About the Founder
Loving to teach the Bible more than any other subject, Cookie has used her professional education as a facilitator in numerous Bible studies and has been a keynote speaker at women's retreats. Her passion of writing devotional material has earned her the honor of publication in "The Secret Place" and "Penned from the Heart." She is also responsible for writing the curriculum for several of the classes she has taught.
Born Judith Vale Garbee in Lynchburg, Virginia, "Cookie" (nicknamed at birth by her grandfather) has been married to Gary White for thirty years. During that time they have lived in Idaho Falls, ID and Pittsburgh, PA. They are the parents of two grown children, Nicholas and Kimberly, who is married to Luke Adkins.
As a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania, Cookie holds a B.S. degree in Elementary Education. She has just had published her first devotional book, And I Heard God Whisper, "Walk with Me". This book is available through xulonpress.com; barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com, as well as through this ministry's website. Additionally, a new devotional thought is posted on this website weekly. Gary and Cookie also team teach a premarriage seminar for couples headed to the altar through their church, Peters Creek Baptist in South Park, PA.
My Personal Testimony
At the tender age of seven, I joined Flat Creek Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. I had asked my mom one Sunday after communion was served what I needed to do to participate in the grape juice and tiny pieces of bread. In my mind the only answer I digested was a need to join the church and be baptized. This I promptly did and began receiving communion. A one-on-one talk with the pastor about salvation or accepting Jesus as my Savior is simply not in my memory bank.
Later on in life, at the age of 21, I was attending a series of seminars on how to witness to the lost. A little booklet entitled, "The Four Spiritual Laws" was given to me to use in that endeavor. As I read through the booklet the prayer suggested for repentance God used to convict me with the question, "Have you ever prayed a prayer similar to this one?" I couldn't remember personally asking the Lord to come into my heart and save me from my sins. Since I hadn't lived a horrible life of sin and, in fact, had been in church all my life I guess assumed I was okay with what happened to me after death, but the question remained if I had personally taken care of this important spiritual step...
After talking with my dad, his advice to me was to take care of the matter....it didn't matter what people thought, it didn't matter if I had been attending church all my life, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School or doing all the "right" things. What mattered was knowing that I had followed the Lord's instructions. So at the age of 21 I was baptized for the second time; however, this time was my "believer's baptism"....I'm so glad I listened to the Holy Spirit's call and my dad's advice. It was the most important step of faith and on that "Rock" God and I are building a firm foundation! Not only do I have the assurance of eternal life through my belief in Christ's sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary, I have the promises of God to aid me in living an abundant life here on earth regardless of my circumstances. Now that's a beautiful thought.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-10