Faith Journey of Sherry Allen: Trust in God when People Mistreat You!
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The Faith Journey of Sherry Allen: Trust in God when people mistreat you!
God helped Sherry survive her trials and tribulations.
On February 4th 2007 I sat among a group that came to hear the Faith Journey of Sherry Allen. Being early in the morning most in attendance were still struggling to get their eyes to focus. Many had either just had their morning coffee or were still drinking it.
Sherry sat in one of North Raleigh United Church's stackable chairs. The church, which recently voted to call itself Umpstead Park UCC, has been allowing members to share how they came to believe what it is they believe pretty much since its inception.
It didn't take Sherry long to wake up the gathering.
She told her story from her childhood as a foster child where she suffered years of abuse. Abuse at the hands of her foster mother's daughter in Illinois. It is a strange story for most of us with our middle class upbringings.
When Sherry spoke of happy events in her youth, her smile lit up like sunshine on a warm summer's day. We could feel the joy radiate from her.
When she spoke of abuses she suffered the pain in her emotions so strongly that they could bring tears to the eyes of the most stoic of men.
Her story held us tightly in its grip as Sherry grew into a teenager with a normal life anywhere but at home. On the one hand Sherry had grown to love and respect her foster mother; on the other hand she needed to escape from the mental, physical and sexual abuse of her older step sister.
At seventeen she escaped. At least that was what she thought.
In the process of running away from home, she discovered her real mother. At first she thought it would be a fairy tale ending. But her mother was unprepared to acknowledge her and it was a difficult situation instead. The lack of welcoming and protection from her birth mother hurt Sherry in ways that would remain for years.
Sherry lead us through her marriage and the birth of her first child. She loved this young child then and clearly does to this day. Just like everything in Sherry's life the birth was difficult and complicated.
She and her husband were in the Air Force and with the child Sherry decided to get out rather than re-up. As things happened both she and her husband ended up out of the service. That was the event that brought her to North Carolina from the middle states.
Her step sister had kept track of Sherry's movements and had decided that she wanted Sherry's daughter. With the help of the local police she trumped up a charge that Sherry was abusing the child.
With the assistance of a Durham judge and a first year defense lawyer, Sherry was given a Life sentence. Sherry didn't know what they had done to her and didn't find out how her step sister had manipulated the North Carolina justice system. Like many people tripped up by a poor understanding of what is going on in the justice system, it wasn't until she was sent to prison that she realized what her step sister had been able to pull off.
Worse yet the judge gave custody of Sherry's daughter to her step sister who had abused her in her childhood. She repeated the abuse thanks to the state justice system. To make things worse, as her daughter grew and received similar treatment at the hands of this woman who was not even related to her, the courts refused to allow her to return to North Carolina.
I know, those of us who haven't been crushed by the legal system have a hard time understanding how a court can deprive both a mother and a child of their rights based on false testimony.
Finally Sherry's daughter was allowed to return to North Carolina. Since she was a legal ward of the State the whole time, the State was put in a box when she became pregnant. They were responsible for her care and had failed miserably.
Sherry was locked up from the time she was 27 until she was 47 because she couldn't defend herself against a system that acted perniciously. She wasn't even allowed to seek her freedom until she had served twenty years. Finally she got a parole hearing which resulted in her return to the community.
With the help of Denise Long, a minister and pastor's wife, she discovered the North Raleigh church (soon to be Umpstead Park) where she found a church as a place where she could thrive.
Sherry's faith journey has been long and tormenting. It has included times of tribulation intermingled with times of hope.
Sherry spent twenty years behind bars but she didn't waste that time complaining and sulking. She earned both an Associates Degree and a Bachelor's Degree while she was incarcerated.
She hopes that she will see the day when her record is cleared.
With support from her church friends she has reestablished herself in the community, she has her own home and a good job.
There is a lot more to her story, but in one hour she was only able to give us a small taste of an incredible life.
source
The Faith Journey of Sherry Allen: Trust in God when people mistreat you!
God helped Sherry survive her trials and tribulations.
On February 4th 2007 I sat among a group that came to hear the Faith Journey of Sherry Allen. Being early in the morning most in attendance were still struggling to get their eyes to focus. Many had either just had their morning coffee or were still drinking it.
Sherry sat in one of North Raleigh United Church's stackable chairs. The church, which recently voted to call itself Umpstead Park UCC, has been allowing members to share how they came to believe what it is they believe pretty much since its inception.
It didn't take Sherry long to wake up the gathering.
She told her story from her childhood as a foster child where she suffered years of abuse. Abuse at the hands of her foster mother's daughter in Illinois. It is a strange story for most of us with our middle class upbringings.
When Sherry spoke of happy events in her youth, her smile lit up like sunshine on a warm summer's day. We could feel the joy radiate from her.
When she spoke of abuses she suffered the pain in her emotions so strongly that they could bring tears to the eyes of the most stoic of men.
Her story held us tightly in its grip as Sherry grew into a teenager with a normal life anywhere but at home. On the one hand Sherry had grown to love and respect her foster mother; on the other hand she needed to escape from the mental, physical and sexual abuse of her older step sister.
At seventeen she escaped. At least that was what she thought.
In the process of running away from home, she discovered her real mother. At first she thought it would be a fairy tale ending. But her mother was unprepared to acknowledge her and it was a difficult situation instead. The lack of welcoming and protection from her birth mother hurt Sherry in ways that would remain for years.
Sherry lead us through her marriage and the birth of her first child. She loved this young child then and clearly does to this day. Just like everything in Sherry's life the birth was difficult and complicated.
She and her husband were in the Air Force and with the child Sherry decided to get out rather than re-up. As things happened both she and her husband ended up out of the service. That was the event that brought her to North Carolina from the middle states.
Her step sister had kept track of Sherry's movements and had decided that she wanted Sherry's daughter. With the help of the local police she trumped up a charge that Sherry was abusing the child.
With the assistance of a Durham judge and a first year defense lawyer, Sherry was given a Life sentence. Sherry didn't know what they had done to her and didn't find out how her step sister had manipulated the North Carolina justice system. Like many people tripped up by a poor understanding of what is going on in the justice system, it wasn't until she was sent to prison that she realized what her step sister had been able to pull off.
Worse yet the judge gave custody of Sherry's daughter to her step sister who had abused her in her childhood. She repeated the abuse thanks to the state justice system. To make things worse, as her daughter grew and received similar treatment at the hands of this woman who was not even related to her, the courts refused to allow her to return to North Carolina.
I know, those of us who haven't been crushed by the legal system have a hard time understanding how a court can deprive both a mother and a child of their rights based on false testimony.
Finally Sherry's daughter was allowed to return to North Carolina. Since she was a legal ward of the State the whole time, the State was put in a box when she became pregnant. They were responsible for her care and had failed miserably.
Sherry was locked up from the time she was 27 until she was 47 because she couldn't defend herself against a system that acted perniciously. She wasn't even allowed to seek her freedom until she had served twenty years. Finally she got a parole hearing which resulted in her return to the community.
With the help of Denise Long, a minister and pastor's wife, she discovered the North Raleigh church (soon to be Umpstead Park) where she found a church as a place where she could thrive.
Sherry's faith journey has been long and tormenting. It has included times of tribulation intermingled with times of hope.
Sherry spent twenty years behind bars but she didn't waste that time complaining and sulking. She earned both an Associates Degree and a Bachelor's Degree while she was incarcerated.
She hopes that she will see the day when her record is cleared.
With support from her church friends she has reestablished herself in the community, she has her own home and a good job.
There is a lot more to her story, but in one hour she was only able to give us a small taste of an incredible life.
