5 minute read
There Are Angels Among Us
Angels Among Us There are
TriVita member Mary Deemy is one of God’s angels living here on earth. Mary recently turned 76 years young and is a long-time foster parent who, in her words, “has a heart for drug-addicted preemies.” That means the babies are born premature and addicted to drugs. These beautiful infants need love and care. Enter Mary Deemy from Waxahachie, Texas. When I
first approached Mary with my idea of sharing her story with our TriVita members, her immediate response was, “only if you give all the glory to God.”
Mary and her husband Dan got married at 21 and had three children of their own by age 26. They desired to have a big family with as many as 10 children. It was at this point in time that Mary heard about foster care and, because she was a stay-at-home mom who loved children, she decided to give it a try. It was the early 1970s and Mary had no training in being a foster parent, she just loved children. Her first venture into foster care was taking in three young boys who had been terribly neglected and abused. She never received any background information on any of the babies and therefore didn’t know what they had been through in their short lives. Despite their backgrounds, Mary continued to foster 25 more babies and adopted three of them.
Mary and her family moved from state to state which included Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin and finally Texas. Despite all the moving, it never stopped Mary from sharing her love to care for children who were in need. Even with all the children running around, Mary and Dan’s house was considered a party house on the weekends where there was drinking and smoking. Although Mary grew up Catholic and attended mass regularly, she had not found the Lord in her heart yet. She attended some Bible Study classes and “Life in the Spirit” seminars. Her new Baptist friends in Texas were pushing her in the right direction, but she wasn’t quite there yet. In her mind, being Catholic meant she could party, but her Baptist friends couldn’t. She believed it was different strokes for different folks. Her eyes and soul would soon be opened.
Dan traveled for work and occasionally would be gone overnight. When this was the case, Mary would have trouble sleeping. One night when Dan was gone, she thought she heard a noise downstairs. She was scared and instinctively reached for something. What she picked up was a Bible that she had never even opened. Her thumb landed on the page of Galatians
5:19, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery… I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” It also talks about “the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.” This happened to her three more times. Each time the Bible opened to Galatians 5. She knew this was a sign. She knelt next to her bed and prayed, “If you’re really real, I want you to come into my heart.” Then she recited a “sinner’s prayer” she learned from some of the Baptist girls. Mary laid down on the
bed and felt at peace. She said it felt like cool air all around her and she was glued to the bed. She couldn’t move. She soon found the passage in Philippians
4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” She quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.
When she woke up and went downstairs, she said it felt like “I was walking on air.” She fed the kids, played with them for a while and then tucked them all in for a nap. Her head was still spinning from the previous night’s episode so she made herself a drink to relax. It tasted horrible, like turpentine. She lit a cigarette and that too tasted horrible. She threw the butt away and walked outside. Everything looked different. “It was
like a movie,” she said, “everything was gorgeous!” At that moment she knew, “It was God. It was Jesus.”
With God in her heart, Mary now realized her calling. In Texas, she took in two more children with neglected backgrounds. These two were her first drugaddicted children. Mary was able to give them the medical help they needed and with love and attention, she nursed them back to health. Later, each of them was adopted into other families’ homes. They are 21 and 22 years- old now. Over the years, Mary has
fostered 58 drug-addicted babies. She even makes clothes for them with matching bows and bracelets.
The 58th child Mary fostered was a little boy, onemonth-old, who had five broken bones and two brain bleeds. The horrible, tragic irony of this situation was that Mary had to bring this battered little boy to child protective services (CPS) each week to see his parents. That’s the law. Mary cared for the boy for 16 months until he was recently adopted.
Mary credits TriVita for keeping her healthy to do God’s work. She has been a TriVita member for more than 20 years and has 225-lifetime orders…and counting. Around 22 years ago, when Mary first moved to Texas, she visited a doctor who informed her that she had the beginning stages of osteoporosis. A friend told her about TriVita’s Bone Growth Factor. All these years later, when she goes to the doctor, her osteoporosis has not progressed. Mary has since added Super B-12, Essential D and VisionGuard to her monthly order. She’s convinced TriVita products are key in keeping her healthy. When Mary calls TriVita and speaks to a CARE agent, she always asks the agent for their name, which she adds to her prayer list. Her prayer list has grown to over 800 names. As I said, Mary is an angel on earth.
Despite her huge heart for helping others, Mary has experienced a lot of emotional pain in her life. Recently, her grandson passed away from a drug overdose. Mary says,” that’s why I keep doing this.” Drug abuse is a huge problem in our society. Mary considers what she does ‘her Ministry.’ “I’m doing what God called me to do,” Mary says. We need a million more Mary’s.
