Young woman thanks God, Quinteros, FBC, Smithville
- Feb 18, 2008 - comment
SMITHVILLE — Tonya Silcox has been through a lot of changes the past four years.
Last year she was in jail. She had lost her job, her marriage, was unable to care for her children, and was addicted to pain medications which were initially prescribed by a doctor. Her addiction led her to steal and lie.
But because of God and some Christians who helped her, today she is working in a job she loves, has part-time custody of her children, has a car, is living with her mother, and has a newfound faith.
Silcox, 36, said as she looks back she doesn’t regret anything. She was a public school teacher who taught third grade for 13 years. Today she works for New Frontiers, a Christian ministry based in Dowelltown. New Frontiers provides a team building program, retreats, and a boarding home for juvenile boys who are a part of the foster care system.
“If I missed out even on the trials and problems, I might have never been drawn into the intimate relationship with Jesus Christ that He wants with each of us.” said Silcox.
She has been a Christian since a child (she was raised in a Missionary Baptist church and even taught Sunday School there), but she experienced more religion than a relationship, she explained.
Today she has everything she needs, said Silcox, including joy and peace and deliverance “from the stronghold that Satan put on me.”
Much of a Christian’s faith is up to the individual, she said, and to be on guard because Satan can “sneak in on us.” Now she knows that “as Christians we should be expecting to see miracles every day just like in the times of the Old Testament.”
Silcox also has learned about addiction, which can take “your very spirit and smother it and cause it to die.”
Many inmates come from unstable homes and suffer from “generational curses,” she noted. “God is the only one who can break those,” she explained. Silcox encouraged Christians to be sensitive to these people’s needs. Christians say they don’t judge, she observed, but they don’t realize how isolated and ashamed people can become.
Though she participated in Narcotics Anonymous and other programs for addicts, she believes “God is the only one who can ever really set you free.”
Faith-based addiction programs are the only answer, said Silcox, “because God is the only way, period, the end.”
While she was in jail she was helped by Kay Quintero who knew Silcox when Quintero was a guidance counselor in the school in which Silcox taught. Quintero was a part of a jail ministry team who ministered at the Dekalb County Jail where Silcox was incarcerated.
At the request of a local judge Quintero arranged for Silcox to live at the Haven of Hope house following her release from jail because she had no where else to stay. Other members of First Baptist helped Silcox, who didn’t have transportation, money, food, or friends though she grew up in Dekalb County.
A fellow participant of a support group at Haven of Hope helped Silcox learn about New Frontiers. Silcox has worked at New Frontiers for almost a year.
Recently Silcox received more good news — her teaching license was not revoked because of her legal problems.
Silcox participated in a missions trip of First Baptist to Mexico last year.
“God is faithful to place people in our life as we need them if we obey Him,” said Silcox.
This article is reprinted from the February 6, 2008, issue of the Baptist & Reflector, the newsjournal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
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