Meet Paulette Seiter
Paulette G. Seiter, Biography
She was destined to be the child of parents who couldn't hold it together. When she got old enough to wonder about such things, she would ask herself, "Am I the reason they got married?"
Whatever was the case, Hazel and Paul, her parents, got a divorce when she was about 5 years old. Her main father figure from that time on was Uncle Woody. It was Woody who would give her away when she married John in 1973.
Born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1947, she was soon to move to Connecticut where her dad was from. Soon, Paul and Hazel moved back west to Grand Haven, Michigan where they divorced and where she stayed for a year or two. Then, Hazel, with her child in tow, decided to try out California. Her sister Viola had moved there and gave them refuge. It wasn't long though before Hazel took her daughter back to Grand Haven where they lived until Paulette was about 12. It was then that she and her mother made a second trip to California where they settled till as a married woman, she would move her own family to Denver, Colorado in 1982.
Joshua 1:9
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
She liked California as a teenager. Her mother married again, but Mike was an alcoholic which made family life difficult and before long they divorced. Since her mother had failed at marriage 3 times (the first time was never mentioned much… the guy before Paul), Paulette had some misgivings about ever finding a husband who would be different than what her mother had found.
After graduating from High School in Sylmar, CA, she went to work for AT&T and began attending a Baptist Church in Van Nuys, CA. Her friend had invited her to attend. It soon became a habit and she became involved in the College Dept. ministry. Palm Springs, 1968, became a focus of outreach for her group at the church and Paulette was trained to share the gospel. One night during Easter break, while doing ministry there in Palm Springs, she realized that there was something missing in her own life. As she pondered this emptiness she was feeling, she reviewed the gospel presentation she had been trained to share with others. It was at the end of this material that she read again the challenge to commit her life to Jesus as His follower. At that moment, she became painfully aware that she had been asking others to do what she had never done. So, to avoid being the hypocrite any longer, she bowed the knees of her heart and surrendered to the Lord. Her life was no longer her own. She realized that she had been bought with a price, that being the precious blood of Jesus.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Their paths crossed that week but they would only know it looking back. The man she would eventually marry had come down from the college he was attending in San Luis Obispo, CA, and had joined in the team effort to share the gospel. They were both from the same church but had never officially met. He was gone most of the year, away at school.
The next couple of years saw significant spiritual growth take place in this young Christian woman. She began to be involved with a disciple making ministry known as The Navigators. As for the man that God was preparing to be her husband (John), he spent most of the next two years in the Army and then, Vietnam.
Proverbs 14:1
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
As the year 1970 began, Paulette's heart was moved to commit to a summer outreach trip to the Philippines. She and 49 other young adults were commissioned to share the gospel in seven different cities in the Philippine Islands. As for John, he returned from Vietnam in Mar. of 1970. He soon found out about the trip when he went for counseling to the same pastor who was over the trip Paulette had signed on for. As he talked with their mutual pastor friend, Dennis Guernsey, he heard Dennis ask him if he would be willing to go to the Philippines that summer to share Christ. It turned out that one man had dropped out from the trip and Dennis needed a replacement. John's initial response was "no thank you. I just got back from spending time in that general area and don't ever care to go back. Besides, I don't have the money needed to go." Dennis reminded John that if God wanted him to go…God would provide the money. Then he asked John if he believed that? "Ok" John responded, "I will pray about it."
What I haven't told you yet is that John was getting counsel that day because he had decided it was not God's will to continue living with his father, who was drunk almost every day. He had already put his belongings into storage and had two suitcases packed and ready. His plan was to move out, but really had no idea where he would end up. As he prayed about it back at his Dad's apartment, his eyes fell on the two suitcases and he concluded that God had just revealed through Dennis, where God wanted him.
At the first big group meeting of the 50 people bound for the far east, two weeks later, John found out that the man he was replacing was in a group that included a young woman named Paulette Fox. It's a long story, but a little under 3 years later they married. A year and nine months later their first child was born. They named her Johanna, after John (Johann in German). She told me later, "I can clearly remember that special day…we were going to have a baby! We were so excited!"
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
But Paulette had one big problem: she didn't know anything about taking care of babies. Her mother had had to work fulltime and had not prepared her for this. The only thing she knew for certain was that she didn't have a clue as to how to raise a child, love her husband, or run a home. In short, she knew she really needed some help.
She reached out to other ladies, young and old, pleading for the equipping she needed. She read books on how to be a godly wife and mother. To this day she will tell you that her favorite book of all time is entitled What Is A Family? By Edith Schaeffer. She would tell you, "That, dear friends, is why I created HomeWorks and the books I have written. I am absolutely committed to helping you learn and do the things that will make your home an oasis for your family as well as for any others you can bless along the way.
Matt. 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Her ministry, highlighted on www.godsinstruction.com, is designed to give women the tools they need to become women after God's own heart. One passage in particular drives her: Titus 2:3-5 reads, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
In addition to her ministry with women, Paulette enjoys spending time with her husband, three children and three grandchildren.