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I recently had a phone call with Tanya Parker, and she shared her story with me. Tanya is 49 and from Eastern Kentucky, and she has spent all but about 14 years of her life in those hills.

As a little girl, someone invited her to Vacation Bible School and Sunday school. The church had a promise for the kids: come ten Sundays in a row, and you get your very own Bible. Tanya knew she wasn't going to be allowed to go ten Sundays in a row.

In May of 1987, she was given her first Bible anyway.

The next year her family moved across the country, and that Bible went with her. Three years later they came back to Kentucky, and she still had it. She tried to read it, but it was hard to understand. That Bible was her first introduction to God.

Getting away from the hills

After high school, Tanya moved to central Kentucky. In her words, she needed to get away from the hills.

She got pregnant, got married, and then lost a child. Two years into the marriage, she and her husband were headed toward divorce.

That's when a local church started showing up. They kept reaching out to them, loving on them, and caring for them. Her husband had never once had someone share the gospel with him. But he decided they were going to church.

On April 29, 2001, they both accepted Christ.

The call to go back

After a revival at their church in Wilmore, Tanya and her husband felt like they were supposed to move to Eastern Kentucky.

Tanya was so afraid that moving back would pull them away from God and that her family would fall apart.

In the summer of 2005, they moved back to Eastern Kentucky and into public housing. They struggled to pay bills, but they trusted God.

There, they were introduced to GAP (God's Appalachian Partnership), and they had three children. Tanya started going to GAP, and they showed her the love of Christ in a beautiful way. They met her family's physical needs and their spiritual needs. She received assistance for about a year, and after that, just help at Christmas.

She fell in love with GAP.

From receiving help to giving it

When her youngest turned three, Tanya took a job at a daycare and brought her little one along. Her family no longer needed GAP's help, but she started volunteering there, off and on, from 2007 all the way to 2019.

On Easter of 2019, GAP had no staff, so Tanya went in early to help with everything before the volunteers showed up. She felt like God was saying: I want you here. I am going to keep you here.

In September 2019, right before COVID hit, she was called to full-time missions through GAP.

Through COVID, she saw God use GAP to draw people closer to Him.

Her children are grown now, in their twenties, and they follow the Lord. Their family is still in the area.

Life in Southeast Kentucky today

Tanya still serves at GAP in Southeast Kentucky. Here are some things she shared about life in the area.

  • No way to get around. There are no Ubers and no public transportation. So how do you get a job without a car?
  • Basic stores are far away. When her family first moved back, there wasn't even a Super Walmart within 30 minutes.
  • Churches are scarce. Many areas have no church at all, and some families have to drive 45 minutes to reach a healthy one.
  • The population is shrinking. The area had about 35,000 people in 2020, and that number is declining.
  • Flooding is reshaping the land. FEMA is buying up land because of repeated flooding, and there's nowhere local to move.
  • Jobs are hard to find.
Thank you, Tanya

I'm so grateful she let me hear her story, and I hope it encourages you the way it encouraged me. If you would like to learn more about GAP or are interested in serving on the upcoming trip, check out this post.