…about God’s Story in Polly
I recently realized that my story is very similar to that of Israel. I was chosen by God. I cheated on God. He drew me back but said I would have to spend time in exile. I am now where He wants me and serving Him. God spent the whole Old Testament telling Israel’s story so I think it might be cheating to tell my story in such a small summary.
My mother was a strong Christian. She was not one of those who took us to church and dropped us off. I was in church since before I was born. My mom went to the First Baptist Church of Texico, New Mexico, because there wasn’t a Baptist Church in Farwell, Texas. The two towns were (and still are) separated by a railroad track and the state line. I have seen pictures of when I was about 2 years old being held by the Pastor of the Texico Baptist Church. My mom was a founding member of the First Baptist Church in Farwell. We were in church all the time…and I loved it! My mom, led by the Holy Spirit, explained the gospel to me when I was 8 years old and I was baptized.
I also loved school. God had given me a good mind and I didn’t have to work too terribly hard for good grades. I played basketball and loved it. I ran track and played volleyball and hated them, so opted for a lower grade and study hall. After high school, I went to Wayland Baptist College in Plainview, Texas. I majored in History with an eye to becoming a history teacher. I became disillusioned with school and dropped out. I went to work in a music store and later a bank. It was while working in the bank and living in Clovis, New Mexico, that I met my future husband.
I met my husband in early 1975. He was in the Air Force stationed at Cannon Air Force Base outside of Clovis, New Mexico. We dated for a few months and then got married in September of 1975. It was he who introduced me the all the petty sins of life; drinking, smoking, recreational drugs and some things that God has told us should not even be mentioned (Ephesians 5:12). I would like to blame all of the time I spent in rebellion against God on my husband. He is the one who introduced me to all those worldly pleasures, but I was the one who said yes to them. I am living proof of the verse that says, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33b CSB). We were married for 13 years. I guess he got tired of not only our disgusting lifestyle, but also of me. We separated in 1988. The divorce was not technically final until 1989 but there was no marriage that last year, so I don’t count it. The next 7 years were spent in full out rebellion. Sowing as many wild oats as was physically possible!
But God will not leave His chosen in sin (Ephesians 2:4-10). Praise God! I can say with David, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” (Psalms 40:2 KJV) After 20 years of rebellion, God began to call me back into the fold. It wasn’t an easy road back. This is when the Lord sent me into exile!
I have learned a lot during the time since I returned to the Lord and the Church in 1995. I learned that not all churches are the same with only minor doctrinal differences. Some of those doctrinal differences are huge. Over a 7 year period, I was involved with the Apostolic movement, the Word of Faith movement, the Charismatic movement, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church. I do not call that a movement because they have been an established denomination since the late 1800s. I then settled into a non-denominational church. The pastor was a very good teacher and I learned a lot under his tutelage. Via the internet, I met wonderful Bible teachers such as John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, John Gerstner, Alistair Begg, Buck Hatch, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and many, many more. It was those men who taught me how to be a workman who rightly understood and taught the Word of God and so need not be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15).
During my 19 years in that small church in South Carolina, I also learned that a smart man can know and believe the scriptures and teach them effectively and still have the same faults and foibles and often manipulative behavior of any other man. When God began to wake me up from the stupor I had been in for most of those years, I became the target of a number of very hurtful actions. When I dared to point out a biblically wrong statement from the sermon, I was shunned. No one looked at or spoke to me for 2 months but still expected me to continue to take care of the money and anything else “the pastor” wanted or needed. The final straw was when the pastor decided that my problem was that I was autistic.
There were many times that I tried to escape that exile. But God was in control the whole time and I had not learned what I was supposed to learn. In Jeremiah 29, God tell the Israelites to settle down because they were going to be in Babylon for 70 years and then he would come for them. I wish I had taken those passages more personally.
My move to Graham was the end of my exile. God came for me and delivered me. I can see that during that time I have learned so much about Him and about myself. I am stronger now and I am determined to see the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of women; creating courageous, joyous, vibrant “martyrs” for Christ!