When Ashley Martin was just 2 years old, her parents divorced. Since they had joint custody, she would spend 50% of her time split between her mother’s house and her father’s house. To say her child life was chaotic could be understated, as there were times when circumstances could’ve become very bad, very quick. She was able to find structure in her father’s home, who remarried when she was 4, but it was easy to feel divided between two completely different worlds.
Ever since she was 5, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. Having taught as a classroom teacher for 13 years in the public schools, she fulfilled her dream. Eventually she would go on to start Phoenixville School District’s K-12 instructional coaching program. But school wasn’t always easy for her.
As she went back and forth between homes, and experienced loss, her life began to show it. Her mother remarried, but her stepfather passed away when she was young. Her mother would divorce again, and remarry. One thing that bubbled out of Ashley was a need for control in otherwise uncontrollable circumstances. Her grades began to falter. Life was taking its toll on her and cracks were beginning to show. In high school, she had to sit down with her father as he didn’t think college would work with her current grades. He knew she needed a wake up call.
At 16 she met her now husband, Ben, who would take her to his church from time to time. Ashley grew up attending church when she was with her father, even participating in the kids choir, but something was different. For the first time she heard a clear presentation of the gospel. By age 18, she would accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, but she would lack needed discipleship for many years after.
Ashley and Ben would eventually get married and have their first son, Cian. She found that as a new mother, in an ever darker world, there was plenty to worry about and plenty out of her control. Her mother would find herself in a dire situation requiring hospitalization. Ashley felt like her mother’s life was in her hands. If Ben would leave the house, Ashley would have panic attacks. She had never experienced them before.
There was a moment during this trial with her mom that for Ashley, was a flash point. In that moment, she decided that she needed God, and she went to a church that they had been considering visiting for quite awhile. That church was Valley Forge Baptist.
She recounts this was very out of character for her, as she went by herself. When she came in, sat down, and heard the choir sing, she knew she was “home”. Every service would feel like God was speaking straight to her. The sermon series was “But God…” at the time. It was about how God can accomplish what we can’t, if we just let go.
Her life changed. She began to feel at peace, and began to know God in a way she had never felt before. She would begin to be discipled by each message. Her panic attacks ended and her anxiety stilled. He was always there, but now He was there in a more vivid, vibrant way. Her mother is now doing better. When asked about the song “Goodness of God” she responds with saying she has held personal witness to how God can work all things together for our good.
She knows what students can struggle with at home, she’s experienced it first hand. She feels that God has uniquely positioned her to speak into students lives through her own. Her life verse is Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” If you ask her, there have been plenty of times when she has not understood.
But she knows who does.
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