Polly Girod

November 3, 2015

I was born in Nunnelly, TN. Then, we moved to Homer, MI, Granger, MN, Downing, MO, and Keytesville, MO. We seemed to move about every five years! When I was seventeen years old, I took instruction classes and joined the Amish church. I enjoyed being with the other young folks, and so Sundays were always the highlight of my week.

As time went on, the ministers started picking on me about my hair and cap. I had two brothers and two sisters. My oldest brother had Downs Syndrome. Both of my sisters got married, and I longed for someone to love me just as I was and with whom we could have a family.

When I was twenty-six, a neighbor whom I thought was a good friend took advantage of me. Even at the age of 26, I had no idea about the “birds and the bees” and did not know anything about the process of having babies. In the Amish eyes, I had no boyfriend and was not married, so there was no reason why I should know. May God forgive them!

Well—when they found out, I was put in the bann, which lasted for eight weeks, during which time they kept criticizing my cap and made me promise to make a new one, which had to be made within two weeks and approved by the deacon. It took me three tries until I made one that they approved, and that was just so I could help with communion. The day of communion, the deacon came and told me that I could not help because of my cap! I was very mad! I could not understand how they had so much power, while they teach and preach that everyone should examine himself according to what the Bible says.

Often I would cry myself to sleep and wonder, “Why me?” How could ministers tell someone that he cannot come to church for a few months until her hair is long enough? How could they preach at someone during the sermon when the sermon was supposed to come from God? It seemed like I was in a dark tunnel with no light.

A few months later, I was placed in the bann for two weeks because of my cap. I could feel the hatred that people had for me. I had no one whom I could trust and could not take it any longer. I called a neighbor boy who had left the Amish a few years earlier, and he made arrangements with his aunt and uncle, Ida and Glen Yoder, to come and pick me up. They picked me up on Sunday morning, May 06, 2012.

I left a note in our greenhouse, and with just the clothes I was wearing, a checkbook, birth certificate, and Social Security number, I left home. The Yoders lived about three hours from us, in Kahoka, Mo. I asked Ida what they did for a living, and she told me that Glen was a pastor in a Baptist church. “OH, NO,” I thought. I had left the Amish because of the ministers, and now I was going to stay in a pastor’s house?

While I stayed with the Yoders, every morning they would read and discuss the Bible. I was so hungry to hear the word of God that sometimes we sat there until noon discussing the Scriptures! Four weeks after I left the Amish, on June 06, 2012, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. It was pretty difficult to do, knowing that my family would reject me. I still wore a scarf as a head covering for three or four months after I had left, as it had been deeply ingrained into me that God would not hear my prayers if I did not wear something on my head.

The Yoders never pressured me to take off my head covering, but we discussed wat the Bible says about it. I remember exactly where I was working when it dawned on me that Ephesians 2:8-9 really means what it says. I was wearing my head covering just for works. Ephesians 2:8-9 have been my favorite verses since then.

After I accepted Jesus into my heart, God blessed me with what I had always wished for—and more! On November 10, I began talking on the phone with Samuel At the end on November, on the phone, he asked me to marry him! We met for the first time on December 05, in Ohio. While there, we got our wedding clothes, and then on December 29, 2012, we got married in Kahoka, Missouri!

God has been blessing us ever since. He has given us three beautiful children, Rebecca, Malachi, and Loretta. We pray that God would continue to lead us—and that we would faithfully and fully follow Him.

This testimony has been published with permission from the owner.

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