Category:Mindsets

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Why It’s Not Too Late

When my first husband left, I was 33 years old with 3 sons (ages 12, 8, and 5 years at the time) … and a high school diploma.

We’d married the summer after his freshman year in college. Six weeks after he completed his bachelor’s degree, our first son was born. Six weeks after that, I returned to my job as a claims processor. One year and one promotion (Transfer #1) later, we moved to a small Midwestern town where I was able to be a stay-at-home mom for our growing family.

My dream had always been to start taking a few college classes when the youngest entered preschool. In fact, I had pre-enrolled for the fall semester when my husband unexpectedly announced in May that he’d requested Transfer #2 … to The City, which was 4 hours away.

So I abandoned my education plans, focused on parenting the boys and selling our home instead. My revised goal was for the family to be reunited as soon as possible. I’d have to think about college later.

We’d been living in The City for 18 months when he announced one Saturday afternoon, “I don’t think I want to be married anymore.”

I was a hot mess.

All hope for higher education seemed lost as I gave everything I had to being a single mom … and keeping us all afloat.

  • Emotionally.
  • Spiritually.
  • Financially.

I needed to work full time again, leaving my sons to deal with the loss of their father, and now the loss of their mother as they knew her.

The boys and I struggled for 4 1/2 years before something began to shift. Looking back on it now, I know it was The Lord Himself. Because whenever we think “impossible,” we can be absolutely sure that He’s having a different thought.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,”
declares The Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts. ISAIAH 55:8-9

After all that, I now have a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree, and a Doctorate. And I did them all back-to-back. Who saw that coming back then?

When The Lord puts His mind to something, hang on tight! It’s going to be a wild ride!

I’d love to hear from you. What dream seems impossible to you right now?

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Visibly Shaken

Beginning where we left off last time … No wonder she escaped so often … sometimes to neighbors’.  Sometimes to her only friend’s house.  Mostly to her church.  She felt safe at church.  She knew it’s where she belonged.

When she was younger and lived on the other side of town, she’d ridden the Sunday School bus with her older brother.  They’d walk two blocks to stand on the corner in front of the Christian Bookstore and pitch pennies while they waited to be picked up.  Back then, she only got to go on an occasional Sunday morning.

Thanks to an urban renewal project, however, they had to move to another house, which was back in the old neighborhood.  The best thing about it: Now church was just six blocks from home.  Before the family owned a car, she’d walk there and back three times each and every week – Sunday morning services, Sunday evening services, and Wednesday night prayer meetings.

The summer she was 12, she left church shortly after dark to walk home.  She remembered that it was that particular June because she was wearing the polka dot blouse and matching wraparound skirt she’d make in 7th grade home economics that spring.  Ever cautious about her surroundings, she watched and listened as she headed for home.

Just a block or two from the church, she heard footsteps behind her and looked over her shoulder.  It was a man in a checkered shirt.  Not wanting to appear afraid, she turned her head back in the direction she was going and quickened her steps, but only slightly so as to appear calmer than she actually felt.  Kansas was always rainy in June, and the sidewalks had puddles here and there – mostly small, but some large.  She lengthened her stride to make it over one of them – at the same instant the man did.

He wrapped his arm around her neck, slapping his hand tightly over her mouth, and commanded, “Don’t scream.”

Then he yanked her purse from her hand and took off.  She didn’t know in which direction.  Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t think.  As soon as the man had let her go, she began screaming at the top of her lungs.  Instinctively, she headed back to the church.  Visibly shaken and out of breath, she ran into the foyer where several adults were still visiting.  Her Sunday School teacher offered her comfort as she told the story.  The police were called, and the pastor gave her a ride home.

She didn’t sleep well for months. Lots of months.
Now she was 14 … and living alone.

To be continued …

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Watching the Wind

It’s time for a change, yes? But you’re not sure what to do. Or how to do it. And you are painfully aware that the wind could rise up at any moment to blow away your efforts to take leadership in your family. Plant the seed anyway. Because you are not alone. The Lord is the One responsible for the outcome.

Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind,
    or how the body is formedin a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:4-5