mhd_badgirls_82503

Posted: 8/22/03

Mary Hill Davis gifts help set 'bad girls' straight

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

AMARILLO–Participants in the Amarillo Christian Women's Job Corps enjoy a class where they study “Bad Girls of the Bible.”

“They can relate,” said Janie Braddock-Gafford, a graduate of the program who now helps coordinate ministries at the Amarillo site.

It's not that she thinks they're bad. But she knows that some have made bad choices in life, and some were trapped in bad relationships. And they all want to see examples of imperfect women of faith who overcame past problems by God's grace.

That's where Braddock-Gafford comes in.

“I let them get to know me before I talk about it,” she explained. “They think I'm a churchy lady. Then when we're in Bible study, they learn about my past. That's when they say: 'Wow! She's just like me. If she can do it, I can, too.'”

Braddock-Gafford's father abused her physically when she was a child, she said. At age 12, she attended a Girls in Action summer camp where she made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

“My life changed drastically after that. I went home and told my father he could not hurt me anymore because I belonged to God, and through divine grace, he didn't,” she said.

But that childhood experience with Christ did not prevent her from making unfortunate choices as a young adult. She married, divorced and then became involved in fraud in an attempt to secure medical attention and food for her four children. Later, when she became engaged again, she said her fiancée violently abused her.

Even so, Braddock-Gafford believed God never stopped loving her. As far as she was concerned, he continued to send what she called “earth angels” into her life to help her.

“The Lord put people in my path every day,” she said.

She believes God also directed her attention to a flier she saw posted at a laundromat. It advertised computer classes at the Amarillo Christian Women's Job Corps.

She was out of work since health problems prevented her from continuing the heavy lifting required of a home health-care provider. A combination of arthritis and two hip-replacement operations left her temporarily confined to a wheelchair.

“I went to Christian Women's Job Corps to acquire the computer skills I needed to change professions,” she said. “I came out uplifted and self-assured.”

Christian Women's Job Corps, a ministry of Woman's Missionary Union, teaches job skills and life skills in a Christian context to low-income women. Texas Baptists help to support 26 Christian Women's Job Corps sites around the state through gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.

Braddock-Gafford considered the daily Bible studies at Christian Women's Job Corps “wonderful” and the computer classes invaluable. But she said the most significant part of the program for her was the relationships she established with classmates.

“I made lifelong friends,” she said. “There's a real bonding that takes place, and we benefit from the encouragement we give each other.”

When she completed the program, she felt a strong sense that God was leading her to “give back” to the ministry. She received that opportunity when she was invited to join the Christian Women's Job Corps staff.

Now she shares the responsibilities of site coordinator with Sylvia Jordan, enlisting teachers, matching mentors with students and promoting the ministry in churches throughout the area.

She particularly enjoys interacting with students and rejoicing in their personal victories. To date, 60 women have completed the program at the Amarillo site, and three are attending college.

“I try to be an inspiration to all of the ladies who come through our doors. I tell them, 'If I can do it and come from where I came from, you can do it too.'”

In Braddock-Gafford's self-estimation, she's gone from “bad girl” to “earth angel.”