Sips from the Fountain
Learning to drink from Jesus, the Fountain of Living Water, isn’t as hard as I thought, especially when you just start with sips, and those will change everything.
Sips from the Fountain
When Jesus Rescues: The Life of Linda Blechinger
What if the hardest chapters aren’t the end of the story but the place where meaning begins? Martha sits down with longtime friend and mentor Linda Blechinger for part one of a three-part arc that starts in the rubble of a fractured childhood and moves toward a life remade. Linda opens up about immigrant roots marked by wartime scarcity, the ache of an orphanage and foster care, and the shock of being taken from safety by a struggling mother. Her early independence becomes a lifeline—three jobs on the West Coast, catching the wave of the nail industry, and a fearless leap into defense manufacturing with nothing but grit and a promise to learn fast.
The higher Linda climbs, the more she collides with a culture of exploitation that treats talent as disposable and dignity as a transaction. After years of harassment and one final ultimatum, despair leads her to a silent living room and a handful of pills. She wakes up two days later, convinced even God won’t let her go. Then a new colleague named Dan steps in—driving her to the hospital to see her mother, praying in a way that sounds like a real conversation, and offering care without strings. His simple confession—meeting Jesus changed my life—lands deeper than any argument.
Alone that night, Linda whispers a small prayer that opens a wide door. What follows is not a formula but an encounter: tears, relief, and a world that looks newly colored the next morning. Their first date is a walk with a Bible and a flood of questions. Marriage comes with time, as does the courage to face motherhood after a childhood that taught her to fear it. Through it all runs a clear message: your past may explain you, but it doesn’t define you; your response does. This is a raw, faith-filled story of rescue, resilience, and purpose found in the unlikeliest places.
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Do you ever feel like life can get too complicated and maybe even overwhelming? Yeah, me too. And it's okay. My name's Marta Gano, and in this podcast, we're going to talk about life, love, faith, family, relationships, all kinds of things. And we're gonna drink from what God wants to pour into us one small sip at a time. Because when it's the fountain of living water, small sips make all the difference. Sometimes it'll be just you and me. Sometimes we'll have a friend join us. If we could have lunch together today, this is what I'd want to talk about. Hey, hey, hey, you guys, and welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited about our guest on today's episode. It's my dear and longtime friend, Linda Bleckinger. Her story is one of the most impactful testimonies I've ever heard, especially from someone that I know personally. She walks with the father at such an incredible depth because of her story. And she carries so much wisdom that we talked for a long time. And I don't want you guys to miss a single moment of it. So for that reason, we're actually going to break our conversation up into three episodes. And today is episode one, the story of how Linda endured a devastating childhood. And as she references later on in the podcast, she doesn't even tell the fullness of the story. But when she came to the end of herself as a young adult, Jesus radically intersected her path and rescued her out of darkness and into light and life. If you've ever wondered if there's anyone out of God's reach, you're going to love Linda's story. It's a continuation of our series. Life wasn't supposed to be like this. And it's a heady dose of the incredible power of God in a person's life, no matter what circumstances life has brought. I hope it encourages you. So let's get to it. Episode one of three with Linda Bleckinger. Hey, hey, hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have a dear longtime friend. Linda, I don't say old friend. I feel like that's rude.
SPEAKER_00:That's okay.
SPEAKER_02:I'm going to say longtime friend here on our podcast today. This is Linda Bleckinger. Um, we knew each other many years ago in church and uh many, many years ago. And you've long been a mentor of mine, even from a distance. I so looked up to you and admired you. And the reason that Linda's on the podcast today, as we've been talking about this series, life wasn't supposed to be like this. In fact, we were talking before we started recording today, that sometimes I think there's a perception, especially in the world of, well, it's more than just the world of faith. It's in our social media, internet, digital-based world that we have images that we're now using to define reality that are not based on what is reality. And especially in the faith world, I think that sometimes we think if we follow God, uh, that we're gonna get a certain kind of life. And it's gonna be a there's a formula. If you do this, then you'll get this. And that's actually not how life is. There is blessing that comes from following the Lord, but it doesn't mean that we're gonna get this a certain prescription out of life because we have created transactional behaviors with God. I'm gonna do this, so you give me that. And you know, sometimes you know people in your world that you're like, that is an amazing person. And Linda, you're one of those people. Um, I would love to just, you know, talk a little bit about some of your life experiences, of course, as we go through. But um, I knew Linda as a homeschooling mom, and then you be you then you went on to become mayor of Auburn, Georgia for 16 years. 16 years and absolutely um revolutionized that small town and took it global and made it a place of impact and a place that attracts people. It's just super, super great community, and largely because of the changes that you initiated in your time as mayor. Um and so, yeah, but more than that, it's just as a human being, you're really incredible. And I'm excited that people are gonna get to hear your story, you know, however much that we're gonna have time to share today, and really counter this concept that you have to have a great life in order to be a great person. In fact, I think it may be the opposite. I think that great people are forged through difficult things. And that's not very popular to say today. But uh most of all, I want us to come away from this series and from our time together today, going, oh, the hard things that have happened to me in my life do not actually define me. My response to those things defines me. And I can still become the kind of person I want to be and just define how my life turns out and live out the destiny really that God's put on my life, um, regardless of the hard things that have happened. So yeah, that's kind of an intro, Linda. And I'm just gonna let you start as far back as you want to go and share as much as you want to share. Um, just to give this picture. If you met Linda, you guys, and started talking to her, you'd be like, man, what an incredible person. You would never imagine the difficult things that you've been through, um, much less that those are the things that forged you. So I'm just gonna let you share and we're just gonna have a conversation. We just want this to be like you guys are hanging out with us today. So what if you just start at the beginning, Linda? And um, life wasn't supposed to be like this, and and yours started pretty early.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So um I'll go to I'm gonna go through this pretty quickly and then maybe, you know, go back and touch on a couple of things. But um, my mother was an immigrant from they were Russian, but uh she came over from Paris when she was about 10 years old.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so she spoke French and Russian. Wow. That was it.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think I knew that. I think I'm just learning that right now.
SPEAKER_00:And um they were extremely poor. So this was um really during kind of towards the end of World War II when the Germans invaded um France, and uh my grandfather was taken into a uh um German uh camp. Wow. Uh and eventually he escaped and he got to come to the US also. Um, so that's on my mother's side, and then on my father's side, he was uh second generation. So his um mother was Irish, his father Scottish. Okay, and so he was born in Brooklyn, New York, and um, but uh especially during that time, the Irish were not liked. Right. So you have a mother who comes over and can only speak Russian and French. Wow. And the Russians, of course, you said Russian, you were a communist, right? And uh and my father being Irish, so they had it really, really rough. Really. Uh my father was pretty much brought up in the streets of Brooklyn. And um uh my mother's mom died shortly after they arrived.
SPEAKER_05:Goodness.
SPEAKER_00:And they were so poor that there was uh times that they ate dog food.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yeah, they they were very, very poor. Wow. Um, so my mother uh was mentally ill. Okay, and when Dan and I had an opportunity to go to France, we met some relatives, and I was very curious to know what my mother was like when she was, you know, very young.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And to my uncle's absolute utter amazement and disgust, my great aunt said, Oh yes, your mother was a liar and a thief.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my goodness. And she was only 10 when she left.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Wow. Um, but it just confirmed what I always thought, which was, you know, she was mentally ill. She was born, she was three pounds. And um goodness, and they were Russians, and the you know, Germans had invaded, and so you know she didn't get um hospital care, medical care. Um, so we think she probably had some oxygen deprivation um going on there. But at the least they didn't have food. Wow, you know. So um her cousin Victor, or Dan and I took care, Dan being my husband, yes, um took care of Victor for a while, and Victor would tell me stories. He was just a little bit older than my mom. And um he would tell stories about how they the bakers would bake for the Germans, and if they burnt bread, they would take the bread and throw it out into the street for the kids.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And the kids would wait for the bread to be, you know, thrown out. So just dire situations. Um, so those were my parents.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And uh, you know, when you have one person that isn't doing that well, and then you put them together with another person that has zero life skills and and mentally probably doesn't um she was very intelligent uh woman, but she never finished I think she went as high as third grade. Okay. Um so I put those two together and it was bound to be disastrous. Um so they had three children very quickly, uh, my two sisters and then me. And uh everything fell apart. You know, they they fell to pieces and neither one of them knew what to do. All three of us ended up in an orphanage.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And uh then they tried to make a go of it again, and they took my two older sisters, but they left me in the orphanage. Oh Linda. And um I went from the orphanage to a foster home. Wow. Um and uh, you know, it was um You were how old when you entered the orphanage? I was a baby. Oh my god. Yeah, I was a baby. Okay, and um, and so then I went to the foster home. I think I was about two, maybe three, when I went to the foster home. Um always knew I was a foster child that had other foster children that would come and go. So um, and uh we all had the dream that, you know, our mom and dad were gonna come and get us. And um I had this little tiny nightlight that was um they were Catholic. And so I had this little tiny nightlight of uh Mary surrounded by red roses that would light up at nighttime and be very pretty, like kind of red color. And I remember falling asleep to that almost every night just staring at them.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but my mother decided that she wanted her kids back. Okay. And um, she literally kidnapped me out of my foster home.
SPEAKER_05:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, it was uh very traumatic. Um so she was supposed to be taking me out to Palisades of Amusement Park. It was the first time I was meeting my sisters. Wow. So I was excited. Um and then she just didn't bring me home. She just got me. And uh it was it was didn't start off good, but it got worse as time went on. Uh and uh, you know, she didn't know what to do with us. She was they had her on so many different drugs and uh it was just a mess. It was a very, very difficult time. Um, so uh I oftentimes would um question why am I here? You know, even even being really little, like I would just think to myself, you know, well, why am I here? What you know, what purpose is there in me being here? And um so I'd look for things, I'd look for reasons to be useful or you know, to serve some purpose. And uh those things in life come and go, and especially as you're a child, what you place is important, maybe isn't that important. Um and uh so anyway, those years were were uh quite difficult. Um saw my father off and on, he was remarried, had a whole nother family, uh, and didn't really reconcile with him until much later in life. Okay. Um, which is a beautiful story of redemption, but uh so I left home when I was 14. Wow. Yeah, when I was 14, and then when I was 15 years old, um left uh we lived in New York on Long Island. Um I couldn't tell. I can still hear a little bit of it. I didn't say Long Island, I can still hear a little. I've lived here for 36 years. Think by now, you know. Think by now. Yeah, no. But um, you know, really interestingly, uh I when I left and flew over to the West Coast. So you did that at 15? 15. Um, yeah. Uh it was um an interesting, interesting time. I just lied about my age, and at that time they just, you know, took took it for whatever you told them. Put myself through cosmetology school, worked my butt off in California. Three jobs, yeah. Wow. And uh went to cosmetology school and learned how to do artificial nails, which was brand new to the public at that time. So um I made quite a quite a bit of money doing it because you know it had just left Hollywood and come to everyday person could get them, you know. Okay. So it was special. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02:So um yeah, there used to not be nail salons everywhere, by the way. That's right.
SPEAKER_00:That's I did it out of my apartment, actually. Wow, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:There were no nail salons. In fact, I just have to insert this funny thing there about Gen X, because I think we're both Gen X. I saw a t-shirt recently that said Gen X raised on hose water. That's right.
SPEAKER_01:Like we didn't have nail salons, girls. We didn't have them, they were just brand new.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. No, no seat belts and no nail salons.
SPEAKER_01:And drinking hose water.
SPEAKER_00:Drinking hose water all the way. Oh gosh, so funny. So, um, so I you know, I I did pretty good, but uh I I uh never found my purpose. I was I knew I had to work and I had to find ways of making good money, be self-sufficient, not rely on anybody else. So that's what became really important to me was work and being successful.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Not relying on anybody else. And uh so I ended up moving back to Long Island um and uh worked at a very exclusive place on Long Island doing the nails, ended up managing the shop, and it was just such a mess, like everybody at that time. I don't know how it is now because I've been out of that world for a very long time. Okay, but everybody was doing drugs. Everybody was.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And um, you know, one day I just looked up and I just looked at everybody in the shop and I looked at myself in the mirror, and uh I weighed probably 99 pounds.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00:And I was like, this is crazy. Uh I gotta get out of here. And I just quit. I walked out. I quit. Wow.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And um stopped. Gumption is your middle name, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:I stopped on the way back to my apart apartment and got a newspaper, looked at the help wanted ads, found a I feel like I feel like we need to pause and also define help-wanted ads.
SPEAKER_01:Oh newspaper. That's how I used there. There was no no internet. You had to get a new newspaper. That's my job help wanted ads. And then you had to call a number on the telephone with your voice. It was terrifying to talk to an actual person. Yes, and the and the phones were connected to the wall with a cord. Oh gosh, okay, sorry. Um the all the Gen Z are going, what are they talking about? And if you know, you know, and you're laughing right now.
SPEAKER_00:It was tough.
SPEAKER_01:It was tough. Oh my gosh, the earth had just cooled, the floodwaters had just receded.
SPEAKER_00:I had to fight all those dinosaurs on my head.
SPEAKER_01:So literally, you quit your job, and on the way home, you grab a newspaper and decide.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, help on toad. And uh it was, I saw a little one that said um material control agent, and it was at a defense contracting manufacturer, and I was like, Yeah, I could do that. That's land of like in your phone. Oh, yeah, I could do that. So funny. I went in, I got an interview. I went in, and this Greek man, George, was interviewing me, and he says, Um, why are you here? And I was like, Look, I'm a really quick learner. Anything that you have, I can do it. Give me a week. If at the end of the week you don't like me, you don't owe me anything.
unknown:Perfect.
SPEAKER_00:He goes, Okay, well, I can't really turn that down. So he hired me on the spot. Wow. And uh at the end of the week, he said, You're you're a little dynamite. Okay, you got it. Um, so I started a whole new career that day. Wow. And I loved it. I really it was like a duck to water. I loved it.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Was very successful at it, and um just kept kind of climbing the ladder. And uh unfortunately, especially in those days, it was still really uh difficult for women in the business realm. And uh I was very young, uh, you know, my 20s, and um I was propositioned pretty regularly. Yeah. And uh when the no whistleblower policy in place. Right, no, no, right. So uh yeah, so the owner of the company literally told me, if you sleep with me, I'll buy you a car.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And I just looked at him and I said, You're gonna be sorry for that. And walked out, walked into my office by the way I worked with his daughter. And uh I said, Oh, by the way, as I'm packing my stuff in a box, your father just propositioned me and I told him what he said. Now that I have all this wisdom, right?
SPEAKER_01:Also, there wasn't years later the lawsuits that uh weren't as frequent. No, no, in either direction.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh, no.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right.
SPEAKER_00:And uh so you walked out of that one too? So I so I walked out of that one, got another job, and um, you know, it was just replay. I mean, you know, it was just a different circumstance, you know, but it it was replay. And by that time, I was um 26. And that one really got me because I just walked out of there. Um, he actually fired me because I wouldn't, I would not go to a family picnic and um be with his son, basically is what he wanted. Wow. And uh so I came in and he told me, if you don't do it, when you come in Monday, you're gonna be fired. Wow. And I was just thinking, there's no way, you know, you did it.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And the head of human resources was standing right there watching the whole thing with me. Wow, wow. I just couldn't believe it. Um, but uh when I left there, I was devastated because it had happened like three times over a period of probably nine years.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And um I was just so wrecked. I was like, it doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't matter how good you are at your job, doesn't matter that you've won awards and that you've saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars. It all comes down to doing what they want you to do. Yeah. And uh so I went back to my apartment, I stopped on the way, I bought a bottle of vodka, took every pill in my apartment.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, Glenda.
SPEAKER_00:It was just before Christmas, didn't tell a soul.
SPEAKER_05:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00:And um I just tried to kill myself, and uh, I woke up two days later, I had vomited all over my living room, and came to, and the first thing I thought when I came to uh was God, you must hate me. You won't even let me die.
SPEAKER_05:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00:That was my thought. Wow, and um and but you know I got up, I showered, I cleaned everything up, and I was like, okay, time to go get more help wanted ads. That didn't work, and yeah, wow, and that's what I did. And uh, so I got a new job. And uh on my birthday, which is March 3rd, I met for the first time the man that was gonna become my husband at this new job that I was hired at.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And uh of course there was nothing between us at the time, but it was the first time that I met Dan. And uh it took him a while, but eventually he invited me to go out on a date, and I told him no, like ten times. And uh and then he said, Okay, well, we're gonna do this group thing where everybody's gonna go bowling together, you know. And uh why don't you come to that? And I said, Okay. And uh it was really um very different from anybody else I had ever met. It was very respectful, very kind, um, kind of had a little bit of an edge to him, uh just enough to make them interesting, you know. And uh, and so I think it was like the next day, um I got a phone call that my mother was in emergency, she was hemorrhaging, they didn't know if she was gonna make it. I hadn't talked to my mom in years. Wow. And so I thought, hmm, do I want it to end like this? What if she dies, you know?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so I did something very unusual. I called Dan and I told him what was going on.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And uh I was very private person, like nobody knew anything about me. Sure, you were very self-protected. Yes, yes, and um, so next thing I know, he's in my office with his coat on, keys in hand, and he's like, Come on, I'm gonna drive you to the hospital.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And he did. And on the way back, he um, well, on the way there, he asked if he could pray for my mom. And I was like, Yeah, okay, whatever. You know, sure. And uh so he prayed, and I never heard anybody pray like that before. I only ever heard Catholic prayers, you know, our fathers, hair hail mary's. And um, so it was very personal and it caught my attention. And then on the drive home, um, I had shared with him what he was gonna see when he met my family at the hospital, which was a total mess. I mean, I tried to warn him, like, okay, this is what you're gonna see. And um, he he was just such a gentleman. He said, Linda, that has nothing to do with you. I'm here for you.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:So then on the way home, he shared his testimony with me, and it was amazing.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:His mom and dad were divorced, his dad was mentally ill. Okay, and um, his dad had tried to kill the whole family. Oh my lord. Um, so he had a story that wasn't like mine, but it was far enough out there that he could understand kind of what I was going through. And so we connected, and um, but then he said, before he dropped me off at my car, he said, you know, the only thing I can tell you is that when I met Jesus when I was 15, he changed my life. Wow. And I was so shocked, I didn't even know what to say to that. What does that even mean? Yeah, I just so I got out of the car, went in my car, went back to my apartment, and I just cried. I probably cried for the first time in years, and just cried and cried. Wow, and I finally cried out to God and just said, if you're real, wow, I want what Dan has.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And that was it. That was my salvation prayer. That was it. And he so flooded the room.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:There was such a holy reverence that entered that room. I literally could not get up off of the bed. Like I was plastered down, wonderfully enveloped in this holiness, and I could not stop crying. I just cried and cried and cried. And, you know, Dan never told me to confess my sins. He never he didn't share a scripture verse with me. It was just his own personal testimony. And um, and I just laid there, and every single sin I could think of, I confessed.
SPEAKER_05:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and I just felt like a new person. The next morning I woke up, and I really do mean this. I felt like I put on technicolor glasses. Like for the first time in my life, I saw color. Like everything came alive. Oh my goodness. And I called Dan up. I didn't even know to tell him what I had done. Uh, but um, I called Dan up and I said, Um, why don't we go for a walk in the park? And he said, Oh yeah, that'd be great. I said, Hey, do you have one of those Bibles? Wow. And he was like, uh, yeah, I do. I said, could you bring that? He said, sure. So he brings the Bible, and that was our first date. Oh, our first real date. We sat in this park and read scripture, and I had a million questions, and he answered them. And it was, it was what I thought was the best thing in the world that could have ever happened to me. Wow. Uh, and uh what I felt towards Dan because of what happened with the Lord was something I had never experienced before.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And it was kind of scary, you know, because I just didn't ever felt it before. And um, so it took me, and he was very patient, took me a couple of years to actually work that through and realize, okay, this is love. That's what this is. Wow. Wow. Yeah, yeah. But um, Dan and I were married and um upstate New York in a beautiful, beautiful, wonderful setting. Um, and very quickly, I uh uh 13 months later, Dan's mom would tease me all the time and say, 'You can have people counting back on their fingers.' I was like, okay, that's all right with me. Um, but we had Derek 1989, and then DJ was born 1990. And uh Derek was I I Martha, I never thought I'd get married, really truly, and for sure I never, never planned on having married. I can imagine. I can imagine. I mean, I was like after your childhood experiences, yeah, yeah, that's it exactly. And I thought, what could I ever offer to a child other than I mean, because it was just so skewered, my whole life was so skewered. I mean, my mother's mental illness became ours because we had to live in her world.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And so it took me a long time to figure out what's real and what's not real.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what's healthy, what's normal, what's not.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Um, so I it terrified me to think of having children. Right. And um, but Dan was like, oh no, we're gonna have three boys. Very prophetic. Yes. Wow. When when he proposed, he gave me a ring that had three baguettes. And he told me that's for each one of our boys. Oh my goodness. Oh, yes. Wow. I was like, what if we have a girl? He goes, No, no, we won't we're not gonna have a girl. Wow. I was like, okay.
SPEAKER_02:And we're going to pause right there in Linda's story, guys. How incredible was that? How the Lord intersected Linda's life and rescued her and brought her her husband at the same time. In the next episode, Linda's gonna talk about the three boys that Dan predicted that they would have. And that is its own chapter of Linda's life, where she actually again experiences devastation, but she allowed it to take her even deeper with the father. And the lessons that she brings us in that episode are profound. You won't want to miss it. So thanks for joining us today. We're gonna see you again later in the next episode for the next chapter of Linda's life. Hey you guys, thanks for hanging out with us today. I hope you got some refreshment from this Sip from the Fountain. If you're curious to hear more, or if you like what you've heard, you can go ahead and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to yours, or follow our Instagram account, Sips from the Fountain, or our Facebook page by the same name. Special thanks for cover art photography to the Sarah D. Harper. And I can't wait to hang out with you guys next time. Thanks so much. Love y'all.