SuperGal vs. God

Craig von Buseck: The title of your book sounds almost like ‘Superman vs. Batman.’ How did you come up with this title?

Lori Hynson: I thought of myself as a ‘SuperGal.’ I guess it probably has something to do with the fact that I was in the legal industry for 35 years. The title is based on the fact that I was a lukewarm believer. I didn’t come to the Lord until I was 47 and I was pretty lukewarm about it. And so I trusted myself. I always took care of myself. I was also the one that had to take care of everybody else. So there was no room for God in my life. But when I was 47 I started going to church, but that was just yet another activity that I did.

CVB: So, why? Why go to church at that point?

Lori: You know, it’s funny. I think for two reasons: a lot of people started right after 9-11, which is when I felt this urge to go. But being a ‘SuperGal’, and being in multi-tasker, I decided that I also wanted to sing. And what would be a better place to start but church?

CVB: Yeah. They’ll let you sing for free!

Lori: And then they can’t kick you off! But I wanted to sing gospel music. And so here I was, a 47-year-old, pale little white woman and I wanted to join this African-American church and sing gospel music. So that’s what I did.

It was a Baptist church and I had never even seen a baptism before. The pastor said to me, “To be a member here, you’ll have to be baptized.” And I thought, well okay, it’s that little bird bath thing.

CVB: Right. It’s a little trickle on the forehead.

Lori: I thought, “I can do that.” Nobody went with me. My husband was not a believer. My children were not believers. So I was just there by myself. I didn’t know that I was going to be the Esther Williams of the Baptist set as I was walking up the aisle. I went through the door and accepted Christ as my Savior, but I didn’t see the real meaning behind that. So I just continued for the next several years to live as that ‘SuperGal’ – the same lifestyle, the same running around, trying to be my own savior, and trying to control everybody.

CVB: So you get baptized and then what happens?

Lori: Not a lot church-wise. I kind of just continued on. I had married as a teenager. I married a boy because he was cute and I was pregnant, so I just felt he was my responsibility. He had some issues and I just took him on as another child. I felt responsible for him and I struggled through that for 31 years. Not a whole lot changed in my life until finally he left and I had to start over. I still didn’t look to God through all of that.

CVB: So you were still in ‘SuperGal’ mode?

Lori: I was. I was in full blast, ‘SuperGal’ mode at that point. I like to say that I could do anything until I couldn’t. I felt that I could do anything and then suddenly I couldn’t because of something that happened. I met a man named Ben and unbelievably fell in love with him very quickly. So any of you ladies out there, I was 51 years old and I just want to tell you, it’s never too late. And also, love feels exactly the same at 51 as it did at 15. So we started dating. I was so happy. It lasted six weeks, and then he got critically ill.

CVB: Oh my goodness.

Lori: And that’s when God stepped back in and said, “Are you paying attention yet?” To me it felt like the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my life. I was the advocate. He was in the ICU and he was on life support. Being a fixer and being that ‘SuperGal’ was all I knew. So I was going to fix that situation too. I would pray a little bit like, “God, can you please heal him now so I can get back to doing what I was doing?” But I never turned it over to God. I never surrendered anything. I just was determined to fix it.

He just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Finally, he got to the point where a code was called. This was after four months in the ICU. I was sent out of the room that night while they worked on him. I felt like such a failure when I walked out of that room because I hadn’t been able to fix him, which is totally illogical. I do see that part of it. It’s totally illogical, but somewhere in my mind and in my heart, I thought I could still pull it out. That was the night that I realized I couldn’t. My time was up, but God’s time had just begun.

God’s time was perfect that night. He was still waiting for me despite the many times I rejected Him and the anger and bitterness that I showed during that time where He wasn’t doing what I wanted. I thought I was better off before I ever started going to church without recognizing that I had no relationship whatsoever. I would just call on God when I thought I needed him. And so He sent messengers that night to me. I know one of them was a human because I saw him again and he’s the one that actually got through to me. He had sent somebody to me in the corridor that same night to try and tell me that nothing was impossible with God. He asked to pray with me. And anybody that’s a ‘SuperGal’ will appreciate this because I couldn’t accept any help.

I said, “No, I’ve already prayed. It didn’t work.” He wanted to know what was wrong. But when you have that mindset, you don’t want to accept any help. It doesn’t feel right. It’s your job to help everybody else.

CVB: Interesting.

Lori: My response is probably what a lot of us ladies say, “No, it’s okay. I’m fine.” I’m standing in the corridor and the man I love is dying, and I said, “I’m fine.” So that’s where I was that night.

CVB: So how did that then lead to an “aha“ moment for you?

Lori: Well that came a little bit later that same evening when I went to leave the ICU and find a bench to lie on because Ben’s sister was in the room and she was in the chair. So as I went out and the doors to the ICU were stuck. They called a maintenance man to come fix them. This maintenance man sat down and he said to me, “What’s wrong?” I don’t know what made me decide to talk to him. I guess I figured it no longer mattered. I said, “Poor me! I finally meet somebody that I fall in love with and we only dated for six weeks and he’s been here ever since.” This man turned around and said to me, “You know, some people spend their whole lives looking for a love like that. You should be grateful.”

CVB: Whoa!

Lori: It was like somebody punched me between the eyes. My first initial reaction was, “Grateful?” But then it was like my spiritual door blew open. I could just see that I hadn’t once been grateful to meet this man.

The maintenance man continued. “Maybe you were sent here to comfort this man at the end of his life.”

It had never occurred to me before that because really, it was all about me. We had this conversation and we moved on and when I left that corridor and went back to the room, Ben was still alive, barely. He hadn’t changed. But I had.

CVB: Wow.

Lori: My test was still to come. That wasn’t the end of it. But that night I thought, “If I’m there to be a comforter, I’m going to be the most super comforter you can be.” That was my “aha” moment with God – that He loved me enough and had enough mercy to still step in after I had so stubbornly refused to know Him.

CVB: Yeah. So what happened next?

Lori: Ben kind of stayed the same. Now he’s at this new lower level and not a whole lot changed at that point. There were more miracles to come. There was still a lot of spiritual warfare going on behind the scenes and a lot of warfare with ‘SuperGal’.  Suddenly I threw her away. I thought, “She’s no good. I can’t use her. I’m supposed to be grateful and be a comforter.” But God said to me, “I gave her to you for a reason.”

CVB: Right.

Lori: “She’s your gift. You just used it in the wrong way. I gave you these gifts for purpose. You were just using them for your own purposes and not mine.” It finally came to the time where things got so bad and a miraculous laboratory slip urged the doctor to go in and do surgery. Everything started to change from there. My life changed completely at that point.

CVB: The scales came off of your eyes. How did that then lead to you wanting to do this book?

Lori: I was looking through different eyes at that point. I wanted to learn everything that I could. So I started going through Scripture. I had never opened the Bible except when I was in church on Sunday. I was the Sunday acquaintance of God. I started going through God’s Word and He started pointing out various Scriptures to me. At some point I thought, “I need to get this event down on paper.” That’s what I started to do and all of those Scriptures started to come into play. It led into what the chapters would be.

I do show the spiritual battle. God has a voice in this story. Satan has a voice in this story. And so does my alter ego, ‘SuperGal’. So there are more main characters than myself in this story. The word ‘SuperGal’ sort of came to me in the middle of writing all of that. I wrote the whole thing as though it were a novel. So that just changed the whole spark of creativity.

CVB: So who are you trying to reach and what do you want to see happen in their lives?

Lori: I want to reach the women who are just like me. Either the unchurched women or the women who are sitting in church, and maybe even involved in church, but not involved in a relationship with Christ. Because if you’re going to church, and you’re singing the songs, and you’re listening to the sermon, but you’re not living it out in your life, Satan doesn’t care.

CVB: Right. You’re not a threat.

Lori: We are no threat to him whatsoever. And those are the ladies that are still struggling to control everything. The overthinkers. The perfectionists. The ones who are so self-reliant because we feel like we were our own saviors. The women who feel that they’re not enough, that they always need to be doing more to get someone’s approval. That’s who I’m trying to reach because there is a way to contentment and peace and joy even in the middle of everything that we’re going to go through.

Today I teach Bible studies. I speak to a lot of women’s church groups and there are so many of them that are just sitting on the fence. God wants us to lean on Him. He wants us to be dependent. But dependency is a word a lot of women don’t like. I call myself a recovering ‘SuperGal’. I found the word dependence offensive. “I’m not dependent on anybody. I can do whatever I need to do by myself.” And so God can certainly give us strength, but He wants us to lean on Him. He wants to give us our strength. We don’t have any superpowers despite what we think we might have. I was certainly convinced that I did. And that’s what I want them to know.

He gives us a brand new start. And is it a long journey? It sure is. I’m still recovering. I’m still learning. There are still things He’s working with and hitting me over the head about. But I know where to turn now. I never feel like I have to be back in that situation again where I have to be afraid. I just want to reach people who need to know that there is an abundant life waiting for you out there and that we don’t have to struggle 24-7.

Do you want to experience the same peace Lori has found? Learn how.

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