God's Hand Upon Me
God’s Faithful Guidance Through Life’s Storms
The Journey, Winter 2022
Written by Paula Perry with Maggie Watts
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13 (KJV)
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio on November 11, 1952. My parents' work sent us to Ohio, but they always planned to return to Ashe County when my father retired. When we visited Ashe County and eventually moved there, we attended Trout Union Baptist Church.
The church was always a big part of my life. Mom always made sure we were able to attend — she set an example for all of us. I was saved when I was 11 years old at a worship service at Hayden Baptist Church in East Cleveland, Ohio. I always enjoyed Sunday School and just thought everyone went to Sunday School, but through the years, I learned that so many people have never been to church or Sunday School, or that they had drifted away from it.
I wasn’t baptized until I was 15. I wanted to be baptized in the creek on Three Top Road at Trout Union Baptist Church. My grandfather, Preacher Avery Testerman, and my mom arranged for me to be baptized when we came down on vacation. It was such a special time in my life.
Paula and her husband, Lamon, during Christmas.
I met my husband, Lamon Perry, when I was 15, while on vacation in Ashe County. We wrote back and forth throughout the years and would see each other when I came down to visit my relatives. After graduating high school, I moved to work in Boone. In November 1971, Lamon and I were married by Reverend Bruce Roten at Mount Paddy Church, when it was a little church on Buffalo Road. We just celebrated our 50th Anniversary! So, you could say good things can happen when two worlds collide. I was raised in Ohio and he was raised in North Carolina, but God was working things out before we were even born. Faith and trust are what make the wheels turn in life.
We have two sons, Kelly Joe and Jared Lamon. I am blessed to know they are both saved and have been baptized. God is so good. God has been so good to me that I can’t thank Him enough.
We moved to High Point in 1973. But after my father died unexpectedly in September 1977, we started feeling the Lord was calling us back to Buffalo, to be closer to my mom and Lamon’s parents. In 1978, we moved back to Ashe County with our five-year-old son, unsure what we were going to do. We started building a home and both had jobs, but I was not happy. I missed my friends and church in High Point.
Then one day, I was driving down Buffalo Road. As we were passing Buffalo Baptist Church, Kelly Joe looked over at me and said, “Mommy, we don’t have to go to church anymore, do we?”
God just hit me hard. It took the words of a five-year-old to make me see I’d been running from everything that was important — the most important thing, God. Kelly Joe had been in church since he was born, and now when he really needed the understanding of God and church, I was throwing it away. I was throwing Hope out the window.
Paula’s family preparing for Lamon to leave for Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield in 1990.
That Sunday we were in Buffalo Baptist Church and are still there to this day. We have strayed, but we have always come back. I need that nourishment from the Word of God.
Our home burnt in January 1980, when we had only been living there for 13 months. We lost everything but what we had when we left for work and school that morning. We were devastated and so afraid of what to do. Had we misjudged where God wanted us?
We worried about Kelly, a first-grader, losing everything he had. But he was worried about his mommy. He kept wanting to know if I was okay. He said, “I have to take care of Mommy. She’s so sad.”
God sends messages through the voices of children. Our lives were changing again, but we kept clinging to God, to each other, and to our church.
Lamon retired from the North Carolina National Guard. But when he was still in his unit, he was called to active duty in 1990 for the Gulf War. It was a scary time, and it was hard on me and our sons. But our family, friends, and church family prayed for us and comforted us with their support. Yes, it was scary, but that is when I could really feel the hand of God on me and how peace was laid on my heart. I could lay down at night knowing that God was, and is, in control. I couldn’t have handled that time of not hearing from Lamon and not knowing where he was, without the strength, comfort, and guidance from the Lord.
My life took another turn in 1996, with the decision to start my own business. I had been a licensed insurance agent since 1980 and then worked for an agency for 15 years, but I kept praying about another job. One day, my husband said, “I think the Lord is leading us in the direction for you to open your own agency.”
Paula’s son, Jared, and his family.
We started praying, and the Lord opened the doors with a location, insurance companies that were willing to help a new start-up agency, and many helpful people in the insurance association that guided me with taking the steps needed. It was a scary time, but I had a praying, supportive family, and my church family. Things were not easy, but I could feel His hand upon me every day. Guardian Insurance Agency opened October 30, 1996. There were a lot of struggles and sacrifices, but it was a great blessing. The Lord’s hand was upon it all the way. I’ve made many new friends that I call my treasures, and I’ve had great years working beside my son, Kelly Joe, and with Wendy Patrick, a very special lady in my life.
In 2020 I began praying about retiring and asking God to lead a way for me. He did! He blessed me with a fine group of agents from Alliance Insurance Group of North Carolina. They are believers, and they give God the glory for all they do. They purchased the agency in January 2021 and provided the employees with great things. I feel so blessed to know that God’s work is being carried on.
Paula’s son, Kelly, and his family (see editor’s note below).
My husband and I have been so blessed in all our years. Now we have both retired and can share our time together. As I look back over my life, I thank the Lord for the parents He gave me; the spiritual mother that made sure we heard God’s word, my brother who has always been an encourager, my church family, my wonderful sons and the families the Lord gave them, and for my husband, who is my soulmate.
In 2016 I was elected to be a county commissioner, and I served a four-year term. Those were four years that the Lord gave me to do His work, and I do not regret that season in my life. I feel honored to have served the people of Ashe County. I was not re-elected, but it doesn’t break my spirit or remove the love I have for each person who supported me. I pray for the ones that do serve — that they will seek the Lord’s guidance in the decisions they make for all of Ashe County. When I served, I was told I couldn’t pray in the name of Jesus. That is the only way I know to pray, and I am not ashamed of it.
The Lord is all one has in the end. I pray people will come to Him and seek to serve Him. I look forward to each day I have, and I try to remember that we don’t see what is ahead until God opens that door.
Psalm 30:5 (KJV): “For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favor is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Note From the Editor: We would like to apologize for including a cropped photo of Kelly Perry’s family in the magazine. The full photo can be seen above, and it includes Paula’s granddaughter, Karlie Perry. From left to right: Blake Greene, Kailey Perry, Kelly Perry, Danielle Perry, and Karlie Perry. We will run this full picture in our next edition of The Journey, in June 2023.
