From Pain to Promise

About the Author

Hello, my name is Mary Froese, 

I have loved God all my life and even as a little girl, I wanted to be where He was.  I was reared in the Assembly of God Church and was taken to church by aunts, neighbors and sometimes by my parents.  I grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas and moved to Oklahoma City when entering high school. 

Every Sunday of my life, I spent weeping at the altar, because of sin I had committed that week.  Never did anyone explain to me what true salvation was.  That my part was receiving Jesus into my heart and trusting in His salvation…not in my ability to live above sin. As it is wanting to do, life got in the way and I realized I wouldn’t be able to get a boyfriend if I didn’t wear make-up, and I couldn’t be a Christian and do such a thing!  So, sadly, I was for the first time distant from my God.

 I found my life partner and was married at 17.  We both talked about having a Christian home, but we were having too much fun doing those things we couldn’t do if we were to give our lives to Jesus.  One thing we DID know….  I didn’t want to be a Pentecostal and he didn’t want to be a Mennonite! 

We were so thrilled at the birth of Joel, our first child.  When he was ten months old, he contracted a virus that attacked his brain.  After a 10-day stint in the hospital, the doctors placed him in the arms of my husband and advised us, “Your child is a vegetable.  You need to put him away and forget him!”  At that point he was having 50 grand mal seizures per day.  We took him home, placed him in his baby bed and we stood looking at him through our tears.  

Finally, Allen took me by the scruff of the neck, propelled me to our bedroom beside our bed.  He pushed me down to my knees and he got down beside me.  At that point he cried, “Help God!  We can’t do this on our own!”  I believe with everything in me at that moment, the Lord looked down – surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses – and said, “Do you see that young couple down there. They have asked for my help.  I’m going to take this great tragedy and turn it into the biggest blessing in their lives.” 

Then our lives began.  We had a second son, Scott.  Joel, our handicapped son blessed people for the next 56 years.  We became a part of the Southern Baptist Church.  (After several years – I knew I was missing a depth of Spirituality I had sensed as a child, and I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and was a bane in the sides of Baptists for the next 35 years.)

My first book was entitled, “Heroes of a Special Kind” about all those volunteers who work with the mentally and physically handicapped in Special Olympics.  It’s stories from all over the United States and Australia.  My Second, “From Pain to Promise” is the result of my devotional time in reading the sparce accounts of Mary Magdalene.  I said, “Lord, Mary had a life.  Would you show it to me? For the next three days I sat at my computer and her story poured out my hands.  I wrote words I didn’t even know the meaning of….  Scripture dovetailed in amazing ways.  At the end I had a book that I only ever corrected the spelling!  I wrote several books for people in ministry for their use.  “Working in God’s Harvest” the Ken Steiner story and “The Country Pastor” about the ministry of Charles Grasty.  I’ve also had numerous articles published in various publications.                

In 2016, when God called his Servant Joel to be with Him, I was finally able to tell the complete, beautiful work of God in “A Special Pilgrim’s Progress.”   I now live life, day by day, to serve the Lord I love and can hardly wait to be with!