Racine woman credits her faith, and her congregation, for changing her life
BY MARCI LAEHR TENUTA
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, March 21, 2008 12:00 am
Freda Barkley gave up on God a long time ago.
Today she'll tell you how God, and her church, saved her and her family in every way that matters.
"Church works," Barkley said. "I'm here to tell you as a living witness that the Lord God is there to help you."
An accountant, happily married and mother of four, Barkley's life today is one she has always dreamed of. But it has been a difficult road, full of disappointments and missed opportunities, almost right from the beginning.
Barkley's parents died when she was very young. Her father was abusive and killed her mother when she was just 5, she said. He was sent away, and she and her four siblings were split up and put into Chicago's foster care system.
When she was about 7, her uncle stepped in and said he wanted to raise her, her sister and three brothers. The bachelor uncle, whom she calls Dad, reunited the five children and raised them on his own.
"He worked two jobs," Barkley said. "One was as a janitor for the church."
The family attended worship services in the church where her uncle worked. But instead of finding acceptance and love there, her family was treated horribly. They were the janitor's children, whose real father had killed their mom.
Instead of following others' expectations for her, Barkley decided to carve her own way. Her uncle got her involved in a program in which she spent every Saturday in a classroom studying and learning. By her senior year in high school, she had scholarships to two universities.
Then she found out she was pregnant. "I was supposed to be the great hope," Barkley said. "Everyone was so mad at me."
But it was a bittersweet moment. At 16 she had gotten pregnant and lost the baby. At that time, she was told she would never be able to get pregnant again. This pregnancy meant she could.
Barkley missed out on going to college. The father of her child wasn't the man she thought he was, and she became a single mom.
When her daughter Ashley was 6 months old, Barkley moved to Racine at the urging of a cousin who lived here.
"I met some wonderful people," she said. One of those people was the man who would become her husband, Robert Barkley. He helped her find a two-bedroom apartment, and later moved in. "We haven't been apart since," Barkley said.
The couple just celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary.
It was shortly after the couple moved in together that Barkley found her faith. They were in need of household stuff, like most young couples, and Robert's grandmother Ruby came to the rescue. She hauled over furniture, dishes, silverware, blankets and other things to help them make a home.
When Freda asked Ruby how she could repay her, Ruby made a simple request: "Just go to church."
Freda, who had been hurt by her experiences as a child, reluctantly agreed. She went to Ruby's church, Dominion Church of God. "The people there were wonderful," Barkley said. "I was saved there."
In September of 2006 she began attending Glorious Light Church of Living God, 817 Romayne Ave. She was astounded by the reaction of the congregation from the first moment her family walked in the door. "They were uplifting," she said.
Pastor Bobby Vinson and his wife, Sherra, were actually friends with congregation members and would call them during the week, just to see how they were doing.
The Barkley family - Robert and Freda and their four children, Ashley, Symone, Ruby and Robert Jr. - had been through some hard times. In 2001 Barkley became ill to the point that she couldn't get out of bed. She found out she was pregnant with Ruby, but it didn't completely explain how bad she felt.
She was later diagnosed with inflammation of the pancreas. Care and surgery had her feeling better, but not completely healed.
"I never really recovered," Barkley said.
During her illness, she had to quit her job. She spent a few years staying home and taking care of her children. Shortly after the birth of Robert Jr., Barkley decided she wanted to go back to school.
In January of 2005 she enrolled in Gateway Technical College. She wanted to get into the nursing program, but when she went to sign up, she found out it was full. Instead, she thought she'd just get in the door and decide what she wanted to do along the way. So she signed up as a student in the first program on the list: accounting.
"My first class was income tax," Barkley said. "I fell in love."
It was hard work, but she was determined to finish her degree in two years. She took 12 and sometimes 15 credits a semester, and worked a bunch of different part-time jobs.
Robert, a truck driver, was in and out of work at the time. He tried to find work around Racine, but jobs were difficult to come by.
"He still had to be around for me," Barkley said. "During that time, bills were piling up." She found a job as a third-shift stocker at Pick 'n Save grocery store. "You have to do what you have to do," she said, "but the money never went that far."
In August of 2006, Barkley signed up for her last semester of school, and everything fell apart. Her husband lost his job, the classes she needed were split between days and evenings - making a work schedule nearly impossible. She had no day care and no money to pay for day care. The family was asked to leave their apartment, and then Barkley's truck was repossessed for nonpayment.
"Now I'm stranded," she said. "I have no way to school."
Barkley thought she had hit a brick wall. She was ready to pull out of school. "My pastor told me, 'No.' "
Vinson went to the church and asked if it would be OK for Barkley to borrow the church van to get to school. The members said yes.
Then the congregation got together and raised gas money for her. They bought the family groceries. Vinson even helped them find a new apartment.
"She had no problem with her goals," Vinson said of Barkley. "She just needed someone to support her as she tried to accomplish the things she desired. I saw in her a will to survive."
It was her church family that gave her a cheering section on her graduation from Gateway. Her uncle, because of failing vision, wasn't able to drive to Racine for the celebration. Barkley thought her husband would be the only one there to support her. She was wrong.
Not only the pastor, but other members of the congregation came as well. They brought her flowers and took photos. "It was so sweet," Barkley said. "It was wonderful."
Even after her graduation, they continued their support. Barkley had put in a resumé with a company to help her find an accounting job, but her lack of experience made the job hunt difficult.
One day, a woman at the company told Barkley she was going to send her out on a job interview even though the ad for the position required a bachelor's degree. The job was for an accountant for the Province of St. Joseph of the Capucin Order.
The Milwaukee-based order was looking for someone to put their books in order, something they had never done before. Barkley said she felt like God had created a position just for her.
The day of the interview, Vinson drove her. "He said, 'Go up in there and get this job,' " Barkley remembers. "He said, 'What God has for you is for you. Don't be afraid of success.' "
Even though the man who was to interview her started by telling her he had driven all the way from Appleton to what was probably going to be a waste of time since she only had an associate's degree, Barkley didn't let it stop her. She pulled out her portfolio and began to talk about the types of things she had done in school.
When she was finished, the man looked at her and told her the interview was the best he had had in the whole search. Her boss, Harlan Swift, then told her she was hired. That was in September. Barkley has been working there since.
Sometimes, Barkley still has a hard time believing she has a steady job with benefits, vacation and a retirement plan. The job even has flexible hours, which is important to the wife and mother.
"It's a wonderful place to work," she said. "I'm happy to be there."
Her church family couldn't be more proud.
"We shared our love, our time and our prayers," Vinson said. "We shared our encouragement with her and God blessed her. Just to be there to assist that need was our greatest joy.
"Now we are looking at her success. She now has reached the point that she knows how the love of God is as powerful as He says it is, especially when it is shown in deeds.
"If our churches today would just stay with the needs of God's people, you'll always stay in focus," he said.
Barkley said she has been tested a lot in her life, but God has gotten her through.
"God has not forgotten you," she said. "Sometimes it seems like you get over one test and another begins. But God's never changing. He remains constant. As long as you keep your faith in the Lord, you can get through."
These days, Barkley does a lot of work with the youth at her church. She tells them she is speaking from experience when she says that even if they make mistakes, and people see them fall, they have to get back up again. Instead of wallowing in self pity, Barkley encourages them to get back on track with the Lord.
"I've been through a whole lot, but I've never tried to hide it," Barkley said. "It's about working with what'cha got and putting it in the Lord's hands."