Struggling Mother Wins The Lottery And Gives Local Pastor $700k, Then He Sues Her Because He Wants More

A struggling money gets a blessing.

Struggling with finances is something that many of us can understand so when you see someone win a huge amount of money after struggling to get by for so long, it's often a nice feelgood story. Sadly for Marie Holmes, the good feeling was quickly replaced with dread.

A mother of four, Holmes won a massive Powerball lottery that should have set her up for life. Unfortunately, a local pastor had other ideas.

How it all began.

When she scored her lottery win, Holmes was working several different jobs just to make ends meet. Her $188 million North Carolina Powerball win came about at just the right time. She quickly opted to take a %127 million lump sum and was certain that she would never struggle again. Sadly, a snake in the form of a pastor was lurking, waiting to stab her in the back.

Kevin Matthews... the devil in disguise.

Holmes had been receiving counseling from Kevin Matthews, a local pastor. She believed that he was counseling her solely because it was the good Christian thing to do. She felt like she could trust Matthews and soon after winning the lottery, she offered to help him buy some land as thanks for his help.

Matthews wanted more money.

The purpose of the land was so that the church could build a new retreat center. Unfortunately, the $700 grand that she gave Matthews wasn't enough for him He wanted more money and claimed that she agreed to give him at least 2x as much so he sued her for it.

In an interview with Centric TV Matthews said: "The bottom line… I just want her to do what she said she was going to do. I want peace and to do what God told me to do. I want her to do what she said she was going to do. I really feel like a warrior for Christ and people need to be accountable."

He won much more than he asked for.

Not only did Matthews sue Holmes for $1.5 million, he actually won $10 MILLION from her in court. Matthews has been outspoken about the trial and claimed that it caused him to increase how much anti-depression medicine he takes.

He said: "Because of the emotional distress and mental stress, they put me through, I had to start taking more medicine for anxiety and depression due to this situation."

As expected, Matthews has received a ton of negative backlash after he strong-armed Holmes out money in court.

Holmes' troubles didn't stop there.

Adding to Holmes' misfortunes, she had to drop a staggering $21 million to bail her boyfriend, Lamar McDow, out of jail. McDow was arrested on charges of suspected drug dealing. Holmes and McDow both deny the charge and claim that their new neighbors are racist and trying to get them out of the neighborhood. After winning the lottery, Holmes moved to a much nicer area.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, McDow talked about his legal troubles saying: "We are a couple, and I am the father of her youngest child. This is what people do for each other. She has the money and she can do what she wants with it. If I had that money then I would do the same for her. People are just jealous because of how much she won and people want to see me locked in jail."

There was a silver lining.

Fix My Life host, Iyanla Vanzant found out about Holmes' issues and decided to give her a hand. Vanzant said: "It is my intention to show Marie that hers is not a problem of wealth. It is a problem of maturity, of self-respect and of dignity."

At first it didn't seem like Holmes would be accepting of the help she needed but eventually, she gave in and took the assistance.

After all that she has been through, I hope that Ms. Holmes can finally enjoy the money that has caused her so much grief. She deserves it.