Ira Wagler and Marlene Miller
Joint heirs with Christ
By Denice Rovira Hazlett
June 14, 2012
1925
Marlene Miller grew up in Beach City in a hard-living household, with the foul mouth to prove it. As a child, she spent days at beagle trials with her father and his rough-talking friends and evenings at the beer joint where her mother was a barmaid. Thats where she picked up her propensity for profanity.
I cussed in almost every sentence because thats how I was raised, Miller said. I could swear like a trooper.
Millers father wasnt religious by any stretch, and her mom only accompanied Miller and her four brothers to the local Methodist church to see Santa Claus, though she insisted the children put on their best clothes and go to church without her.
Ira Wagler was born ninth of 11 children in an Old Order Amish family in Aylmer, Ontario. He grew up fishing, haying and running barefoot through pastures and thrived on homemade ice cream, fresh-picked strawberries, and hard work. Faith and family were of utmost importance, and Waglers formal education ended at eighth grade.
Marlene Miller graduated from Fairless High School as head majorette and sang with a group of girls at local churches. Every time she sang Amazing Grace, she would get goosebumps. For three years, shed been going steady with Johnny Miller, an Amish boy who had once tied her ice skates for her at the Beach City dam. He was just the man shed always hoped for; he was kind, didnt drink, and treated her with respect. He even told her she should cut down on the cussing. Their parents didnt approve, but they married anyway.
Ira Wagler hated the rules and restrictions of Amish life but couldnt break free. When he left home, he longed to go back, but when he returned, he couldnt wait to get away. Hed been taught that turning from the church meant spending eternity in Hell, so he joined, decided to settle down and get married.
But at 24, he realized he couldnt go through with it. On his blog, he writes, The mental strain was almost unbearable. Waves of turmoil and doubt engulfed me. That period of my life was probably the closest I ever came to actually losing my mind.
About then, his horse died without explanation. To Wagler, it seemed like a sign. He broke off his engagement, and eventually moved to Goshen, Ind., where he cried out to God for answers. Soon after, he met and deeply connected with an English man who had become Amish. Wagler shared his struggles, and the man shared the love of Christ.
And so I was reborn, Wagler writes. A huge load was lifted from me, replaced with a deep quiet sense of joy and internal peace beyond anything Id ever known. With my spiritual birth came an entirely new freedom. It didnt take long to realize that much of what Id been taught, implicitly or overtly, had been flat out wrong. The cultural box might provide some protection, but it could never bring salvation.
Wagler had accepted Christ and decided to leave the Amish church.
Marlene Miller was 19, married, and adjusting to first-time motherhood. She stood over the kitchen sink thinking about how miserable and jealous shed become. She thought about her upbringing, how she wanted something different for her own children. She realized, she says, that she was a sinner. She broke into tears, left the dishes in the sink, and went to tell her husband the news.
Miller had accepted Christ and wanted to join the Amish church.
Marlene Miller is now 68 and still lives in Beach City with her husband, Johnny Miller. Theyve been members of the Old Order Amish church for 45 years. She wanted to write her testimony for her nine children, 40 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Friends told her it deserved a wider audience, so she spent four and a half years, from first word to press, reliving both painful and miraculous moments for her book, Grace Leads Me Home. She was only going to order a few copies, but was advised otherwise. She sold out of her first printing--3,000 copies--in just two months, and has sold 6,000 since June 2011.
Ira Wagler now lives in Lancaster County, Pa. and is the general manager at Graber Supply. He began blogging in 2007, and, in 2010, Tyndale House Publishers asked him to write his memoir. Growing Up Amish has sold 120,000 copies and made the New York Times Best Sellers list for non-fiction eBook sales.
Wagler has been away from the Amish church for half his life, but says some of his closest friends are still Amish. He respects their choice but has no desire to return to that lifestyle.
Marlene Miller has no doubt God called her to join the Amish church. She knows this, she says, as sure as the hand in front of her face. She has never regretted her decision, not for a minute. She thinks back on the goosebumps she got singing Amazing Grace.
I was a wretch, Miller says, and His grace saved me. I once was lost, and now Im found, absolutely.
She even credits God for taming her tongue. She says, after her moment at the sink, days passed before she turned to her husband and said, I just realized I havent said a cuss word in the last two or three days. See what God has done for me?
Wagler knows that some from his background would say he, like Esau, has squandered his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Because I walked away from it all, he writes. All the traditions. The structure. The blessings. The cultural identity. And left it all behind. And, from their perspective, for what?
But, he says, for all Christians of every denomination, including the Amish, there is a far more important birthright.
We are, Wagler says, joint heirs with Christ in our Fathers kingdom.
Miller and Wagler will both be at German Village Center on Saturday, June 23, from 9 a.m. to noon to answer questions and sign the books theyve each written about their lives and choices. For more information, call the Gospel Book Store at 330-893-2523.
