Davis has become quite the lightning rod over the past few weeks, thanks to her heartfelt refusal to do her job as a clerk for Kentucky’s Rowan County and issue marriage licenses to couples who wish to be wed. She’s taking a stand, a stand that she and her attorneys have tried to take all the way to the Supreme Court, because she firmly and sincerely believes that America’s recent constitutional acceptance of same-sex marriage is wrong. Her attorneys from the Christian group Liberty Counsel claim that her “conscience forbids her from approving a license — because the prescribed form mandates that she authorize the proposed union and issue a license bearing her own name and imprimatur.” They say that to her, same-sex marriage “is not, in fact, marriage” and to issue a license for one would “forever echo in her conscience.”

And who would know better about what is, in fact, marriage than a woman who’s done it four times?

Since the disclosure of her past, Davis’ critics have been agog at the notion of a person with a relationship history as decidedly not biblically approved as hers now proclaiming herself a decider of what does and does not constitute legitimate matrimony. But Liberty Counsel Mat Staver says her past is precisely what gives Davis the motivation for her current actions. “She made some mistakes,” Staver says. “She’s regretful and sorrowful. That life she led before is not the life she lives now. She asked for and received forgiveness and grace. That’s why she has such a strong conscience.” He says that her history is “not relevant to the issue at hand. She was 180 degrees changed.”

And in a statement, Davis explains, “I owe my life to Jesus Christ who loves me and gave His life for me. Following the death of my godly mother-in-law over four years ago, I went to church to fulfill her dying wish. There I heard a message of grace and forgiveness and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. I am not perfect. No one is. But I am forgiven and I love my Lord and must be obedient to Him and to the Word of God. I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a heaven or hell decision.”