Creflo Dollar - Blinded By Love
Creflo: I wanna introduce you to a woman who has experienced one of the most horrific ordeals I have ever heard. Though she was senselessly attacked and blinded and she will share today she's working her way through with greater sight than she has ever had before. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please help me welcome Sabrina to "Your World" today. Welcome. Sabrina, okay. There you go. Welcome, welcome, welcome. You know, I wanna, first of all, commend you for your courage and for what you're about to share today. It's a subject that's right now a hot topic, and we're right in the midst of voting some things into place, but you and I are gonna come together, and we're gonna tag team, and we're gonna put together an instrument that will help others and hopefully some of the tragic things you've had to experience, through your courage and just by being here today, we hope to prevent that in the lives of other people. So, I congratulate you ahead of time for what we're about to do.
Sabrina: Well, thank you.
Creflo: Now, I call this "Your World" because you're gonna bring us into your world and by doing that the people that watch become a part of your experience and what you had to go through, so let's just start right off at the top. You're here for a specific purpose, and you're gonna share some things with us. It may be hard for others to hear, but they need to hear it so we can come up with some solutions, and then we're gonna back up and work our way from how it was growing up to where you are now. So, what happened? What was this issue that took place, this love triangle?
Sabrina: I was in a, like you said, a love triangle unknowingly. I was dating a guy for only three months. I had no idea that he had a girlfriend, and I was called to a place one day. He took my car. I woke up. I had no idea, you know, where he had went. I called him. No answer. He called me back, and he was like, "Hey, come here," so, of course, I went there, you know, thinking I could retrieve my car. And he was at another female's resident, so him and I were outside at the car arguing and as I turned my back to the door she came out of the apartment. I had no idea she was there. I didn't even know where I was, actually. I just, you know, was called to a place, and she came out with a big cup with a concoction of liquid Red Devil mixed with Clorox. I found out later, the forensics said at the court hearing that it could get up to like 400 degrees in a matter of minutes. So she came out, and she called my name really loud, so she knew who I was. Of course, I didn't know who she was, and she splashed me with this concoction in my face and instantly I fell to the ground, and I was laying on my back, and my breathing got really shallow, and I began to see this white cloud come over my eyes. At this time I couldn't move because the skin had came off of my face, my neck, my back, my shoulders. Everything had just slid off, and I was literally laying out there dying, which was really hard for me because it was almost like I was trapped inside of myself. I could feel myself breathing, but it was getting more shallow and shallow, and then, of course, I guess he felt sorry for me, so he picked me up, he put me in my car, and he took me up to a gas station, which was about three minutes. Seemed like an eternity at the time, but it was about three minutes away, and so he took me out. He lifted me out the car. At this point I could barely walk or breathe, so he was dragging me. Blood everywhere, and we got inside the store. The clerk, she started screaming hysterically and, you know, so she called 911. They get me to a water fountain to the right of the desk, and they start splashing water on my face, but by this time I guess he panics or whatever, so he leaves me there. I didn't see him again for another year or so. Thank God she called 911, and they were able to, you know, get me some help. Well, by this time I went to the local hospital and the helicopter, they flew me to the Augusta burn center, where I later went into a coma for a little over a month, which was really tough and woke up blind. Seventeen percent of my body scarred.
Creflo: It's really difficult to hear, and I know even more difficult for you to talk about because of, you know, we all have emotions. We just work hard to make sure that those emotions don't have us, but the question that just kinda rolls in through your head is how could somebody do something like this? I mean, just human respect from human to human. What possesses a person to do something so horrific, so egregious? Like I said before in the opening, I've just never heard of anything like this, and I think I'm gonna take a break for a moment so I can do a proper interview, because I got some weird emotions going on, on the inside of me. So, let's take a break and when we come back I'm gonna ask some questions and hopefully these are the same questions that are in your mind right now, and we so appreciate Sabrina for painting such a graphic, detailed picture of what happened, but I had no idea that, you know, today I would literally be able to kinda see just what happened. But anyway, we'll be right back.
Creflo: Welcome back. Now, Sabrina, you left off with waking up in the hospital after this coma and discovering what you discovered. Let's pick up from there with your story and what was going on in your emotions and just all the things that were going on, on the inside.
Sabrina: It was so tough. It was so tough, and it was just senseless. Like, why? Like, I kept asking myself, "Why? How did I get here to this place of". And feeling abandoned, depressed, lonely, dark, suicidal. All these things crossed my mind. Like, "I don't wanna live like this. This is not", I went from, you know, everybody is saying, "Oh, you're so pretty and, you know, you're beautiful," and I knew, you know, instantly that my vanity was gone.
Creflo: So, what motivated you to, you know, keep pushing, keep going on?
Sabrina: At that time, I would say my kids, because I was angry, even angry at God, angry at her, the young lady that did this, angry at him, my entire family. I mean, there was a thousand reasons why I didn't wanna live, and I was angry at everybody. My kids was really a big, big part of me wanting to continue to live.
Creflo: Let's go back to this triangle again. Tell me about this guy.
Sabrina: To be honest, Doctor, he was not a nice guy. As I as think about it now, you know, my life was on a rollercoaster ride up and down. I had been through a lot of abusive relationships in the past. I didn't think that I was worthy of finding a good person, so when I ran across him he was absolutely nobody that I would allow my daughters to date or even refer anybody to, and that's just being honest because, and there were so many warning signs there in the beginning. I mean, it was continuous lies, manipulation, just things that, you know, I was tough, and I didn't allow things, and I was a disciplinarian in my home, but then when it came to men I just became weak. And he knew that, you know, so I think early on he played on a lot of my weaknesses. There was a lot of lies. He wasn't a nice guy. He was very controlling and manipulative, but all of that together still was not enough for me to leave him alone because I needed someone, you know? Just felt like I had to have someone there.
Creflo: Well, how would you describe your self-esteem at that time? Would you consider it being pretty low during that time, medium, high? What was it like?
Sabrina: Oh, it was absolutely low. Even though I put a smile on and I attended the kids' events and I hang out with my friends, as soon as I got by myself the majority of the time I was crying because of my past. I had buried two brothers, a fiancé, and just feeling abandoned, you know, by them, feeling really lonely most of the time, so, of course, my self-esteem was really low. I was broken. I was broken from a lot of things that happened in my childhood to adolescent years. It was just one big concoction of something waiting to happen, honestly.
Creflo: So, did this guy know, in this triangle, did he know that this woman was gonna do this? Did he have any knowledge of it?
Sabrina: I truly believe he did because when we went to court the prosecutor said, you know, he needs to come testify, and so, of course, he comes and sit with the family. He acts like nothing has happened. He had no wrongdoing, and my dad and my family, they're cringing because, you know, I got them type of cousins, you know?
Creflo: Nene and them.
Sabrina: Yeah, I got Bebe and Nene and them, and so thank God they weren't there, you know, so everybody's cringing like, "How, you know, how could he just be so nonchalant"? But he later on tells me, so, this is the one time that I was around him. He tells me that, you know, "She said she wanted to kill you. I didn't believe her, but she said she was going to use a gun". And I, "No, you know, don't do that," and so, yeah, I think he knew. He knew something was gonna happen. He didn't know what was gonna happen. I truly believe he did.
Creflo: So, I think this is the reoccurring question, and I don't know if it was later discovered, but why? What was her explanation? Why did she do what she did? Why? What motivated her to do this?
Sabrina: Of course, jealousy and that's the first thing that comes to mind. When she was asked in the courtroom if she had anything to say, I was blind, of course, but I was told that she looked at me and turned her head and shook her head and said, no, she didn't have anything to say. In that courtroom that day she had a son that was the same age as my daughter, four, so our kids were four years old at the time and just the thought of being, you know, handcuffed and taken away. In that moment I had sympathy for her, but, of course, I knew that I had to start my life over and that she had taken, you know, she tried to take my kids' mom away from them.
Creflo: Wow. Man, so what was the ruling? What was the result? What was the consequence of her actions as far as the court was concerned?
Sabrina: Well, she received 20 years in jail, so I felt like there was some justice there. She will be currently getting out in about two years.
Creflo: How do you feel about that?
Sabrina: I've forgiven, and I remember in the beginning someone would ask me, "You know, have you forgiven"? And I'd say yes because it was the right thing to say, but honestly I started the process because, I mean, sitting in a room, being depressed all the time, and just feeling like, "You know, woe is me. What happened? Why is this"? I mean, it became old. I knew that I needed to make a change. And how do you do that? Well, the very first thing I wanted to do was put my hands on her, but secondly I was like, you know, so now that now that I've gotten justice, because the justice, it didn't fail me in that aspect, but, you know, here I am at home with four kids. What do I do? And so, their lives are still going on, and I'm laying in the bed, you know, feeling sorry for myself, so I just began the process of healing and in the process of healing I had to forgive, and I did. I really started the process. It took some years, but I've forgiven her.
Creflo: Yeah, and you've taken your power back from her.
Sabrina: Oh, absolutely. All of it.
Creflo: All of it.
Sabrina: All of it.
Creflo: All of it. I need you to verify something, but are you familiar with this type of thing happening in our country to other women?
Sabrina: Oh, absolutely, yes. I have a organization for domestic violence, so in doing my research it's rampant. It's widespread. Women are dying every day at the hands, of course, there was another female that did this to me, but, you know, the majority of women are dying at the hands of men and women. It's serious, and I think we need to pay more attention to, you know, what's going on in our households, and these women are crying out for help.
Creflo: What would you like to see done in our government where laws are concerned to, kind of, address this situation?
Sabrina: There needs to be stiffer penalties for these type of crimes that's being committed against women. I feel like if a man realizes that on the first offense, "I'm going to jail for a year," he'll think twice.
Creflo: Yeah, one of the things I'm sensitive about is that this is something that's been happening in African countries and other countries around the world for a long, long time. What would you say to those nations and those people who are in authority concerning what they need to begin to start doing for these women who have been abused for generations?
Sabrina: We really need to implement more programs in these cities so that these women will have somewhere to go, because the first thing that, you know, the abuser does is they isolate you, and you're by yourself. But what if we had somewhere that they know they can go, a safe haven that they can call and talk to? They will need to have more of those in Africa, South Carolina, Georgia. I mean, just everywhere.
Creflo: Yeah, you know, you said one thing and as far as the preventative is concerned your self-esteem most of the time will be responsible for the type of person you draw to you. And when you have that young lady who lives in search for significance, and she's in search for value, and, you know, and she can't find it, then wouldn't you agree that this is the type of personality that will end up drawing somebody to her that will take advantage of her, lie to her, use her? And so, we really need to get together on ways of how we can teach women and men how to value themselves, and the self-esteem that you display is gonna be like a magnet, and it's gonna somehow or another just does this: attract people to you that will take advantage of the weakness that you're showing. Would you agree with that or add to that?
Sabrina: Oh, yeah, I totally agree, and I'm a living proof, because that's just what happened to me and, yeah, that is exactly how it goes. I mean, you live and you go through things, and people prey on your weaknesses. They prey on those things and, you know, they'll run from strength. You know, but just like myself and my story. He knew and just like, you know, two or three others before him, they knew that I was broken, you know?
Creflo: So, on a final note, Sabrina, what's the future look like for you?
Sabrina: Oh, now it's amazing.
Creflo: It's amazing.
Sabrina: Yes. I have four beautiful children, five grand-babies, and I travel. I do everything I wanna do. I mean, my life is full. There is no limits. I don't believe in limitations. I wake up every day just being my best self, loving on myself, not taking for granted anything that God has given me. I am truly just blessed, I mean, I enjoy life every day. Everybody around me is like, "Okay, what she gonna do next"? because I just, I mean, I will not let this define me, and I refuse. I mean, I've just been like...
Creflo: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely, and for the victims who have suffered this type of abuse, you see on this broadcast today a woman who refuses to be defeated by the circumstance, by the situation, so, in essence, I make these announcements today. That, Satan, you lose.
Sabrina: Oh, yes.
Creflo: You lose.
Sabrina: That's right.
Creflo: Don't you appreciate our guest today? Wow. You know, it doesn't matter if the hurt you experience was self-inflicted or was caused by someone else. You don't have to be a victim. God is a healer, and he wants to remove the remnants of the hurt and pain of your past and completely restore you. And as you seek him and let him in, he will be faithful to heal and to make you whole. Don't allow life's challenges to devastate you, because God cares for you. He created you and knows what is necessary to bring you back to a place of wholeness and wellbeing and watch the places the Lord will take you when you begin to trust him. I wanna thank my guest again, Sabrina. Y'all go ahead and give another big hand. Sabrina, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for your courage and your boldness and your willingness to share your story. It has marked my life and has blessed me today.