The Key to Being Free
by Melanie Hemry
An organ played hymns as Mary Holland slipped into the pew of an Assemblies of God church in Jacksonville, Fla. She’d been invited there by a friend.
At 21, Mary was no stranger to church. One of eight children, she had been raised in a Baptist church where her dad was a beloved and esteemed deacon. Of course, no one at church knew how he acted at home. They had no idea he was a heavy drinker, and a violent man.
No one knew Mary’s home was like a war zone—except the police. They had been called there many times, only to find Mary’s mother beaten and bloody and the children cowering in fear. Their usual response was equal to no response: “Keep it down,” they warned. “You’re disturbing the peace.”
Not once was Mary’s father arrested, likely because the police knew her mother would not press charges.
“Don’t tell anyone how he acts,” she would plead to her children. “If he goes to jail, how can I support eight kids?”
Mary was 12 the first time she woke to find her father on her bed—massaging her feet, his hands creeping higher. She had witnessed her mother suffer at his hands for years. She refused to be his passive little victim. She would never give in to him. She fought, kicked and screamed.
“Mom! Tell Dad to get out of my room!”
Frustrated that Mary thwarted his attempts to molest her, he had begun to beat her instead. When he turned his sexual attentions to Mary’s younger sister, Mary became the furious young protector and started sleeping in the room with her sister.
Pulling her attention back to the sermon, Mary heard the pastor speak these words: “According to Mark 11:25-26, God won’t forgive us our sins unless we forgive others.”
What?
That couldn’t be in the Bible.
Mary turned to the person beside her.
* * * * * article continues on p. 16 * * * *
BVOV : 15
