Nobody, absolutely nobody, can tell a story like my Granddaddy. He was raised in the South during the Depression, and he had an uncanny knack for discovering life-threatening situations when he visited his grandparents in a Tennessee valley called “the holler.” Consequently, Granddaddy has a lot of stories to tell, and he tells them all so well with his rich Southern drawl. There’s the time he caught the turkey buzzard in the car and the time he nearly broke his neck riding a tire down steep hills and there’s the minnow swallowing contest and when they almost burnt down a barn and when he went to Europe in World War II and nearly got killed trying to ski and the list goes on and on. But one of the all-time best stories, one that has built my family’s faith, is the time Granddaddy prayed for a pony…
What He Wants Me to Be
I always wanted to be just what God wanted me to be. Sometimes it was hard to wait, to feel like there was more silence than answers.
I didn’t spend my days dreaming of marriage, or wishing that “some guy” would notice me. Not most of the time.
For the most part, I was content to be where I was, and do what I could while I waited on the bigger picture. But sometimes in the quiet, when I was alone in the dark, I’d look at the apparent insignificance of my life and wonder what it was worth, or why my quiet dreams never seemed like they would live. And if there ever would be someone who would love me and no one else…
Isolation
Integers have been spinning around my head of late. I struggle to see the necessity of mastering this skill, but I’m trusting that those older than me know why I must submit to this twisting of brain cells. I’ll admit, I do enjoy it sometimes. So far one of my favorite things to do is solving formulas for a variable. It’s like a puzzle. You have to move things around and get rid of things until you have isolated the variable and its value is shown on the other side of the equals sign.
The Judgment
I was only ten when I learned to turn up my nose to people who weren’t “like me.”
Actually, I had learned it a few years before and was simply starting to put my training to good use…
Forever Friends
I once heard someone say that you should pay attention to the things that make you cry. But I’m one of those girls who doesn’t cry easily. At least, not at films like “Sense and Sensibility”.
But, of course, there are certain things that make me cry.
Things like engagement rings. Wedding veils. Newborn babies. And airport gates…
Real life isn’t always like the courtship books
During my teenage years, I read a lot of courtship books. Joshua Harris. Eric and Leslie Ludy. Elisabeth Elliot. You name it. If it was about courtship, I probably read it.
In and of itself, reading those courtship books was not a bad thing. Even though I already knew beforehand that I wasn’t going to “date” casually, and that any relationship I would get into would need to be moving the direction of marriage, reading and knowing that there were others out there who believed the same as I did was encouraging.
However, a steady diet of those type of books during the years when I wasn’t courting–and therefore had nothing to apply what I was reading to–ended up not being a good thing. It essentially caused me to put God in a box in regard to what makes a relationship that is glorifying to Him…
celebrating 20 years
It’s hard to believe that this month marks 20 years since YLCF’s humble beginnings as the “Purry Kitten” club. It’s been 20 years of friendship and fellowship. Years of growth and of change. Years of renewed purpose and conviction. Years of fun and encouragement. Years of learning and trusting.
Speaking for all of us here at YLCF, we are so very thankful to have been allowed to serve Him and serve you through this website and ministry. 20 years spent with each of you is worth celebrating!
The YLCF Team has been eagerly anticipating this “anniversary” these past few months. (For more than just the fact that 20 years of anything reflects on our own ages.) We’ve hardly been able to keep our mouths shut, bursting with the exciting secret…
Holding on so I can let go…
I wasn’t expecting this week to be like this. My plans were to be settling back into home and routine after returning from a trip. And while I’m doing that, it’s different than I had planned.
My 5-year-old daughter is many miles away from me. I’m not worried about her or the people caring for her. They love her and will continue to uniquely mold her heart while she is away from me. But it sure is different without her around here.
