A single mother finds her Savior as well as answers, healing, and community in a compassionate church family.

When Tammy Stewart first walked through the doors of St. Paul’s, Columbus, Ohio, she was struggling with long-standing anger and grief surrounding the death of her father. Like so many others dealing with unexpected loss, Tammy could not understand why her father’s life had been cut short.

In the years that followed, God would gently lead Tammy to find peace and healing with the help of a supportive church community. While navigating life as a single mother of four hasn’t always been easy, she has learned to view challenges and loss from an eternal perspective.

Wrestling with grief and loss

In 2008, Tammy was 28 years old with two young children and twins on the way. In her 32nd week of pregnancy, she went into early labor and was placed on bed rest—first at the hospital and then at home. Within a week of Tammy returning home, her father had a heart attack and was put on a ventilator. “They only gave him a 30 percent chance of making it,” says Tammy. “But they took the ventilator off on a Friday, and I had Katie and Kylie on a Sunday.”

Nine months later, Tammy’s father passed away. “I couldn’t understand why God would take my dad away from me so his grandkids would never get to know him, because he was a wonderful grandpa,” Tammy says. While her father had the opportunity to hold and love her youngest babies, Tammy was devastated that her family’s time with him was cut short.

The following years proved to be challenging as well. After leaving Columbus—where Tammy had been born and raised—to be closer to her husband’s family in 2012, Tammy and her husband decided to separate. Tammy and her children moved back to Columbus in 2014 to live with Tammy’s sister and brother-in-law. Hoping to avoid enrolling her children in the Columbus City School District, Tammy found herself open to suggestions.

Gaining an eternal perspective

Tammy’s brother-in-law recommended St. Paul’s Lutheran School, because his sister was attending St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. While she had been to church periodically as a young child, Tammy did not consider herself to be particularly religious. “I think we were just content with the way we were living,” she says. “My ex-husband was not religious, and neither was I. We never were. So I guess we didn’t realize there was anything missing.”

After a positive experience at St. Paul’s vacation Bible school, however, Tammy decided to enroll her children in the elementary school. “That was my only intention,” Tammy explains. “I had no plans of staying, becoming a member, or anything like that.”

Little did she know, God had other plans.

At St. Paul’s, nonmember parents are asked to take the first 8 lessons of the church’s 15-lesson Bible Basics course. Tammy reluctantly agreed and dragged her sisters along with her. “My sisters and I decided to go, even though we didn’t really want to,” she says. “But after the first class, we were intrigued and wanted to learn more.”

In the very first class, Snowden Sims, pastor at St. Paul’s, asked, “If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?” Tammy’s response was hesitant: “Well, I guess I’m a good enough person. I don’t do anything really bad, so I suppose I would.” Looking back, she reflects, “I didn’t understand then that believing in Jesus was the way to heaven. I had never been taught that until then.”

As Tammy and her sisters worked their way through the entire course, Tammy found herself coming to terms with her father’s death in a way she never expected. She could finally see how God, through the events of her life, had been leading her to St. Paul’s and to her Savior. She says, “If my dad had not passed away, I never would have left Columbus, which means I wouldn’t have ended up moving in with my sister.”

The resulting decision to enroll her kids at St. Paul’s has had a far-reaching ripple effect on the earthly and eternal lives of those around her.

Embraced by a compassionate church community

Tammy and her sisters finished the Bible Basics course in just a handful of months. “We were all baptized on the same day in October 2014—me, my kids, and both of my sisters. That was really special for us,” says Tammy. That December, Tammy and her sisters officially became members.

The Stewart family was immediately enveloped by a warm and caring community. “My kids gained a family,” says Tammy. “It wasn’t just me caring about them—everyone there cared.” Philip Glende, who was serving as the principal at St. Paul’s at the time, became like a second grandfather to the Stewart kids.

Glende and other staff members at St. Paul’s were particularly diligent in building a relationship with Tammy’s daughter Katie. “Katie has selective mutism, a social anxiety disorder, where she could only speak to me, my sister, her siblings, and her dad,” Tammy explains. “She never spoke a word to anyone at St. Paul’s until the last day of her eighth-grade year.” Yet despite Katie’s mutism at school, St. Paul’s was one of the only places outside of her home where Katie felt comfortable.

Glende and Charles Galecki, another teacher at the school, worked especially hard to get to know Katie and her needs. “[Mr. Galecki] and Mr. Glende could kind of figure out what she wanted without her having to say anything. They knew what she was thinking,” says Tammy. “It was a great experience for her, where she didn’t feel like she was pushed aside or treated differently because she had [selective mutism]. They made her feel special.”

All four Stewart children were confirmed during their time at St. Paul’s, and the youngest three went to high school at Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS), Saginaw, Mich.

Starting fresh

Katie and Kylie, both 16 years old, are currently juniors at MLS.

They are thriving in their new environment. Unbelievably, Katie began speaking to others on the last day of her eighth-grade year and has developed a fulfilling social life as a high school student. She and Kylie both play softball, help manage weekend basketball tournaments, and sing in the choir.

While it is difficult for Tammy to send her children away for high school, she knows the girls are in good hands. “[Michigan Lutheran Seminary] is their home away from home. They love it. . . . It’s easier knowing that there are people taking care of my kids the same way that I would and who love them as much as I do,” she says.

Both Katie and Kylie have been blessed with a heart for ministry. Last year, each girl had the opportunity to go on a mission trip through MLS’ Project Titus program. While the twins had never spent a week apart before, they loved their experiences—Kylie helping with vacation Bible school in Florida and Katie helping with a soccer camp in New Mexico.

After graduating from MLS, both girls plan to attend Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn. Katie hopes to teach math in some capacity, while Kylie plans to double major in elementary and secondary Literature education.

While so many pieces of the future remain unknown, the Stewart family’s story provides living proof that God never stops shaping us and can use his peoples’ hardships for the good of future generations.

Author: Stephanie Boeckman
Volume 112, Number 04
Issue: April 2025

Planting a seed

At St. Paul’s, Columbus, Ohio, approximately 95 percent of the student population belong to families who are not members at the church. Snowden Sims, pastor at St. Paul’s, explains, “About half of them claim to have a home church but rarely attend, and the other half say that they do not have a church and are not looking for one.”

For St. Paul’s—and other WELS schools in urban areas—it can be challenging to engage school families in worship. “We address this with the parents by asking them to agree to take the first eight lessons of the Bible Basics course to learn what their children will be learning,” says Sims. “We have had some come kicking and screaming, but once they attend and learn what God’s Word has to say and how it affects their lives, a few have completed all 15 lessons.”

Some parents have started coming to worship and expressed a desire to join the church, and a number of children have been baptized through the school. While school families may not be contributing directly to the growth of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Sims emphasizes, “THE church is growing. . . . The seed is planted, and the Lord gives it the growth in his time and in his way.”

Finding her voice

In a brief essay included with her tuition assistance application, Katie Stewart shared the following:

“Ever since I was in third grade, I have always wanted to be a teacher. Even though I knew I might not make the best teacher, I know that God will be with me the whole time. After visiting MLC this past winter, I know that this is where I want to go for college. Being a teacher has always been my dream, and I hope that I am able to fulfill it. I want to show my future students the love of Christ and hopefully have the impact on them that my teachers had on me, to want to serve God in all that they do.”