In God She Trusts
Reflecting on Billie Baldwin’s Remarkable Faith and Lifelong Relationship with Christ
By Rebecca Jan Turner and Paul Turner
At age 96, Billie Alice Edwards Watts Baldwin is no longer that sparkling, vivacious woman who spent her days filling the world around her with the joys of living for The Lord.
The toll of years has taken so many things from her, in so many ways. There is something, though, that remains intact: the foundation of her strength, of her joy, and of her very existence. That foundation is her absolute faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Billie was born on April 11, 1924 in the tiny community of Baldwin, North Carolina to Jim and Margaret Edwards; staunch Christians who brought all their children up in faith and obedience to The Word.
In those hard days before and during the Great Depression, community churches were the focus of social and spiritual life in these mountains. Living off the land was necessary for survival; church offered both a respite for the body and food for the soul.
While attending revival services at the old Beaver Creek Christian Church, 10 year-old Billie accepted Christ and was baptized in the nearby creek. She never imagined then that she would later spend many years as the Minister’s Wife of that same church.
She never imagined then the triumphs and challenges that her life would offer, nor could she foresee how much her growing faith would sustain, support, strengthen and protect her.
A Painful Divorce
Her first real test of that faith was the failure of her marriage to John Watts.
Marriage is a holy sacrament of the church, a sacred promise, a life-long commitment. Billie believed all those things completely. The utter collapse of the life that she thought she was building was devastating.
Fearing that divorce would lead to eternal damnation, still she took their 2-year-old son Johnny and left. While the rest of the world reeled from the horrors of World War II, Billie endured long days of pain and prayer as she sought for and eventually found her solace, and her own absolution, in the Holy Scriptures: God has made us human; humans make mistakes; and He promises forgiveness.
Billie would later say that only three good things came out of that awful time: her son, the five year diary that John had given her on New Year’s Day, 1941, and her first steps onto the path that the Will of God had begun to lay out for her.
A nine-year-old Billie and her younger brother Jimmie perch on a wagon, accompanied by a dog and a baby doll.
Billie’s Diaries
Those early entries are the beginnings of a daily ritual that would continue, day after day, year after year until failing eyesight forced her to stop writing at age 90. The sixteen journals recount a faith in God, a life lived expressing that faith, and teaching, by word and example, the power of God’s infinite love and care. As one of her favorite songs says:
“No, no it is not an easy road. But Jesus walks beside me, brightens my journey and lightens every heavy load.”
That first diary—today a worn leather-bound book held together with ribbon, the words now fading on yellowed pages—chronicles not just her efforts to become closer to God but also the mundane, day-to-day events of her life during that time. And not always the mundane. Here is the entry for December 7, 1941:
“Wash day today. War was declared”.
May 16, 1944:
“Rode to town with Bob and Lucy. Picked up sugar with ration stamps.”
Here is the one for May 1, 1945:
“They say Hitler died today. Made muffins for us and took some to Mom.”
And for August 14, 1945:
“V-J Day. THE WAR IS OVER!”
No matter what else happened in the outside world, daily life in Ashe County continued much as it always had.
Some entries were very personal, reflecting her sorrow and pain. On November 19, 1944, she wrote:
“It’s Sunday late. I hear snowflakes hitting the window. Our first snow of the winter and it’s kind of a lonely sound. Maybe my grandchildren will read all this one day. This is my hope and prayer, that I would not have lived my life in vain.”
And May 13, 1946:
“John is in Florida. I don’t know what to do. Guess I’ll get a divorce. There are just some things that you can’t know until it’s too late. Anyway, I’ve got Little Johnny, and he is something to be proud of. I’ll get by. I have to.”
Returning to Christ
Billie took a job at The City Café in West Jefferson. There she met the man who would change her life, and his - John Baldwin. They would share 56 years of love and laughter, tears and sorrow.
A little blessing: Billie sits for a photo with her infant son, Johnny, in 1943.
John Baldwin was not yet a Christian when he and Billie married on August 16, 1946. In April 1947 they moved to Dayton, Ohio to find work. They returned to Ashe County only a few months later for Billie to give birth to their daughter Rebecca Jan.
John would often accompany Billie and the children to services at Beaver Creek Christian Church. One evening during a revival service Billie watched as John stepped out during the Invitation hymn and knelt down at the altar. She followed, and re-dedicated her life to Christ. Neither of them ever looked back.
Life as a Minister’s Wife
John became more and more interested in the Word of God. He spent hours reading his Bible. Soon he began to teach a Sunday School class at Beaver Creek. In 1957 he felt his call to preach. That September he enrolled in Milligan College in Johnson City, Tennessee to begin studying for the ministry. Billie’s life as a Minister’s Wife had begun.
Financially, things were tough. His first year at Milligan John commuted the sixty miles to Johnson City and back every day. Billie was working at a department store in West Jefferson; the only income that the family had.
In 1958 John, Billie and the children moved to Johnson City. Billie again found work in a department store there, and John was able to spend more time on his studies by not having to drive three hours a day.
Though finances were hardly any better than before, Billie never doubted that God would always provide. And through the kindness of friends, the little bit of money that the Beaver Creek Church paid John to preach on Sundays, and Billie’s job, God did.
“Billie never doubted that God would provide...never doubted that God is in control”
The following August, John was hired as part-time minister at Liberty Church in Mountain City, Tennessee. By 1959, the Dewey Christian Church, also in Mountain City, had hired him to preach there on the two Sundays that he wasn’t preaching at Liberty. Full-time ministry at Dewey soon followed. After once again commuting each Sunday, this time from Johnson City, the family moved to Mountain City in May, 1959.
The next move came in 1961, to Stone Memorial Christian Church in Collinsville, Virginia. They would remain there until 1973.
At Stone Memorial, Billie blossomed. She was accustomed to small church buildings and small congregations. Stone Memorial boasted an impressive sanctuary and a large, active congregation. Although initially apprehensive, Billie once again enthusiastically embraced the role of “Minister’s Wife”. Teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, participating in church activities, Billie soon made life-long friends that remained close no matter which church she and John were serving.
She has said the sad, final good-byes to most of them in the years since. There is comfort in the assurance that they will all meet again.
An even larger, grander church was waiting for John and Billie in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Kempsville Christian Church hired John immediately, and with full 100% acceptance, after his trial sermon in June, 1973. A move to Virginia Beach soon followed.
By late 1976, Billie had become anxious to return to Ashe County to help care for her mother.
Never doubting that God is in control, Billie and John were delighted to find that the little church at Beaver Creek, now in a larger building and with a growing congregation, was in need of a minister.
Back now at where it all began, they served Beaver Creek Christian Church until John’s retirement in 1994. Both remained active members—Billie as Sunday school teacher, John designated Pastor Emeritus—until his health began to fail. Billie continued her teaching as long as she was able to do so.
Happy times: Billie and her husband John smile for the camera, not long after returning to Beaver Creek Christian Church in Ashe County.
The Ladies Prayer Retreat
From all of Billie’s many accomplishments during those years; all the traveling, the teaching, the fellowship that a church-centered life brings, two signature achievements stand out.
The first is “Walking With Our Wonderful Lord”, a play Billie wrote and subsequently produced several times while at Kempsville. It tells the story of Jesus, from Bethlehem to Calvary. The play has also been presented at Beaver Creek.
She will tell you now, however, that her proudest moments are those from the Ladies Prayer Retreat, a yearly event that she and the other members of the Beaver Creek Ladies Circle initiated in 1982.
Local advertising, invitations to churches far and wide, and word-of-mouth eventually brought women of all denominations, all ages, and all races to Beaver Creek Christian Church each April to enjoy a day of songs, inspirational messages from noted women speakers and writers, the solemn Prayer Walk, and the loving fellowship among sisters in Christ.
Billie was the featured speaker that first year and several times after, resulting in her being asked to speak at other retreats over the years, from Virginia to Texas.
The final Retreat was held in April, 2012. Billie spoke. She was 88 years old. There were 238 ladies in attendance.
The Unwritten Story
The written story of a life well-lived is mostly just a factual re-telling of events, strung together like beads on a string. The missing elements are the warmth of a smile, the light in an eye, the joyful ring of a laugh, the visible ache of tears.
Left unwritten here are the private struggles of illnesses, the pain of losses, the sadness of goodbyes, the fears of change. Celebrations, gatherings, and happy times are bright memories. Unwritten too are the joys and heartaches surrounding children, grandchildren, family, friends, and the church families as well.
All of it remains hidden in her diaries. And all of it forged in service to, and with strength from, the Lord. As she once said: “Facts are just facts. The miracle is in the living them.”
The Depth of her Faith
Even today, nearly blind, deaf, and seeming as frail as a newborn, Billie still wakes each morning with joy in her heart and a smile on her face.
Unable to read even her Bible, she passes the time by choosing a letter from the alphabet, and then trying to remember as many Bible verses, or the names of hymns, as she can that begin with that letter. “F” is a hard one, she says.
She can still quote, although not quite verbatim these days, the story of the Nativity from the Book of Luke. She maintains a lengthy prayer list. She says Grace at the table before every meal.
Although she is no longer able to attend services she remains interested in the activities and members of Beaver Creek Church.
She published a memoir in 2006, “The Road is Mine”, that has proved an inspiration to all who have read it.
Most of her friends and nearly all of her immediate family have passed on. She recently joked that her funeral would be a short one because all of the preachers that she would have wanted to speak were already dead, except for one! “And I pray for his continued good health all the time.” she says with a laugh.
A warm smile and heart: Billie beams and waves, a familiar accompaniment to all of her greetings and goodbyes.
Billie lives every day as she has for more than 80 years: praising God, obeying The Commandments, drawing strength from the promises written in the Scriptures and kept in her heart. The depth of her faith is almost unfathomable. She offers no advice except for this, taken from the last lines of her book:
“If reading my story has touched someone who has not met Christ, then my humble prayer is that they will read Acts 2:38, obey it, live for Him, and meet me at the end of my road”.
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
This article was originally written for the Summer 2020 Edition of The Journey magazine.