Covering Testimony: April Cassidy
| Name: April Cassidy | Age: 41 | Location: South Carolina, USA | Started Covering: Mar 2010 |
1) Introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello, my name is April Cassidy. I am a very happily married wife and mother of 2 children, a part time pharmacist, a blogger at www.peacefulwife.com and an aspiring author. I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord when I was 5 years old, when my Daddy led me to Christ.
2) Where do you attend church? Tell us a little bit about it.
We attend First Baptist Church of Columbia, SC. It is a LARGE church with an average attendance of over 2000 people. Our pastor seeks to teach from a very biblical perspective and uphold the Word of God. We have incredible diversity there. It is a downtown church, so we have people from all over the city and suburbs who worship with us. We also have a Burmese church, a Hispanic church, a special ed ministry, a deaf ministry, a ministry for the homeless, as well as strong ministries for every age group. We have been members there for 8 years now. Before that, we attended a Southern Baptist church in our town where my husband’s father was the pastor for 21 years.
3) What led you to start covering?
I discovered in December of 2008 that although I thought I had been a very godly, Christian wife, I had been controlling and quite disrespectful to my husband for over 14 years. I was shocked and mortified and so thankful that God opened my eyes to my sin. I began to study becoming a godly wife, respecting my husband, biblical submission, modesty, godly femininity and get rid of my worldly ideas that had been deeply hurting my marriage and my walk with Christ.
In March of 2010, I came across I Corinthians 11. By that point, I knew that if God was talking about authority, it was a BIG deal. Suddenly, I could no longer casually ignore this passage that I had ignored all of my Christian life. I asked pastors about it. They all said “it was a cultural thing that no longer applies today.” I read everything I could find about it. I could NOT justify that this command was culturally based. I wanted to find an excuse not to cover my head. I felt that I would be SO WEIRD in my large church covering my head during prayer because no one else covers their heads. But, as I continued to wrestle with God for a few days, I realized … “My commitment to You is that I will obey You. Period. If You want me to do something, You are my Lord and my God. I cannot say, ‘No, Lord.’ After all You have done and sacrificed for me, how can I possibly deny you this small thing?”
I spoke to my husband about the passage and asked if he would be ok with me covering my head during prayer in church. He said he was fine with me covering my head with a scarf at home and covering my head just during prayer at church with a scarf. I was in shock. “You are fine with that?!?! Really!?!?!?” Well, that was just more confirmation that God had opened the doors for me to begin to cover. I asked my husband if I should cover all the time, or wear a hat to church. He decided he didn’t want me to do that. So, I honored my husband’s desire and the way he felt it would be best for me to cover my head.
4) Has this practice made any difference in your life?
I was shocked how much that tangible reminder helped me to adorn myself with a respectful and reverent attitude towards my husband and God, as I prayed.
- I find that I approach God with much greater humility.
- I began to feel so much closer to my husband spiritually, even though he wasn’t praying with me. I loved that tangible act of putting a cover over my head and thinking about him being my covering and protector from God.
- I am full of joy just knowing that I am walking in obedience to Him to the best of my ability and under my husband’s leadership no matter what anyone else may do.
- I am much more careful to honor my husband’s authority and treat him and God with respect because of this habit.
4) Has anyone said anything to you about your covering, at church?
One man came into our Sunday School room late one morning during prayer time, and he made a comment. He said out loud when we finished praying, “April looks like the virgin Mary over there with a scarf on her head!” I taught a class several times about being a godly wife and explained to the ladies that I was going to cover my head when I prayed in obedience to I Corinthians 11. No one said anything to me about it. This past Saturday, Greg (my husband) bought some hats for me at the flea market, and he said it would be fine if I wanted to wear a hat to church. I was so excited! I had one person ask me if I was going to the Kentucky Derby. And I had a number of compliments on the hat. But no one asked me why I was wearing it.
5) What counsel can you give to women that do not cover out of fear?
I personally had to decide that I want to fear God – in a healthy way – much more than I want to be afraid of what other people think. I used to be a people pleaser. But God showed me that I was putting the approval of people above His approval in my life and that is major sin. Probably even idolatry. So, when I think about that my only real purpose and goal in life is to please, honor and obey Christ, and I know that that will involve people persecuting me, criticizing me, not approving of me – I can be ok with that. My goal is to receive the praise of God. I don’t really care that much about what people think about me anymore. It is a prison to live in fear of the opinions of people. It is oppressive to constantly have to be worried about what people might say. What freedom there is in Christ to only need to seek to please God – and no one else.
6) What kind of covering(s) do you use? Where did you get them?
From March of 2010 until 2 weeks ago, I only used scarves. I would put a scarf over my head when I prayed at home. Sometimes I wrap my hair in it and tie it around my head so it stays on better and doesn’t slide off. At church, I just lay a scarf over my head during prayer. I usually use a polyester scarf so it doesn’t mess up my hair too much. This past week, I wore a hat with a ribbon that my husband found for $1.50 at the flea market. I also just recently found some solid colored bandanas at Hobby Lobby, after a long time searching.
