Sandra McGill’s Story: Barely Scraping By
Sandra McGill never dreamed she’d be a pastor’s wife. When she and Joe married in 1954, he hadn’t told her about his call to preach.
Joe and Sandra’s journey soon took them from their native South Carolina to New Orleans, where Joe enrolled in seminary. While there, he pastored a small church on the west bank of the Mississippi River. It was a very poor section of town and primarily Roman Catholic. The local people called him Father Joe or The Baptist Priest.
That is just one of many great memories Sandra cherishes since Joe died in March 2005. She has been helped by GuideStone’s Mission:Dignity® ministry after his passing.
“We had an interesting life together,” Sandra says. “We pastored quite a few churches, in four different states, and all but a couple were little country churches that were barely scraping by.
“At one particular church, we made $200 a week and paid $200 a month for house rent. We had one child still at home. We had barely enough to live on, much less to put something into any kind of savings or annuity.
“We just depended on the Lord.”
Even today, with just a small widow’s benefit from GuideStone® and a modest Social Security check, Sandra continues to depend on the Lord for everyday needs and has experienced His generosity and kindness through her Southern Baptist family through Mission:Dignity.
“After Joe died, I got a letter saying Mission:Dignity would supply me with $200 a month if I needed it,” Sandra says. “There were several times that I would have this bill and wouldn’t know how to pay it. The Lord just blessed. He multiplies things. If it hadn’t been for that extra money, I would not have been able to have dental work done. There are times that I had to use it for car repair. Sometimes an extra, unexpected emergency would come up.
“The Lord has just provided for me so much,” she notes. “I just ask Him to bless the people that make Mission:Dignity possible, that He will give them special blessings and continue to bless them as they bless me.”