And the title I carry today is not former Miss

Alabama, not all that worldly degrees and all

these things. My title is Child of the Most High

God. That's who I am. So today in this new life

in Christ, I want to follow that path that leads

to the crown of righteousness. That's the crown

I want. 2 Timothy 4 .8, Finally there is laid

up for me the crown of righteousness, which the

Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on

that day, and not to me only, but also to all

who have loved me. His appearing. Who is Paul

talking about? To all who have loved his appearing.

That's the remnant church. That's the ones that

are looking for the soon return of Jesus. Who

have loved his appearing. And what is our favorite

hymn? Jesus is coming again. Hallelujah. That's

the crown of righteousness that will be given

to all those who have loved his appearing. So

I just want to say that for those who are going

through a trial right now, don't give up. Cling

to the Lord. Learn to wait on the Lord. Learn

to listen to his voice and ask him to open your

spiritual eyes and ears. and he will heal your

heart. He will change your heart. Stand strong

so you can say, this life that I live now, I

live by faith in the Son of God who loved me

and gave his life for me. Thank you for listening

to my testimony and may God continue to bless

this sweet church. And before we close, I do

want to tell you about my ministry. I started

a 501c3 ministry called Train His Lambs. Remember,

two Adventist teenagers gave me the book, The

Great Controversy. And now I was able to start

a ministry in 2023 to help our church's church

school. It's called Floral Crest School. It's

in Alabama. And the church schools have really

struggled in two states. In the whole United

States, Alabama and Mississippi struggle the

most to keep the doors open. There have been

so many schools to close. So many. Bass Memorial,

Bass Academy just closed in Mississippi. So we

have... so many of these church schools that

need help. And our church school started in 1905.

It was in continuous operation. And then in 2023,

it was almost ready to close its doors. It couldn't

keep the enrollment up, and the cost of tuition

was the main reason. So I went to the Lord in

prayer, and I said, Lord, how can I help? And

then I heard, who gave you the great controversy?

Those two teenagers. So then it just came to

me that, you know, the Holy Spirit just comes

to you and tells you what to do. I said, okay,

we can offer tuition assistance scholarships.

And we can then tie that to literature evangelism.

So the students go out once a week and give out

great controversy books, and the age can be Pathfinder

age, from 10 to 18. And they can give out great

controversy books and earn their tuition assistance

scholarships. Well, it has been working beautifully

the past two years. The school has doubled in

enrollment, and they're in the black. Praise

the Lord. We've had people that came to us that

donated the books, you know, because we have

to buy the books, but they started donating the

books. Oh, and then we had the money for the

tuition assistance scholarships. We went to 3ABN,

and before we left, Danny Shelton said, come

to the call center. And so we met him at the

call center and in the back of Hayes' Tahoe,

he put box after box after box of books that

we could give out. So it was just so exciting.

I want to tell you the website is trainhislams

.org. I'd like to... I tell you, if the Lord

feels and puts it on your heart to make a donation

to our ministry, as I said, Alabama and Mississippi

struggle the most out of the nation to keep those

doors closed. And we don't want any more schools

to close. There have been so many. This is our

future. These Adventist young people will be

out in the trenches giving out the three angels'

messages. So we're at the end times, and we need

these schools to stay open. And if the Lord puts

it on your heart, heart please pray prayerfully

consider donation and thank you so much dear

heavenly father thank you so much for for all

you do and for flowing with your holy spirit

and and connecting us all lord and we just praise

you thank you lord for your your loving us changing

our hearts opening our spiritual eyes And just

continue to lead us on that path that leads to

the crown of righteousness. We're so thankful.

to be in your remnant church. We're so thankful,

Lord, that we know you identify your remnant

church in Revelation, those who keep your commandments

and have the testimony of Jesus. So, Lord, help

us to stand strong and to get out the message

of the three angels' messages and spread the

gospel. We know time is so short. We know you're

coming. You're coming, and, Lord, we want to

be your instruments. We want to change. We want

to make a change. We want to give people as many

books as we can of the great controversy to open

these spiritual eyes and point them to you. So

help us in this, Lord. We can do nothing without

you, but we need your guidance. We need your

direction. And, Lord, we just thank you for just

the... There's this beautiful church here at

Ringgold. We thank you for these beautiful people

that love you and just feel that warmth here.

So I pray blessings upon this church and use

this church in a mighty way to advance your kingdom.

And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.