It all started when Dad met Mom. The
momentous event happened in 1958, when he escorted several girls
from Clintwood High School to tour the Bristol
Herald Courier for a class trip.
His sister Shirley was in the group
and so was her best friend, Rachel. Dad would eye Mom in the
rear view mirror, because she sat in the back seat. Mom thought
he was struck on another girl in the car and was surprised when
Dad gathered his nerve and asked her out on a date.
She agreed to the date and was surprised
again when Dad proposed. She told him he was crazy, which of
course he was, but she married him anyway soon (four days...)
after graduating that summer from High School. Dad continued
to surprise her constantly in the following years, and Mom always
pretended not to be!
My life began much as any one of you. My body was pushed from
my Mother on Friday afternoon, June 13, 1959, much to my Mother's
relief. The Doctor slapped my bottom and the air filled with
my cries and I haven't stopped making noise since, or so Mother
likes to repeat, (often....)
Dad was working in Springfield, Illinois
on a welding job when Mom went into labor. He made the long
journey home to see his newborn baby girl. He named me Kathleen,
no middle name, just Kathleen. He took my name from a set of
glasses that was given to them as a wedding gift. The song "I'll
Take You Home Again Kathleen" was printed on the back of
one of them. I have since been called, Kathy, Kat, Kath-A-Leen,
(which I do not like, by the way.) There is no "AH"
sound in Kathleen! Also have been called various other names,
which I won't burden you with at this particular time.
Mom says that I was a good baby, some
of the time, and at a very young age, (two or three months old)
Dad would hold me in his lap and read to me from magazines.
No, not from People, Woman's Life or Cosmopolitan. He would
read to me Field and Stream, National Geographics and Popular
Mechanics!
I guess that's why the intelligence
test I took in high school, and was given by the army, rated
me #1 in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration!
Mom and Dad were young parents, and had the same struggles as
many other young couples. Dad was working in a hay field for
50 cents a day when I was still a baby. Life was hard for them
but Dad knew that life would get better.
Off to West Virginia they went. Mom
was pregnant with their second child, a son named James Oakley,
Jay for short. Now there were two young babies in the house
to care for.
Mom soon became pregnant yet again.
Mom and Dad had the RH factor and this led to a difficult pregnancy.
After birth the boy child was given two transfusions enabling
him to live. They named him Mark Travis. Now instead of one
boy in the house competing for Mom and Dads affections there
were two! Oh, woe is me.... I thought life was so unfair! I
just didn't know the half of it!!
Through the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, Dad took their correspondence course
to become a Journeyman Lineman. He would work all day on his
job, come home and study. This was a four year course and Dad
completed it in two. This meant more money for Mom and Dad and
of course it didn't come a moment too soon.
I always thought we were better off
than most folks, and I think we were. We had a loving home environment,
enough food to eat and clothes on our backs, and I had two brothers
for play pals... Dad was strict and we learned early never to
back talk, and show respect to him and Mom. If we managed to
behave (I don't know how Mom and Dad stood it!) we made it through
the day without one of Dad's lectures. We'd rather have a spanking
from him, most of the time, than to have to sit and listen to
Dad teaching the same lesson to us over and over again in about
10 different ways. But we were a happy family and despite our
sibling rivalry, we loved one another.
I remember three things pretty clearly.
One day I decided to get into Mom’s cosmetics. I thought I was
so beautiful! I had lipstick all over me, and it just happened
to be red! I just didn't have lipstick on myself either, it
was on the sink and mirror and who knows where else! Dad came
into the bathroom and rather sternly asked me if I had been
into Mom’s lipstick. Of course I denied it, not once or twice,
and I stopped counting after that! The evidence was quite clear
that I was guilty, and that I had lied. I think I learned that
day not to tell a lie, and to be as honest as old' George Washington
could be with red lipstick all over his face!
Another incident was when my brother
Jay took an overdose of gentian violet pills Mom had on top
of the refrigerator. He was all purple in the face and Mom and
Dad took him to the hospital to have his stomach pumped! Now
that was pretty heavy stuff for a child my age...four! I had
no idea what it meant to have his stomach pumped!! You can just
imagine what I imagined in my mind!
Jay had to stay in the hospital a few
days. Another incident again involved myself. A week after Jay
came home I pulled a loose mantle place from the wall, down
on top of me. Mom had put me down for a nap, and I had been
coloring...the one thing in the whole world I liked to do best!
She took the crayons and paper,, pens and pencils from me and
placed them on top of the mantle.
Now as I remember it, we were getting
ready to move and the landlord had loosened the mantle for some
reason or another. The mantle was a concrete slab about 1' ½
_ 2 inches thick, which sat on two ends placed into the wall.
As soon as Mom's back was turned and
she had left the room, I tiptoed over to the mantle, reached
my fingers to the top of the mantle, and tried to get the pencils
she had so thoughtfully left sticking out just a little, enough
to tantalize me into trying to recapture them on the sly. The
mantle piece shifted and gave way falling on top of me. The
top part of me was knocked back under a rocking chair and my
legs stuck out. The slab hit my legs and my right leg was broken.
Mom came in and tried to pick me up, and in the process my bone
came through the skin in my leg. Blood was everywhere, and Mom
didn't drive, Mark was on the bed, in mid-diaper change, Jay
was asleep, I think, and Mom picked me up and ran out into the
road screaming for help. I was bleeding a great deal and she
was very frightened for me. A neighbor volunteered to drive
us to the hospital, and another neighbor agreed to stay with
Mark and Jay. The kind neighbor who volunteered to drive us
to the hospital had a new car, white I think...
I still remember the doctor who treated
me in the hospital. His name was Dr. Ron Caglion. He was really
very rude to Mom. He said she shouldn't have picked me up at
the scene of the accident, blah, blah, blah.... I didn't like
him much because he lied to me. Yep, he told me I wouldn't have
to stay in the hospital or get any shots and I had to do both!
I think the first time I was in the hospital it was for about
a 6 weeks stay. I was in traction most of that time, with my
leg stuck up in the air, just having a miserable time.
Mom had two other children at home
and couldn't stay with me at night. She would come and visit
as much as she could.
I remember I was in the hospital during
Christmas. Santa Claus brought everyone cookies and candy and
a gift. I was never so disappointed...the Christmas gift was
a book. I couldn't even read. The Book was a Bobsy Twin Mystery.
I did learn to read however, and I did read that book! Haven't
put a book down since, either....
I didn't know at the time how much
I really put Mom and Dad through. They now had Jay's hospital
bill and mine to pay. After I came out of traction I was put
into a body cast, which covered both legs, had a bar in between
my knees, and the cast went all the way up to my breasts, which
I didn't have much of at that time!
Mom had to constantly turn me every two hours so I wouldn't
get pneumonia. That's what the bar in between my legs was for.
I tolerated this for about two months and had to be put back
into the hospital to have the cast removed and receive some
therapy on my legs.
The doctor came in the middle of the
night to remove the cast. You figure that if they didn't want
to scare a child they would come in the daylight hours at least!
They finally convinced me that the saw wouldn't hurt me, cut
me, or eat me. Off came the cast and I was horrified at the
look of my legs. They were scaly, thin and white! UGLY!!
Mom constantly put lotion on my legs
until they were soft and smooth and pretty again. I was fitted
with a set of crutches, and they soon became my best friend.
I never went anywhere without my crutches and I wouldn't walk
without them, no way no how!
Dad let me get away with this for a
while, but one day he took my crutches from me and sat me in
the middle of the floor. He removed anything I might could use
as support and told me to walk.
I don't remember how long it took me
to get my nerve up and walk on my legs. I just knew they were
going to break into again and I would be back in that hospital,
receiving yet another lousy book for Christmas, that I couldn't
read!!
I finally, through much tears, crying
and begging, got upon my feet and walk without my crutches,
into Dad's loving arms. I was so happy and thrilled that my
legs didn't break into. I have tried to walk on my own two feet
ever since, but I think I am kin to Grace Lightfoot. I have
stumbled through but not without mishaps.
Because of this injury one of my legs
was shorter than the other. This has caused health problems
for me to this day.
Dad smoked a pipe when I was a young
girl. (I missed the smell of his pipe tobacco, and still sometimes
wish I could smell that cherry tobacco once again.) I have been
known to go in a store, a few times mind you, just to sniff
the bags of tobacco. I know that sounds crazy to some of you,
well alright…all of you...and the Management probably thought
I was just a crazy lady who liked to come in and sniff the cherry
tobacco bags, because they have never called security on me,
yet! I also have thought that it will be nice to be a spirit
because then I could smoke that cherry tobacco pipe and not
hurt myself in the process!
I guess because of Mom and Dad’s involvement
with working with the youth we got to travel more than the average
family. And we always had activities, sometimes we thought there
were too many. Mom and Dad became involved in church and we
benefitted from that. Mom and Dad moved quite often because
Dad had to travel to where the work was. Often he would come
home on Friday and would need to be on a job in another state
on Monday.
Mom took it all in stride most of the
time, and so did we kids, but it was hard. We had to leave friends
we had just made, prepare to enter another school, maybe for
the second time that year, in the middle of a semester. Mom
would have to leave all of her church friends.
Mom became pregnant again. I prayed for a little sister, I really
did, in earnest! God must have felt a certain pity for me, and
gave Mom and Dad a baby girl. Mom also had a rough pregnancy
with her, and the Doctors were threatening to take deliver the
baby early because of the RH factor. But Mom and Dad had lots
of faith that everything would be ok...and it was.
Also during this pregnancy, Mom and
Dad were baptized. Mom was terrified of water, especially deep
enough for her to be immersed, but she made it through. Needless
to say, Dad raced home one afternoon, drove Mom, who was in
hard labor, to the hospital. He left the car on the street running
and hustled Mom inside. By the time he parked the car and went
back inside to find Mom, she had delivered a little baby girl.
They named her Anna Marie.
From that moment on, she made my life
miserable! Not really, but that's what went through my head.
There are six years difference and two boys between us. They
say I was bossy and ordered them around. I don't really remember
that part...
Mom and Dad made several major moves
during the next few years, but we managed to stay in one area,
Charleston, West Virginia.
The inevitable soon came to pass however
and we had to move almost overnight to London, Kentucky. I was
traumatized! I was twelve, almost a teenager! I actually had
a crush on several boys and how could they do such a thing as
move at a time like this? We all cried during the move, but
all for different reasons.
Mom was leaving an area that she loved,
leaving behind many, many friends, and I was leaving behind
my new-found loves of my life .
The new church we attended wasn't so bad. I discovered they
had boys too! Lots of them and they all seemed to like me.
I was young, but my Dad and Mom had
taught me (or I inherited it from them) to stand on my own two
feet and act like a lady. I had the time of my life. I actually
learned how to dance without holding your partner, this was
a new concept, and you could actually have fun! I made new friends
fast, and was always busy with some activity or another.
Mom was busy trying to keep me out of trouble, and instruct
me in the ways of behaving oneself, acting like a lady, and
still enjoy myself! I fell in love for the first time when I
lived in London, Kentucky. I met a prince charming. I was 13/14
and he was 18. Oh, the thrill of it! An older man.... He would
write me twice a week, he lived in Lexington, 60 miles away,
and he would call me once a week, and of course we would meet
on the weekends for church socials.
He graduated from high school, and
became accepted to Ambassador College in Pasadena California.
I was in the 8th grade, and crushed. I was happy for him, but
I didn't want to see him go. I dutifully "saw" him
off, saying our goodbyes in front of half the church with just
a quick hug and a whisper in his ear.
He wrote me on the airplane saying
he would never forget me, that he loved me, and that when I
graduated and finished college at Ambassador of course, we would
get married. He wrote dutifully that first year. I saw him at
our annual convention that first year and then I did not see
him again!
I do not to this day know what ever
happened to him. I still wonder about it sometimes, just because
I am curious. I became very depressed and was so unhappy. I
moped around for quite a while. Time does heal all wounds, and
I soon faced life again, never quite forgetting about him.
Sixteen hit and I was off. I was making friends, dating several
nice boys, (it was fashionable to do that, at that time) and
having the time of my life.
Dad had changed jobs several times
and we had made several moves. We lived for a short time in
Clintwood with my Dad's parents, and were going to church in
Kingsport, then we moved to Pikeville, Kentucky. We lived “up
a holler” called "Coon Creek." Just the name was enough
to turn off guys...but not for long.
I made friends quickly, and was happy
during those years. I was trying to graduate from high school
a year early, because I had picked up extra credits from moving
around, and that didn't work out. I quit school in the 11th
grade, with all my senior classes and a 3.6 GPA. I took the
two day GED test in 4 hours and was finally out of school! I
was baptized in the year 1976 at the age of sixteen. Looking
back on it now I was really too young and not fully aware of
the commitment I was making, but I truly wanted to live my life
as I knew I should.
I looked for work, and was hired at
the very first Long John Silver's Restaurant in Pikeville. I
was good at my job and was soon promoted to Assistant Manager.
I bought my first car. It was a Dodge Dart, an ugly brown color,
and was about 10 years old but it was dependable.
I soon changed jobs to work in a Lumber
Company. I loved this job. The pay was good and I was responsible
for the books, inventory, etc. The owner was a lady I liked
a lot. She was a widow, young and full of fun.
She introduced me to the disco! I loved
to dance! I was good at it too. But some of the disco life rubbed
off on me. I met and fell in love, again, with a MAN! He was
handsome, smelled good, 6'10" tall, and he played basketball
for the College at Williamsburg.
He sold life insurance and was "going
places". I attended a banquet with him where he was awarded
top salesman for the year! I thought I was really in love and
had found the right man.
In the meantime I was the President
of the local YOU chapter in Pikeville, Kentucky. The YOU regularly
sent two delegates to Pasadena for their annual YOU Conference
in January.
I was one of the delegates picked to
go, and my girlfriend Debby Bailey was the other. We flew out
to Pasadena to attend the conference and were really enthused
after hearing all of the wonderful things we could accomplish
in our local area.
We heard many wonderful messages at
the conference. Debby and I were anxious to come home and implement
some of the best ideas into our council.
By the time I had returned home...we
had had a major split in our church and this left me with an
unsettled feeling inside.
It didn't work it out with Mr. 6'10"
either. We parted company and I started dating another man.
His was a jeweler in the area and was recently divorced and
was just looking for someone to accompany him out to dinner,
dancing, see a movie etc.
I thought he was perfect. He was like
a teddy bear. Cute and cuddly and no strings, no commitments,
just fun. We dated for a few months and he decided to call it
quits. He was caring for me too much and he did not want a permanent
relationship, I believe that's the way he "stated"
it.
I was hurt, but not mortally. I found
out that 10 years later he was killed in a robbery. I hated
to hear about that for he was a kind and gentle person. He died
a violent death. I started seeing another gentleman soon after
my breakup. I didn’t stay down for long. . He was a very popular
guy about town. He was friends with everyone. His Dad was the
town commissioner and he was planning on attending law school.
The judges and lawyers all respected and liked him. So did I.
I really fell hard for him. We dated almost two years.
We had a difference of opinion on religion
and I was really tired of fighting the “single” life. So I decided
I would look for someone in the church to marry and satisfy
everyone involved.
He found me. He saw me in an elevator
at a Singles Dance and said he fell in love. I don't know which
of us was more to blame for the following disaster, myself or
him. We did become engaged after a whirlwind courtship.
Dad and my friends were happy, I stuck
to my guns, and agreed to marry this man I had known only 2
weeks. I figured I would make everyone happy because I was marrying
and I would automatically be happy. I didn't know until then
how much I had missed her, her comfort and love. I missed her
friendship. I just needed my Mother, I guess. No one loves you
like your Mother, no matter what a mess you seems to make out
of your life.
I timed my exit so that I would have
two full paychecks in my pocket. My girlfriends would come to
the house and borrow a few items that I would later need. I
stashed them at work over a two week period, started divorce
proceedings, and made arrangements for him to be notified after
I had left the state.
I didn't want him to know I was leaving,
and that was the hardest two weeks I had ever experienced up
until that point in my life. I just knew that if he found out
I was leaving, he would do something terrible to me. He often
voiced his fear of my leaving and would become very agitated
and violent.
So I kept my mouth shut and planned
my escape. He did not know where my parents lived and didn't
even know I was gone until I did not come home at 2:30 in the
a.m. as usual. He tried to locate me, but he failed. He ran
into a brick wall-named Mom.
She gave him no sympathy and told him
he was never going to see me again. I was happy to let her be
the bad guy! He did write me letters and actually sent me a
funeral wreath with a sinister poem in it, and called the motel
room we had at the convention that year.
I have never spoken to him since the
morning I left and I hope I never have to again. I have forgiven
him and place most of the blame on myself. I married him out
of rebellion and marrying for the wrong reason never works.
I was a different person when I came
home. I was timid, depressed and not a bit like my usual self.
I would cry easily, was frightened of raised voices, and still
am. But mostly that life now, seems like it happened to another
person. Thank God, for His help in times of need.
Friends were great and made me feel
welcome even though they didn't know how to handle me or my
fears.
I slowly emerged from my shell, started
going back to church regularly and found a job. It was at a
Spa. I sold memberships, taught classes and got back into shape.
I was a new person, just feeling my wings. I moved into an apartment
with a girl I worked with and life was happy once more.
I started dating again. Most of the
men I went out with wanted only one thing, especially if you
were a young divorcee and looking for fun. I am not proud of
many things in my life. I suppose you could call it temporary
madness for about a year!
I met my husband now-really by accident.
A man that had had too much to drink was harassing me at the
disco one evening. Tom, my husband now, stepped in and asked
me to dance. I saw that he was shy, and bashful, but cute and
he had manners (and a nice behind).... A nice guy was almost
unheard of at that time. He asked me for a date and I agreed
to go out with him. He showed up two hours late for our first
date. I had really given up on him. He made amends for himself
and we started dating regularly.
We dated for 1 year, with my keeping him a secret from my church
friends and parents. My minister actually thought I was in love
and had given me permission to group date at the convention
as my divorce lacked 2 months being final. I went to the convention
that year feeling lonely and depressed but no one knew. I missed
Tom.
I tried to see guys in the church but
none of them struck my fancy. I loved Tom. When I returned home,
Tom was right there. He was so patient with me and he was dependable.
I loved him and started sleeping with him. I felt so guilty
that I didn't know what to do. Here I was in another mess of
my own making. I prayed to God to help me realize what I should
do.
Soon after this, Mom became ill. She
had suffered a light stroke and needed help. So I said goodbye
to him with heavy heart. I had no idea we could see each other
again. I moved home and tried to do the right thing. I never
had a menstrual period after I moved home, though. I realized
that I had become pregnant on our last night together. I called
him in a panic. He said that he wanted to meet with me and talk.
I convinced one of my girlfriends to take me to meet him. We
talked for a long time. I knew that I loved him, but did he
love me? I finally had to break the news to Mom and Dad. Some
things you just can't keep hid forever.
I told Mom first and that was very
hard. She was angry and then upset and then worried. I had to
tell Dad. He never said a harsh word to me. He asked me if I
loved the father and that I had a home with him and Mom for
as long as I wanted. I did not have to get married.
I counseled with my pastor that next
week at Bible study. Much to my surprise he asked me if the
father wanted to marry me, and if he did, and I loved him, to
go ahead and marry.
Tom and I married on January 13, 1984.
It was a Friday the 13th!) A snow was on the ground, and Tom
couldn't get his station wagon down the long winding driveway.
He had to walk in and help me walk out.
We went to Lexington, Kentucky for
a three day honeymoon. He did not tell his parents he was getting
married. He also still lived with them, so He took me home to
meet his parents! What a surprise I was to them!
Tom found work, and I did too, and
we settled down and were happy. We didn't tell his mother or
Dad right away that I was pregnant, but she soon found it out.
We were asked to leave her house.
Tom knew a man that had an apartment
in the hometown of Martin, and we stayed there the first night,
sleeping on the floor under sleeping bags. I guess we were in
love, because I thought it was romantic!
Tom's Mother was very upset with us.
It took awhile for things to smooth over, and I had to accept
my part of the blame for that. We had to overcome a lot of obstacles.
She was a devout Methodist. She called
Tom a "pervert" for looking at a nude picture of a
girl, at the age of 16! So you can imagine what she thought
of me, a divorced, pregnant daughter-in-law.
We managed to get along and speak a
civil conversation to each other just before Hoyt Wesley was
born. On the morning after I had brought Hoyt Wesley home from
the hospital, his mother came marching up our apartment steps,
at 7:00a.m. in the morning, and said she wanted to see the baby.
She took one look, and declared that
yes, he did look like the Dingus' and then she left. She accepted
me after that. She thought I shouldn't show myself in public
while I was pregnant. This shows you what I had to overcome
to earn her friendship.
Tom and Dad became close friends, and
Mom was looking forward to her grandchild. Dad started making
a cradle for our baby, and his first grandchild. It was beautiful
and Hoyt Wesley slept in it his first night at home from the
hospital and so did Ariel and Holden.
I soon became pregnant again, this
time planned, and had my beautiful daughter, Ariel Dawn. Family
upsets forced us to move to Florida for a time. Tom's parents
had hurt him deeply and we all had to live through a rough time.
We moved back from Florida after a
year, and life once again settled down. I became a member of
the Norton Church and everyone was so friendly. I felt like
I had finally come home.
I found a job at the school where my
kids went. I worked for the special education/ handicapped students
and deaf children. I also served as the President of the PTA
for two years and enjoyed serving the children and the school.
I enjoyed this very much but soon had to quit because I became
pregnant with Holden. I bled some in my first trimester and
I had to be really careful.
Gradually I became a stronger Christian
and relied on God to solve my problems. I was growing in grace
and knowledge, and happiness.
Mom and Dad were in Florida, happy
and secure, all my brothers and sisters were settled and happy.
Life couldn't get any better. Our church had started to change
some of it's doctrines, from one of legalism to grace filled
and I was so happy.
I had wanted to change for so long,
I didn't have any problems with this new truth. I embraced it
with wide-open arms. I have never felt so loved or so free.
No longer do I carry around guilt from
by-gone years and past deeds. Jesus has put them as far from
the east is to the west. I don't have to carry that load...and
what a wonderful blessing to know that with assurity.
Dad was laid off from his job in Florida
and they moved back to KY. They lived in Pound for a few months
and Dad was blessed with a job in Missouri. He went, and worked
for a short while, and I moved Mom there after Dad found a house,
and the rest is history.
The hardest trial I have ever had to
face was losing Dad. He was my rock. He always gave me an answer.
Even if it was one I didn't want to hear and he was right. I
knew I could count on him. Whatever he said he would do, that
he did. I miss him and I miss him being with my children. He
was a great influence on them and helped them to grow to what
they are today, so strong and independent.... I still hear,
"But Mom, Papaw said this....and Papaw said that."
And I remind them daily of how special their Papaw was.
Even Holden knows who Papaw was, what
he stood for in life, and what he did for us. Holden was just
over 1 year old when Dad died.
Dad was so strong and had never been
sick and it was almost impossible for us to believe that he
really was sick. He became ill during the convention, his favorite
time of the year. He wouldn't hear of staying home. He had to
go to the convention or bust!
Go he did, but the next day he was
taken to the emergency room and was diagnosed with an inoperable
brain tumor, a butterfly glioblastoma, named for it's unique
shape. It spread out from the top of his head like the wings
of a butterfly.
Dad flipped the covers off the bed
and said Rachel, let's go home, when the Doctors told him of
his diagnosis.
He faced death with dignity, with grace,
courage and a whole lot of love for his family. We discussed
his funeral arrangements, what he wanted and where he wanted
to be buried, while still huddled in that little tiny hospital
room.
Dad was calm and told us exactly what
he wanted. We owe him a great debt for that. We didn't have
to guess or wonder what he would have wanted, we knew. And we
knew he loved us… We had time to tell him that we loved him
and how much we appreciated all of his hard work and labors
to make us what we are today. And in the words of Forest Gump,
"that's all I have to say about that!"
Mom has always been and always will be my best friend. No daughter
could ever have a better Mother. I would be lost without her
and she knows it. I am continually getting Lost. I have no sense
of direction, as Mom can tell you. She is my staple, my mainstay
in life and I wish she could know how much I value her. I always
thought that my Dad was the strong one, but I found out that
through this ordeal, my Mom is made of steel.
I hope I can live my life with as much
stamina and love as she has done and I am honored to be called
her Daughter. She has handled grief better than I know I could,
and has set a great example for those of us to follow.
My direction now and for evermore will
be towards God and his Kingdom, and my love for His Son Jesus
Christ is unending, just as it is for my family, my Mother and
my friends. I trust my Mother to help me stay on that true and
righteous path. She is wise, and she is true and I love her
more than I can say or ever show her. One day when she is a
Spirit, and can know all things maybe she will know just how
much....
I only hope I can now be a better example
to others than I have been in the past. I realize the important
things in life are free...though can cause us much pain, and
yet give us much happiness....
Our love for God, love for family, love for friends and love
of mankind are the truly important things in this life. These
are the things that Jesus most wants us to learn to have. Once
we learn these important things we then in turn, give it away
to others.
I hope I have become rich enough in
a few of these areas to give away just a little…
Since that time I have been diagnosed
with Multiple Sclerosis, had two teenagers almost killed in
a car wreck, and continually serve my Lord Jesus in whatever
way I possibly can. I know He intervenes in my life and the
life of my entire family on a daily basis. My health future
is uncertain, but it will be okay whichever way it goes…my faith
is strong. Right now I have had to quit work and am sometimes
in a wheelchair. I lean on a cane to ambulate but my reliance
on Jesus Christ and His love will take me anywhere I really
need to go. His love will get me through anything.
I am still most blessed to have my
Mother with me, and she has her health concerns with diabetes,
cellulitis and fibromyalgia. She also has high blood pressure
and has lost a lot of mobility due to arthritis. We jokingly
tell each other we're going to "Shady Pines Nursing Home"
together! My teenage daughter teasingly tells us she's going
to send us there!
I have hope, joy and Jesus, a wonderful
family, children and husband who love and know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that I love them. I know that I am assured a place
with Jesus when I die. Mom and Dad will be there too, along
with my brothers and sister. My three children have been baptized
which gives me the greatest of comfort. I'm still working on
that husband of mine…What better life could one have? Just remember,
no matter where you've come from in your devotional journey
with Christ, you are so loved by Him…so much more than you can
even begin to imagine. He loves you that much! Thanks for reading
and sharing........
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