Linda's Healing Journey

Linda’s Story | The Fierce Heart Behind Petunia

Linda Overmyer is a sexual assault survivor, a woman of faith, and the real-life heart behind

Petunia the Bull.

Her story carries pain that should never have been hers to bear. She knows what it is to be harmed, silenced, misunderstood, and left to carry wounds that changed the course of her life.

But Linda’s story did not end with what was done to her.

She survived.

She kept going through the fear, the grief, the anger, the questions, and the long work of learning how to live beyond the pain. Survival did not erase the wounds, but it revealed a strength in her that no one could take away.

Today, Linda is also fighting serious health challenges. Some days require more from her body than others will ever see. Yet she continues to serve, encourage, create, support survivors, and stand beside the mission of End Silence, Inc.

She serves with tenderness, but she also serves with fierceness.

That is where Petunia comes from.

Petunia reflects the part of Linda that is gentle but not weak, wounded but not defeated, loving but no longer willing to be silenced. She carries the scars of what happened to her, but she also carries courage, faith, compassion, and a refusal to let cruelty have the final word.

Linda’s survival is not a neat or simple story. It is a story of continuing to rise while carrying pain, illness, memory, and responsibility. It is the story of a woman who has every reason to stop showing up, yet still chooses to help someone else feel less alone.

She survived what tried to break her.

She is still fighting.

She is still serving.

And she carries the fierce heart of Petunia.

Her wounds are part of her story, but they are not the measure of her worth.

Every Piece Has Purpose.

--- Linda's Testimony ---

Life Before Faith

Between the ages of six and twelve, I experienced severe trauma—painful memories that my mind eventually blocked out. Around that same time, my brother passed away, and my mother sent me to live with my sister.

For decades, those memories remained buried. Then, at the age of sixty-four, they suddenly came flooding back. The weight of everything I had endured—and everything I had carried without even realizing it—became more than I could bear. I broke completely and found myself at absolute rock bottom.

The Turning Point

It was there, in my deepest brokenness, that I turned to Jesus.

I desperately wanted to heal, but I struggled with forgiveness. I prayed every day, asking Jesus to help me release the pain I had carried for so many years. Through those prayers and the support of a good friend, I found my way back to the grace of Jesus.

That was when Jesus truly took hold of my life. He met me at rock bottom, lifted me out of my brokenness, and gave me a reason to keep going. If it had not been for Him, I truly do not believe I would be standing here today.

Life Now and My Declaration

In 2025, my faith faced another tremendous test when I went into stage C heart failure and was confronted with the possibility that I might need a new heart.

Through that experience, God opened my eyes. I began to see that He had been with me through every single step of my life—even during the years when I did not recognize His presence. There were many moments when my life could have ended, but God protected me, carried me, and continued taking care of me.

Today, I am being baptized as a public declaration that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. He rescued me from the darkest place of my life, restored my hope, and has never left my side.

I belong to Jesus, and I will praise Him for the rest of my days.