Victoria BidWell's Spiritual Timeline
Victoria BidWell
Before you can appreciate my Point of View, you must gain an appreciation for my walk with The Lord from beginnings to now. I do not want to turn this explanation into something so "Victoria-centered" that we take our eyes off T.C. Fry. So I am limiting my "Spiritual TimeLine" to just 1 page. I have given you autobiographical information during the last 2 years. And my turn will soon come for more, in-depth, biographical material.
June 24th, 1945, 3:24 A.M. Victoria is born in Anacortes, Washington. She is named "Vickey Frances Bidwell," the 5th daughter of Marie Frances Hawkins Bidwell whose religion could only be called "pagan-spiritism" and Victor Bidwell who is bitter and sarcastic as he preaches his atheism. Only Grandma Ida Bidwell is a Christian in this nuclear family. The sisters are 4, 5, 6, and 10 years older: Sandy Jean, Cora Jane, Catherine Marie, and Dana Lee, respectively. Violent fighting patterns are already well-established among all Family members upon Vickey's birth. From as long as she can remember until her Grandmother Ida died when Vickey was 13, Vickey was bribed with candy bars into spending time alone with Ida, while Ida would talk about God. These moments alone with Ida secretly terrified Vickey for reasons she still cannot understand. And to this day, she remembers practically nothing of their talks. There is no doubt that Ida Bidwell was in constant and fervent prayer for this Family. Young Vickey grew up in an atmosphere of jealousies, meanness, demonic activity, sexual dirt, foul and cursing language, and with aunts and uncles addicted to alcohol and cigarettes and a family history of mental illness and suicide.
By 1st grade... Vickey accepts the invitation from a schoolmate to go to Sunday School nd walks 5 blocks by herself to get there. She has vivid memories of songs such as "Jesus Loves Me." When she would return home, she was ridiculed by Victor and sisters for attending and soon quit. Vickey gets her first horse and begins a life-long love for horses, animals, and the great outdoors. In effect, "naturism" became her reason for living and offered love, inspiration, nurturing, and excitement and adventure never found in the home.
In the 8th grade... Vickey dates the richest boy in her class, experimenting with her sister Cora's pattern for greed and attends a year of his confirmation class. Here she is introduced formally to Scripture. She graduates and is baptized with water at the Salem Lutheran Church. Although no great love for The Lord is felt during this time, she experiences a swooning during the baptism.
In high school & college... Vickey dates Tony, a boy down the street. He is mechanically minded, and Victor and he hit it off to become best of friends. Tony hates religion, dislikes children, and likes to tease animals. He moves into an old shack on The Barn property at age 18 to get away from his religious family. He and Vickey date, then marry when she is 20 and he is 21. Until she leaves him at age 29, Vickey falls further and further into spiritual darkness and emotional immaturity, all of which is encouraged by Tony. They experiment with marijuana in college briefly, then she experiments with New Age paradigms in years to follow. She
is wooed by the 60s and 70s rhetoric of "Peace & Love." And she is not drawn to "the boring Christian life." Vickey's love of horses and fun with her teaching career are enough.
From 1967 - 1977... Vickey teaches English to high school students. Throughout all of these years, the Christian students witness to Vickey, as do staff members. She is often told of God's love but she cannot listen. During these same years, Tony and Vickey visit Tony's family 3 or 4 times a month. And his parents always witness to Vickey for hours while Tony finds things around the house that need fixing.
In 1976... Vickey goes to Dr. Shelton's Health School for 17 days, receives her calling, goes back home to leave an unsatisfying relationship with Tony, and begins serious study of Dr. Shelton's Hygienic System. In 1978... She is studying anatomy and physiology in Vancouver, Washington, living alone and falling apart. Tony's parents visit. She is in such a weakened state, she breaks down when surrounded by their love. They pray with her, and she accepts Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Then she promptly forgets the whole moment and continues as if it had never happened.
1978 - 1983... Vickey gives up on pursuing a career in Hygiene and pursues Godless thrill-seeking. She enters 3 years of serving drinks in a go-go bar, intent on saving her tip money for she knows not what. A romantic involvement with an alcoholic and violent cowboy who beats her brutally is the turning point to consciously committing her life to Jesus. She wakes up after the beating, looks into the mirror, and decides nothing she has ever tried is going to get her out of this depression. She decides she is going to have to give Christianity a try, or she is going to die an early death with her thrill-seeking. She ends up at Cinque's Yorktown retreat where Jock Royall, working for T.C. Fry, discovers her and offers her the test correcting job for Life Science's Big Course.
In 1983... Vickey starts test correcting. She meets T.C., the atheist. And she meets Marianne Fry who becomes her dear Christian friend. She nurtures Vickey endlessly in The Lord. Marianne introduces Vickey to a young minister with whom she goes on a 6 hour walk in the middle of a very cold night in Dallas. Under the full moon, she is finally asked, after hours of reviewing her spent life: "What good did it do, all those things of which you are so now ashamed?" She gives her life to The Lord. This time, she stays with The Lord.
In 1984... Vickey goes through 29 hours of deliverance with a team of 7 people led by Jan Franklin over a 6 month period, followed by 2 hours of counseling a week for 2 years with Jan. In 1984... Vickey attends a Born Again Body seminar with Lee Bueno and takes the spiritual name, "Victoria."
In 1991... She forms an unequal business yoke with agnostic Joe Mellon. GetWell makes little progress for 4 years. In 1995... She invites a young New Ager to work in The Algae at The Barn, thus making a huge mistake that leads to her near-complete breakdown. In 1998 & 1999... Victoria spends a year of recovery in The Wilderness, asking for wisdom while going through repentance, forgiveness, and spiritual healing. In 2000... She recommits to her calling and asks GetWell Friends for help. This time, she cleaves to The Lord.
