How I Got Here

It was never my intention to get involved in politics, public policy, or to work for the Texas Legislature. As a stay-at-home mom for 14 years, the mama bear in me raised its ugly head when a local school informed me I could not see a copy of a standardized test being given to my children. After attempting to get a reasonable answer why that was the case from teachers, counselors, principals, superintendents, and the school board it came to my attention that no one in the State of Texas had seen the test. Or if they had, they wouldn’t tell me for fear of criminal sanctions.

This all happened in the sleepy little suburb of Katy, just outside of Houston. (Yes, it was long enough ago that Katy was still sleepy.) Within months of learning about this perplexing policy, my husband’s company transferred him from Katy to Austin so he would be closer to their headquarters. I came kicking and screaming (well, at least murmuring and sulking), because life was good where we were and felt there was no need for change. My vow was to do nothing but knit and quilt and not get involved in anything else, because if I did, we would surely move again.

A month into the new gig, the company restructured and while we lived only five minutes away from the headquarters, Jerry was named national sales manager and got on a plane every Monday morning flying to happy places across the northeast while I was at home with three kids, a dog, a cat, and no friends. And, to make matters worse — which did not even seem possible — every time I sat down to knit or quilt a pinched nerve in my neck would make both arms numb.

Whining to the Lord, “Surely you can use me for something,” he chuckled and let me know he had a plan all along. It was me holding up the train. That day I made two phone calls. The first was to a woman who headed a group in the Austin area that was working on the student testing issue. That group convinced me to run for the Round Rock Independent school board, a position for which I had no formal training and met residency requirements by only ten days.

The second call was to the woman who ran the conservative caucus in the Texas House of Representatives. Someone had said she could use volunteers. Now, it is not in my nature to call up anybody to volunteer for anything. Talking about the irony of my doing so years later, she informed me that she had not been in the habit of allowing anybody to volunteer. But God knew what he was doing.

Those two calls put me on the roller coaster that has been my life for the past 34 years. Armed with nothing more than my Bible, U.S. Constitution, and the full armor of God, I won the school board election, learned the fear of the Lord, and ended up running that caucus prior to my going to work for a state representative. Oh, and we changed the law, so the tests were available for parents. Nothing had prepared me for the experiences, and nothing could have upheld me during those times except the mighty hand of my Lord and Savior.

The Texas Legislature is my mission field, and it is my mission in life to train up the next generation of policy makers with Kingdom principles and policies. I hope you enjoy my shared thoughts.