Gifts

It is our uniqueness that gives freshness and vitality to a relationship.
~Dr. James Dobson

God has shown you His grace in giving you different gifts...So be good servants and use your gifts to serve each other.
~1 Peter 4:10

I went for years unsure of what my "special gift" was. I tried teaching for twelve years(basically because most of the women in my family were teachers of some sort), but never felt like that was my true calling. I became a mother and LOVE being a mom and wife. That job kept me very busy for many years (especially because when I had Nicholas, I had three children under the age of four)- until they started school. Then I had all this empty time in my day while they were away. I can only do laundry and clean house for so long before I feel crazy. I did volunteer at the school for a while until a snobby you-know-what stabbed me in the back and sent me running with my tail between my legs. So I began writing. I had always loved to write stories and poetry as a child. I would spend hours and hours in my room filling notebooks with little stories (chapters and all).

One story stands out in my memory about a girl who had just moved to a beach town. She met a girl on her street and they became friends. They had all kinds of adventures by the beach. Looking back I can see how that story paralleled my life. My family had just moved to another state in an older neighborhood and I was longing for my old neighborhood friends. I guess I took refuge in writing out my fantasies.

Isn't it funny how it took me nearly forty years to find my true calling? Andrew worries about his true calling, or talent as he calls it, and thanks to his teacher he is now doubting his capabilities. Hopefully Andrew can look at me and realize that sometimes it takes a very long time to figure that out. God speaks when He knows you are ready to hear Him.

Thoughts...on love

When two people love each other deeply...they share countless private memories unknown to the rest of the world.
~Dr. James Dobson, "Love For A Lifetime"

Pete and I keep God in the center of our marriage. We do this for several reasons. First, we know that God put us together. If we had not straightened out our lives and turned our wills over to God, we probably would not have even met. Second, with God in the center of our union, we are constantly reminded that WE are not in charge of our relationship; rather, God is. We are not in charge of our lives; He is. Every morning and every night, Pete and I pray together. This allows us to remember daily the vows we took eleven years ago.

Life has not always been easy since we married. We have had our ups and downs. Pete's car wreck and the four years that followed wrapped up in pain, agony, loss of work, litigation and surgeries were not easy by any means. Yet, we continued to keep God in the center, and we prevailed (there is justice done when a distracted teenager is changing his radio station and barrels into the back of Pete's car when he had our three children with him). I have had my difficulties, too, with depression following childbirth, and the loss of a dear friend by suicide. Plus, I have had a few other setbacks. But Pete and God, stuck by me, and we made it through the darkness.

Of course, we have had a lot of good times, too. The births of our three children and raising them stand out as some of the best. And, yes, we put God in the center of their lives, too. There have been fun times at the beach, our vacation to Disney World, special holiday events, school activities and programs, and sporting activities that have been truly memorable; and there will be many more! As long as God is driving "our car of life," what can go wrong? Not a thing, for absolutely nothing happen's in God's world by mistake.

Your love is more delightful than wine...Your name is like perfume poured out.
~Song of Songs 1:2,3