My first engagement with IBL was during a church leadership summit. IBL was brought in to help guide our church through a new leadership structure. Little did I know a few months later, I would be needing them to guide me through the most difficult season in my life.
My name is Steven Polk and I serve as the Pastor of Worship and Pastoral Care at FiveStone Community Church in Garland, TX. I have served as a pastor for over thirty years. Never did I think I would need the services that David and Dawn provided in my time of need.
In January of 2020 I found myself in the loneliest, darkest season of my life. My wife of thirty years walked out on me, saying she was not sure she would ever come back and was not interested in being the wife of a pastor any longer. For those of you in ministry, can you imagine what would happen to your world should you find
yourself in that moment? I could not. I never imagined I would be facing these unbelievable circumstances. At this point, since you are reading a newsletter from a ministry concerning its counseling services, you are probably expecting to hear a miraculous, happily-ever-after story where the wife comes home, and reconciliation takes place, and the marriage is put back together and is stronger than ever before. Unfortunately, that is not my story.
My marriage ended in divorce. That’s my story. However, that’s not the end of my story. God
is still writing His story in my life; and because I am a child of God, I believe my story will end in a happily-ever-after because I know God is working everything to my good because I love Him and am called to His purposes (Romans 8:28)! Following my wife’s departure in January, the leadership of my church encouraged me to enter into counseling with David and Dawn. At that time, I thought I had been hrough enough counseling to last a lifetime. My wife and I had been going to counseling but it didn’t seem to be helping–at least not
in our marriage and I sure wasn’t excited about hearing someone else’s version of what we needed to do to save our marriage.
But nothing else seemed to be working, so I suggested we give it a try. Unfortunately, my wife would not agree to go. So, I thought to myself, “I need to see the work God wants to do in me because I know this isn’t all on my wife. I need to take responsibility for my part in the place we find ourselves.”
“I am not the author of my story. God is writing my story and he is developing my character as He does so.”
In May of 2020 I traveled to North Carolina (yes, in the heart of the pandemic) to walk through
a five-day counseling intensive with David and Dawn. It would be misleading to only tell you the results of the week–which have been a great blessing in my life. The truth is, it was a gut-wrenching week of soul-searching, honesty, anger, and deep sorrow. I learned that lying underneath the fruit of my life were deep roots that needed to be identified, brought to the surface and addressed. Without identifying and dealing with these roots I would simply repeat the past, and that was
not something I was interested in. David and Dawn patiently, lovingly, yet firmly helped me walk through the week. Again, it was a painful path to walk but I knew I had two friends, a brother and sister in Christ to guide me. They had my best interest at heart.
By the end of the week, I had a plan in place for working through the issues we had identified. It is now a new year–2021, and I can honestly say God has used David and Dawn to help me see hope in the future, to see that God is not through with me yet. To see that
I can overcome the enemy and have victory over the traps he has set for me. No, I wouldn’t have written my life’s story this way. But I am not the author of my story. God is writing my story and he is developing my character as He does so. Because of David and Dawn’s help and God’s mercy and grace, I am changed. There will be more challenges ahead, but I am confident God’s plan is good, and the ending of the story is perfect!