By Cecelia Campbell Livingston
Pauline Dillon knows all about suffering and making a comeback. Born to a teenage mother, she experienced terrible abuse and would constantly run away from home, living on the streets for weeks.
She spent a lot of time at Coronation Market in downtown Kingston. Her meals would most often consist of the wasted food that people in the market threw away.
Finally, at age 11, her mother placed her in state care—a children’s home—which proved to be a hard experience for her as the abuse continued.
“I would be picked on by the other children; they would beat on me until I just felt I wanted to die. It was at one of these homes that I was taken to church and met the Lord Jesus,” she shared, pointing out that she was 15 at the time.
“I attended a gospel crusade, and the preacher preached on the love of God and hell. As I listened to that message, I knew that I needed to experience that love, and since I did not know that love from anybody, I wanted that love that the preacher was describing, and when he spoke about hell, I knew that was not a place I wanted to go if I died,” she shared about the day she embraced Christ as her Lord and Saviour.
Her surrender opened the door to the visitors sharing more of the gospel with her and praying for her.
Dillon said she began to see improvement in her life, and the visitors would also pray for and with her, giving her strategies on how to cope with her situation.
Dillon attended Norman Manley Secondary (now a high school), and after completing her secondary education, she didn’t get to go to college.
She recalled growing up with a lot of insecurities and fears, and she said for a long time she dealt with the depression that came from not getting the opportunity to further her education.
“After leaving the children’s home, I started working at a store, which was Mondays to Saturdays, and the hours were long. I really did not think about school. After working at that store job for about seven years, I left and needed to find another job. I did not feel I was earning enough to pay for further studies as I had to pay rent and support my mother,” she informed.
Finally, she got a job at a bank, which enabled her to finance her diploma. She hopes to someday take her studies further.
Working in the banking sector for almost 12 years, Dillon said she left because she sensed the Lord was calling her to full-time service. She joined Jamaica Youth For Christ, where she served for seven years.
“When I went to Jamaica Youth for Christ, I was asked to set up and run a counselling centre for at-risk children. This was an after-school programme that entails mentorship and counselling for fifty children (both boys and girls). They were also taught grooming and social skills and were taken on field trips,” she informed.
She said she found it exciting working with the children who were referred by the guidance counsellors from their respective schools.
Dillon found her passion there, as she stressed that she enjoyed working with hurting people, especially children.
In 2006, Dillon said she sensed that the Lord wanted her to share her story.
“However, only one chapter was written then, until January 2020, when I was made redundant from my job at Swallowfield Chapel. I had worked at this job for about ten years. So, after the redundancy and in a counselling session, I was sharing with my counsellor how I had started this book. The counsellor encouraged me to work on the book since I was home and was not working then, and I did,” she stated.
The book From Rejected To Restored: How God Turns Pain To Purpose And Gives Hope To The Broken was released in April 2021. It speaks about Dillon’s early childhood, the abuse, and how the Lord helped her through that healing process.
Expounding on the book, she said it is her hope that readers will be encouraged that in any situation they face, they can make it, and once they have survived, they should also share their stories with others to encourage them.
Today, Dillon works part time with a lawyer as his executive assistant, and is now working on her third book. She is building her brand while working with publisher Crystal Daye in an author CEO programme.
