 Kathie Marxen
I was
born in the hills of Pennsylvania, a coal miners’ daughter, if you
will.Iwas the middle of my four siblings and was quite adventurous as a
child, I was always looking for the next fun thing to do, swinging on
monkey vines that were cut to swing out further, climbing trees as high
as possible, or building go carts that had to be pushed to make them
go. My family moved often during my childhood years because my father
was an alcoholic and not able to hold a job after he left the coal
mines. He was forced to move his family sometimes three or four times a
year.
Although my mother was a
devout Christian, there was no godly structure in my home. It was not
until much later that I found out that my father was an alcoholic.
When I was in the sixth grade there was sexual misconduct that I hid
from my family. This placed mistrust and shame in me that would
follow me into my adulthood.
My family
moved again in the middle of my seventh grade year to Elizabethtown,
PA. In my junior year, my father became more verbally abusive. I
became rebellious and defiant of my fathers’ strict orders and went my
own way, the wrong way, down a path that lead to an abusive marriage
with two children in an a home that was unsafe.
It
was at this time that the Lord showed Himself through the Pastor of the
church that my husband and I attended. With only one egg in the house
and two small children I didn’t know how I was to feed them. The
Pastor’s wife worked at a restaurant that served PA Dutch cooking
and the pastor brought us a huge container of chicken potpie. I knew I
had to leave my husband even though I was terrified of what he might do
if he found us. As I was ironing one afternoon I started to sing a
song that the Lord put on my heart and I sang my way to freedom. Two
days later my husband was charged with a theft and I took the children
and moved back home with my parents. A few years later I was granted
total custody of my two children in which time my husband was found an
unfit father.
I became
promiscuous over the next several years. I became pregnant to someone
with whom I was involved and aborted the baby when he told me he did
not want it. After five years the relationship ended . I was full of
anger, confusion and shame. But there was also something else that was
beginning to raise its ugly head.
I met Tom, my present husband and best
friend, while we both worked at the Masonic Homes in Elizabethtown ,PA.
He worked at the orchard and in the Grand Lodge Dining Hall. Tom was
the proverbial “boy next door”. We became regulars at the town bar even
though I was having flashes of undeniable pangs of guilt because I knew
God was not pleased with her actions.
This
continued throughout the relationship. I attended church with my
parents on very few occasions, although they took my children with them
on Wednesday nights for children’s activities and on Sundays for church
services.
I and my two children
moved with Tom when we decided to leave the Masonic Homes. We moved to
Minnesota in 1985. We lived together in St. Peter for one year. In the
year of 1986, I became Mrs. Thomas Marxen. Finding resolution to one
problem, not realizing there was still more that needed to be
resolved. I worked at the Gustavus Adolfus College in St. Peter for
awhile as a custodian. Tom found a job in Jordan as an assistant
orchard manager where he was to assist in tree and fruit care.
At
this time there were problems with my son and at the age of sixteen he
left home for good. Tom and I and my daughter Angie,moved to Jordan
where I began working for the orchard as an apple packer and fruit
grader. In 1991, I found out I was pregnant, although happy, I was
also afraid because Tom had often-stated,” he wanted no children”.
When
Tom was told he was to become a father, he was happy but scared. One
morning as I was watching TV, I came across a Preacher that I heard
teaching like I've never heard before. He was preaching on covenant
relationships and how God wanted to actually have a relationship with
me! Now this was something entirely new to me, I've never heard
that God wanted to have a relationship with us! I continued to watch
and listen and I made a commitment to God that this baby would be
raised as a child of God’s, no matter what. My sister, Eileen,
introduced us to the church she attended and we became “regulars” and
got involved with the church. Two years later Tom and I took on the
teaching of the toddlers’ class and I realized I had a natural ability
in teaching the little ones. Tom decided after awhile that he was not a
"small person" teacher. I taught the same group of children for four
years and we grew up together. I had asked Jesus in my heart at the age
of twelve but now realized there was more to it than just asking Him
in. I received the power of the Holy Spirit and the ability to speak
in tongues. I continued to seek the Lord and grow.
Tom's
job was in peril at the orchard in Jordan so when God threw out a
lifeline Tom took it and the new job that came with it. We lived on the
orchard property until in the spring of 1996. We bought a home and
moved to the town of Delano where we now reside. After much debate we
found a new church through a friend, Peggy Throldahl, and realized that
God’s appointment was at His Present Glory where we are on the
Leadership Team and Tom is a Co-Pastor with Pastor Judy Sky. I am an
anointed dancer, flag bearer,and tambourine player on the Worship team.
To reach, teach,equip and to send out is the main goal in my heart.
Through
the Godly counsel of Pastor Judy Sky I have learned to be the woman He
intended me to be.I have been successful in letting my counsel help me
see myself, as I really am, not what I thought I was. I am no longer a
slave to shame, anger, self-hatred or carrying a bitter resentful
attitude towards anyone. I thank God for the counsel and I contiue to
walk through whatever is put before me by the world's enemy.
Praise
God for those who He puts in my face to see me through!
|
