{"id":38595,"date":"2019-08-25T20:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/"},"modified":"2019-08-25T20:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-25T20:44:00","slug":"womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/","title":{"rendered":"A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the late 1980&rsquo;s Gayla Benefield worked in a small town in Montana reading the meters of every house for the local utility company. She noticed there were many people home during the day. They were in their 40&rsquo;s and 50&rsquo;s, and on oxygen tanks, sick with various respiratory diseases or lung cancer. Puzzled, she did some investigating. She discovered a toxic form of asbestos, vermiculite, was used to insulate many homes during the harsh Montana winters. It was also used profusely as a soil conditioner in the parks and football fields.<\/p>\n\n<p>She tried to tell anyone and everyone in the town about the hazard, but nobody would listen. Journalist Margaret Heffernan later reported the story and told National Public Radio:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In fact, she became so annoying, (and) kept insisting on telling this story to her neighbors, to her friends, to other people in the community. (Eventually) &hellip; a bunch of them got together and they made a bumper sticker which said, yes, I&#39;m from Libby, Montana, and, no, I don&#39;t have <em>asbestosis<\/em>. But Gayla didn&#39;t stop.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>A scientific researcher soon confirmed her suspicions. Even so, many in the town argued: &ldquo;Well, if it were really dangerous &hellip; the doctors would have told us.&rdquo; In total, over 400 people died from the substance and over 1,200 other people were affected. In the end, the EPA spent $120 million on the cleanup and a special asbestos clinic was set up to treat the residents.<\/p>\n\n<p>Heffernan said:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>There&#39;s a lot of willful blindness around these days &#8230; There issues at work that people are afraid to raise. 85 percent of people &hellip; know there&#39;s a problem, but they won&#39;t say anything.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Possible Preaching Angles: Many people are also in denial about the deadly effects of sin. A Christian should persevere even when no one is listening to their warning about &ldquo;sin, righteousness, and judgment&rdquo; (John 16:8). <\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-source\"> <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[410,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3512,3701,3731,3758,3873,4128,4314,4629,4630,4790,4877,4891,5037,5057,5139,5261,5283],"tax_ctp_topics":[397],"class_list":["post-38595","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-boldness","tax_ctp_tags-courage","tax_ctp_tags-danger","tax_ctp_tags-denial","tax_ctp_tags-environmentalism","tax_ctp_tags-health","tax_ctp_tags-judgment-day","tax_ctp_tags-perseverance","tax_ctp_tags-persistence","tax_ctp_tags-rejection","tax_ctp_tags-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-science","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-blindness","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-perception","tax_ctp_tags-testimony","tax_ctp_tags-warning","tax_ctp_tags-witness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the late 1980&rsquo;s Gayla Benefield worked in a small town in Montana reading the meters of every house for the local utility company. She noticed there were many people home during the day. They were in their 40&rsquo;s and 50&rsquo;s, and on oxygen tanks, sick with various respiratory diseases or lung cancer. Puzzled, she Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/\",\"name\":\"A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-25T20:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-25T20:44:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/womans-perseverance-in-face-of-denial\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Woman\u2019s Perseverance in the Face of Denial - CT Pastors","og_description":"In the late 1980&rsquo;s Gayla Benefield worked in a small town in Montana reading the meters of every house for the local utility company. 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