Full Biography
I like to know something about others. Understanding their background makes it easier to connect. If you feel the same, here’s a bit of my history.
I grew up in church. My family lived just a few blocks from the little stone church we attended, and we were there for every service, meeting, and dinner on the agenda. I was sweet and compliant until I went away to college. Then being popular became my god and fitting-in was my lifestyle. People probably labeled me “rebellious,” but actually I just desperately wanted to be acceptable to everyone. That leads to lots of problems.
If my church taught that salvation is only available through a relationship with Jesus and dependence on Him, I missed it. I knew Bible stories, but I didn’t know the One those stories told about. What I learned seemed pretty boring. Being good was important, but I figured there’d be plenty of time for that after I was too old to have fun. I did make a few appearances at church during my college years to assuage my conscience and see if there were any cute guys.
Jerry and I met while he was in the Navy in Norman, Oklahoma and discovered that my school, Texas Women’s University, was a treasure trove of girls. One day my roommate and I were driving to Dallas in a borrowed pink convertible, and stopped for gas as we left town. Jerry had hitched a ride with some buddies to spend a weekend in Denton. They followed us into the gas station, jumped out of their car and surrounded ours. Jerry happened to wind up on my side, so we chatted for a few minutes, and the next time he was in town he looked me up. Who’d have dreamed that a brief encounter like that would lead to marriage? I won’t go into details of our dating and getting married. Our kids groan and roll their eyes at what they consider a totally unromantic, long-distance courtship, but we’ve spent over 50 years together, continually learning more about each other.
Jerry was also raised going to church, but his family wasn’t as involved as mine, and the culture in Kohler, Wisconsin was much more relaxed. His parents met at a church dance. Dancing would have shocked the congregation I grew up in. Getting together for a beer was totally acceptable (gasp), and they often played cards with friends (another no-no). Jerry figured he was qualified for heaven because he was baptized as a baby and later went through catechism.
After Jerry and I were married we went to church most Sundays, just because that’s how we were raised. Through the years we lived in Kansas, then California, Chicago, and finally back to Kansas. In ten years we had five children. Our lives were busy, but sometimes everything seemed meaningless to me.
If anyone had asked, “Are you a Christian?” I would probably have been indignant. “Well, of course!” But was I? The few times I read the Bible it only led to questions—what was it was about the early Christians that made them willing to die for what they believed? I sure didn’t know anyone like that. Did that kind of faith end with the closing pages of the Bible?
We made friends at the church we attended, but I saw something weird going on with some of the women. They started a prayer group and kept asking me to join them. I figured I was much too busy to sit around with a bunch of gossips! And yet I was drawn to those women. My life felt empty, but for some reason I didn’t want anything to do with whatever was happening.
I finally agreed to go to one of their prayer meetings, and was amazed by what I saw. These ladies were super excited about what the Lord had done in their lives—just since they got together the week before. There was love and joy unlike any other lady’s group I’d been with. I was even more confused.
Was there something more to life than I had experienced? One afternoon while the older kids were at school and our youngest was napping, I sat on the couch in the living room and emptied my heart. I asked the Lord to show me what was going on and then pleaded with Jesus to forgive me for all the stupid, wrong things I had done. I gave Him my life and asked Him to make it what He wanted it to be. I told Him I didn’t even know what was real and what wasn’t, but I wanted everything He had to give.
At that moment I realized that I had absolutely nothing worthwhile to offer. I’d always believed you had to be “good enough” to please God, but suddenly I knew that all the “good” things I had ever done amounted to a big fat zero from God’s viewpoint.
The Lord became alive to me that day. After all my years in churches—thinking I was a Christian—I suddenly knew I’d missed the truth. All He asked was for me to give Him my life. He accepted that insignificant offering, and filled me with His Holy Spirit. I had nothing of value for Him, but at last I understood that He had already given His most precious gift—His very life—just because He loves me.
In those first moments, Jesus filled me with joy and peace beyond anything I had ever experienced. It wasn’t something I worked up on my own, but like an artesian well, springing from within.
I could hardly wait to tell Jerry. I was absolutely positive he would be excited and want the same thing for himself. Apparently I didn’t know him very well. When he walked in the door that evening he sensed a difference in me and he didn’t like it. Didn’t want any part of it! I now believe the spirit in him recognized the Holy Spirit Who had come to live in me, and declared war, before we even spoke
Jerry wanted his “old wife” back, but I knew I would never be the same. I honestly didn’t try to preach to him—well, at least not that day. But a solid wall sprang up between us, and though we lived in the same house we were miles apart for the next four years.
One day, about three years after I gave my heart to Jesus, I sensed that I needed to relinquish everything that I considered “mine” to Him in a deeper way. I held it out to Him, to use however He wanted, to open Jerry’s heart to salvation. I gave God our marriage, family, home, health—my very life. I already knew it all belonged to Him, but giving it back was a wonderfully freeing experience. I “danced” through the rest of that day feeling lighthearted and refreshed.
For the first time in a long time I was actually eager for Jerry to come home from work. When he arrived, the kids were happy, the house was reasonably clean, a meal was ready, and his first words to me were, “I’ve decided I can’t live like this anymore. I want a divorce.”
What? That wasn’t supposed to happen! I gave it to God to fix things, not destroy my life. I felt betrayed. Eventually I got around to talking to Jesus about the mess He made, and realized that when we give something to Him, He takes us seriously. Even though it’s really not ours to give, He accepts our offering, and gets down to business.
I gradually recovered from the shock of realizing that the Lord was doing what I asked without checking with me first to see if I approved of His method. I’d handed it all to Him. And the strangest thing happened. In the midst of that terrible upheaval, peace filled my heart. The Holy Spirit revealed things about my own life—some things I didn’t necessarily care to know—that needed to be worked out. He started making changes in me and opening my eyes to see Him in our situation.
I learned so much during that trial, including how to trust God even when things look hopeless. He gave me the grace to love my sometimes-less-than-lovable husband. I’d have preferred just watching everything fall into place like a fairytale, but God obviously didn’t think that was the best plan. He showed me that my job wasn’t to remake Jerry into the person I wanted, but to concentrate on becoming the person I was created to be while He worked on my husband. Day by day He’s been shaping me into the person He wants me to be. He has proven He can be trusted, even though sometimes I doubt and have little faith.
God changed the way I looked at Jerry and the disaster our marriage had become. When I felt desperate, I asked the Lord to let me see Jerry through Jesus’ love, and the despair evaporated. Whatever happened to our future, I knew I could trust Him to go through it with me. It wasn’t easy, but I learned more during that time than I ever had before, and God’s love and peace was overwhelming. Everything in the Bible became real and relevant.
When Jerry finally gave his life to the Lord, he said, “I couldn’t resist the love and joy.” I guarantee I wasn’t always loving and kind. God also knew how to keep Jerry from seeing some of the less-than-lovable-and-joyous stuff!
God used a book by Chuck Colson to get Jerry’s attention. Colson was a White House hatchet man during the Nixon administration. He wound up going to jail for his part in the Watergate scandal, but it changed his life. God worked through his circumstances to draw him into a deep, vital relationship.
Jerry was fascinated with Watergate and read everything he could find about it, including Colson’s first book, Born Again. It impacted Jerry powerfully. He read it with tears streaming down his cheeks and later said, “If God could change someone as nasty as Charles Colson, He must be real and powerful enough to work in my life.”
Jerry accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior on Easter Sunday of 1977, and that night he said, “I want to open a Christian bookstore.” But that’s another story.
Jesus proves to anyone who is open that He is who He says He is, and does what He says He’ll do. We can believe Him or reject Him, but His incredible, loving sacrifice demands a response. I can’t imagine saying “no” to such love!
I grew up in church. My family lived just a few blocks from the little stone church we attended, and we were there for every service, meeting, and dinner on the agenda. I was sweet and compliant until I went away to college. Then being popular became my god and fitting-in was my lifestyle. People probably labeled me “rebellious,” but actually I just desperately wanted to be acceptable to everyone. That leads to lots of problems.
If my church taught that salvation is only available through a relationship with Jesus and dependence on Him, I missed it. I knew Bible stories, but I didn’t know the One those stories told about. What I learned seemed pretty boring. Being good was important, but I figured there’d be plenty of time for that after I was too old to have fun. I did make a few appearances at church during my college years to assuage my conscience and see if there were any cute guys.
Jerry and I met while he was in the Navy in Norman, Oklahoma and discovered that my school, Texas Women’s University, was a treasure trove of girls. One day my roommate and I were driving to Dallas in a borrowed pink convertible, and stopped for gas as we left town. Jerry had hitched a ride with some buddies to spend a weekend in Denton. They followed us into the gas station, jumped out of their car and surrounded ours. Jerry happened to wind up on my side, so we chatted for a few minutes, and the next time he was in town he looked me up. Who’d have dreamed that a brief encounter like that would lead to marriage? I won’t go into details of our dating and getting married. Our kids groan and roll their eyes at what they consider a totally unromantic, long-distance courtship, but we’ve spent over 50 years together, continually learning more about each other.
Jerry was also raised going to church, but his family wasn’t as involved as mine, and the culture in Kohler, Wisconsin was much more relaxed. His parents met at a church dance. Dancing would have shocked the congregation I grew up in. Getting together for a beer was totally acceptable (gasp), and they often played cards with friends (another no-no). Jerry figured he was qualified for heaven because he was baptized as a baby and later went through catechism.
After Jerry and I were married we went to church most Sundays, just because that’s how we were raised. Through the years we lived in Kansas, then California, Chicago, and finally back to Kansas. In ten years we had five children. Our lives were busy, but sometimes everything seemed meaningless to me.
If anyone had asked, “Are you a Christian?” I would probably have been indignant. “Well, of course!” But was I? The few times I read the Bible it only led to questions—what was it was about the early Christians that made them willing to die for what they believed? I sure didn’t know anyone like that. Did that kind of faith end with the closing pages of the Bible?
We made friends at the church we attended, but I saw something weird going on with some of the women. They started a prayer group and kept asking me to join them. I figured I was much too busy to sit around with a bunch of gossips! And yet I was drawn to those women. My life felt empty, but for some reason I didn’t want anything to do with whatever was happening.
I finally agreed to go to one of their prayer meetings, and was amazed by what I saw. These ladies were super excited about what the Lord had done in their lives—just since they got together the week before. There was love and joy unlike any other lady’s group I’d been with. I was even more confused.
Was there something more to life than I had experienced? One afternoon while the older kids were at school and our youngest was napping, I sat on the couch in the living room and emptied my heart. I asked the Lord to show me what was going on and then pleaded with Jesus to forgive me for all the stupid, wrong things I had done. I gave Him my life and asked Him to make it what He wanted it to be. I told Him I didn’t even know what was real and what wasn’t, but I wanted everything He had to give.
At that moment I realized that I had absolutely nothing worthwhile to offer. I’d always believed you had to be “good enough” to please God, but suddenly I knew that all the “good” things I had ever done amounted to a big fat zero from God’s viewpoint.
The Lord became alive to me that day. After all my years in churches—thinking I was a Christian—I suddenly knew I’d missed the truth. All He asked was for me to give Him my life. He accepted that insignificant offering, and filled me with His Holy Spirit. I had nothing of value for Him, but at last I understood that He had already given His most precious gift—His very life—just because He loves me.
In those first moments, Jesus filled me with joy and peace beyond anything I had ever experienced. It wasn’t something I worked up on my own, but like an artesian well, springing from within.
I could hardly wait to tell Jerry. I was absolutely positive he would be excited and want the same thing for himself. Apparently I didn’t know him very well. When he walked in the door that evening he sensed a difference in me and he didn’t like it. Didn’t want any part of it! I now believe the spirit in him recognized the Holy Spirit Who had come to live in me, and declared war, before we even spoke
Jerry wanted his “old wife” back, but I knew I would never be the same. I honestly didn’t try to preach to him—well, at least not that day. But a solid wall sprang up between us, and though we lived in the same house we were miles apart for the next four years.
One day, about three years after I gave my heart to Jesus, I sensed that I needed to relinquish everything that I considered “mine” to Him in a deeper way. I held it out to Him, to use however He wanted, to open Jerry’s heart to salvation. I gave God our marriage, family, home, health—my very life. I already knew it all belonged to Him, but giving it back was a wonderfully freeing experience. I “danced” through the rest of that day feeling lighthearted and refreshed.
For the first time in a long time I was actually eager for Jerry to come home from work. When he arrived, the kids were happy, the house was reasonably clean, a meal was ready, and his first words to me were, “I’ve decided I can’t live like this anymore. I want a divorce.”
What? That wasn’t supposed to happen! I gave it to God to fix things, not destroy my life. I felt betrayed. Eventually I got around to talking to Jesus about the mess He made, and realized that when we give something to Him, He takes us seriously. Even though it’s really not ours to give, He accepts our offering, and gets down to business.
I gradually recovered from the shock of realizing that the Lord was doing what I asked without checking with me first to see if I approved of His method. I’d handed it all to Him. And the strangest thing happened. In the midst of that terrible upheaval, peace filled my heart. The Holy Spirit revealed things about my own life—some things I didn’t necessarily care to know—that needed to be worked out. He started making changes in me and opening my eyes to see Him in our situation.
I learned so much during that trial, including how to trust God even when things look hopeless. He gave me the grace to love my sometimes-less-than-lovable husband. I’d have preferred just watching everything fall into place like a fairytale, but God obviously didn’t think that was the best plan. He showed me that my job wasn’t to remake Jerry into the person I wanted, but to concentrate on becoming the person I was created to be while He worked on my husband. Day by day He’s been shaping me into the person He wants me to be. He has proven He can be trusted, even though sometimes I doubt and have little faith.
God changed the way I looked at Jerry and the disaster our marriage had become. When I felt desperate, I asked the Lord to let me see Jerry through Jesus’ love, and the despair evaporated. Whatever happened to our future, I knew I could trust Him to go through it with me. It wasn’t easy, but I learned more during that time than I ever had before, and God’s love and peace was overwhelming. Everything in the Bible became real and relevant.
When Jerry finally gave his life to the Lord, he said, “I couldn’t resist the love and joy.” I guarantee I wasn’t always loving and kind. God also knew how to keep Jerry from seeing some of the less-than-lovable-and-joyous stuff!
God used a book by Chuck Colson to get Jerry’s attention. Colson was a White House hatchet man during the Nixon administration. He wound up going to jail for his part in the Watergate scandal, but it changed his life. God worked through his circumstances to draw him into a deep, vital relationship.
Jerry was fascinated with Watergate and read everything he could find about it, including Colson’s first book, Born Again. It impacted Jerry powerfully. He read it with tears streaming down his cheeks and later said, “If God could change someone as nasty as Charles Colson, He must be real and powerful enough to work in my life.”
Jerry accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior on Easter Sunday of 1977, and that night he said, “I want to open a Christian bookstore.” But that’s another story.
Jesus proves to anyone who is open that He is who He says He is, and does what He says He’ll do. We can believe Him or reject Him, but His incredible, loving sacrifice demands a response. I can’t imagine saying “no” to such love!