Benedicta’s Story

Benedicta was born in a tiny little village in rural Nigeria, neatly tucked away from all the major goings on in the bustling nation known as the “lion of Africa.” Her mother was one of four ladies married to her father. In those days multiple wives were fairly common among the men who could afford to keep them. However not long after her birth, her mother left her father, deciding that being one of four wives was not the life for her. Her father refused to part with his baby daughter and sent some of the village women to go and get his daughter. There was nothing her mother could do about this, and so Benedicta ended up growing up in her father’s home, rarely seeing her mother. As the providence of God would have it, she was primarily raised by one of her father’s other wives, and elderly lady who doted on the little girl and saw her as the daughter she never had. Benedicta was spoiled and pampered in her early years and enjoyed her life of ease and having fun with the other village children.

Benedicta was too ashamed to run away, and so endured an unhappy and difficult life for a period of four years. Finally, her stepmother got wind of how she was being treated and went to her uncle’s home, demanding that he release the girl. At last Benedicta was free from her years of torment. It hadn’t all been a waste. While with her uncle she had greatly improved her command of the English language, since her uncle wanted all in the household speaking English. In the village everyone spoke the local dialect with only occasional bits of English thrown in here and there. Benedicta had also learned to work hard, something she knew nothing about in her pampered, village existence. She came away from her time with her uncle greatly matured, but also with some deep emotional scars.

Death of Her Mother

Shortly after getting established in a high school, Benedicta’s beloved stepmother died. This was a terribly traumatic time for the fragile youngster. Her stepmother was the only adult that had shown deep, unconditional love for her, and Ben loved her like she loved nobody else. It felt as though her world was falling apart, but she forced herself to go back to her studies. While in high school, Benedicta experienced a terrible attack of malaria and typhus which left her almost completely without strength. At this point in her life, she had little money and could not afford more than the most basic of medicines, which seemed to do little good. Eventually, in desperation, she went to a pastor who lived nearby and asked for prayer. This man pastored a Foursquare Pentecostal church and loved to talk to people about Jesus. the man and his wife prayed fervently for her and anointed her with oil, taking nearly thirty minutes or more to complete his time of ministry. No quick little prayer would do, in this man’s eyes. Benedicta went back to her dormitory and fell asleep.

When she woke up the next morning, she felt amazingly strong, and completely well. She realized that Jesus had healed her. Telling a friend about her healing, she convinced the girl to accompany her to the pastor’s church that next Sunday. After service he talked with her and her friend and told them that what they really needed was to be born again. Benedicta knew little of such things, but she believed the pastor and prayed with him to receive Jesus. This happened in June, 1991. From that day forward she had a thirst for the Lord and a passion for spiritual things like she had never had before. She had truly become a new creation in Christ.

Called to the Big City

As she reached young adulthood, she felt a strong yearning to go to the sprawling city of Lagos. Although still little more than a youth, she was beginning to feel a passion to raise herself above and beyond village life, and to taste the big city life. Although still a young Christian, she instinctively sensed that her destiny could only be fulfilled in a larger setting. She traveled to Lagos with just a tiny amount of money in her purse, and a confidence that God would somehow help her to make it.

In Lagos Benedicta went through many, severe struggles and difficulties. At times she stayed with relatives, but several times she was told that they could not keep her beyond a short time, and she was forced to move on. Never without a place to sleep due to her many relatives, she was nevertheless basically homeless for some time as she struggled to find work. She gained and lost several jobs, until she finally decided to establish her own business, “BENCO ENTERPRISES.” She acted as a supplier for various local businesses, and after a while began to actually make a decent salary. She was able to get her own apartment, and finally settle into a more normal lifestyle.

Terrible Year

The year 2003 was an especially difficult year for Benedicta. She was sick almost the entire year, of a disease that no doctor could name, and no treatment could cure. Much of the year she was unable to work and found herself lying alone in her stifling, hot, apartment on her bed all day. At times she would lose orientation and hardly remember what she had been doing. At one point, while walking about in Lagos, she became so weak she had to stop and beg a chair in a shop, and just sit and try to recover enough strength and clarity of mind to be able to continue. In her desperation she tried a powerful herbal remedy, which nearly proved fatal (or perhaps it did). When the original dose did little, she took an additional dose. Her body reacted violently, and she began to vomit nearly unceasingly. She also experienced diarrhea, and for an entire week she was constantly running to the toilet, vomiting and stooling. Her body became severely dehydrated. There was no one to care for her, and she tried to outlast the sickness and the effects of the “remedy” that she had taken.

At one point her body could not take it any longer. Whether Benedicta died or simply became comatose, she cannot say, although she feels that her spirit left her body, and that she was, in fact, dead. Suddenly she found herself in a strange place, where praise and worship music filled the atmosphere. It seemed not only to come from the people who were there, but even the grass and the beautiful trees seemed to resonate with this beautiful music. We cannot go into all the detail of what she experienced but suffice it to say that it left a permanent imprint upon her spirit. After seeing Jesus and conversing with Him, she was sent back to her body and told that there was work for her to do on earth. When she awoke from this experience and found herself on her little bed in her tiny apartment in Lagos, she cried deeply. Heaven had been so beautiful, the last thing she had wanted was to return to the life of pain and difficulty she had on the earth. But God was not done with His handmaiden.

Turning Point

In the year 2007 Benedicta was invited by a friend to some evangelistic and conference meetings being sponsored by one of the churches in Lagos. When she attended she found out that no one was video recording the meetings, and did a courageous thing. Without being asked or granted permission, she took her camcorder, which she had received through one of her business deals, and began recording the meetings. The preacher, as you have guessed, was the man who would become her husband – Dennis Pollock. Dennis had been praying for a wife, and when he saw the tall, beautiful Benedicta, he couldn’t help but be intrigued – intrigued enough to ask the sponsoring if this lady was married. When told she was not, he became even more intrigued. Eventually they had a chance to talk, and Dennis asked Benedicta if he might buy her a cell phone and call her from America. She agreed, not really expecting anything to come of it. But when he called her after reaching America, and then called her again the next day, and then the next, she knew this man was truly interested in her. Love blossomed over those phone calls traveling thousands of miles and a major ocean, and eventually the two were married.