Upon graduation from BJU, I had a full-time job there at the university. Chronic kidney infections caused me to need to leave that position and return to Texas for rest and recovery. I was so disappointed because I had envisioned building a life and hopefully finding a mate there in South Carolina.
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Our first apartment, complete with the air conditioner
cord hanging on the wall above the couch. |
God had a different plan for me. He brought me “home” to Texas, and I was soon able to find another job. But my heart ached to become a wife and a mother, and I didn’t really have any prospective suitors knocking at my door. Just about the time I resigned myself to another shattered dream, I met this guy who was different from everyone else. We got acquainted at a College/Career Bible study. He would come from his job looking a bit disheveled (not the appearance of one that a BJU graduate might be interested in). I think it was because we were both misfits that we were drawn to each other. We would talk quite a bit, and one day Billy finally asked me out.
Well, the rest is history. We found that we had common faith and goals. I discovered that Billy has the best sense of humor – something we all need when it comes to relationship. We’ve been married now for 33 years. Wow!!!! I love him dearly and am so thankful for the man of character and strength that he is!
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| I love the feeling of holding my youngin's close. |
My dream of becoming a mother was also fulfilled. We had two sons and a daughter (within a 3 ½ year timespan). Busy days, joyful laughs, teaching moments, faith-building – all the parts of being a parenting that I had hope for. There were many, many difficulties along the way – two strong-willed children (thank God for Dr. Dobson’s book, The Strong-Willed Child), illnesses and surgeries, academic challenges, friendship conflicts, adolescence in general. But I honestly wouldn’t trade what our family has learned and how we’ve grown through it all.
I once read a book called A Mother’s Heart by Jean Fleming. She said it well, “Mothering can seem an isolated occupation unrelated to anything beyond the immediate needs of the family, but there is no more natural way for a mother to influence her world for Christ than through her own children. The implications of this are awesome. Time devoted to our children should not be spent marking time, but as an investment in one of our greatest ministry opportunities. Although our children should not be the total focus of our ministry, if we neglect to pursue other ministries we may find we lacked a biblical vision of mothering.” Well, God let me have those years with my amazing children! A new season is upon me. I’m learning that letting them go is difficult, and finding my new identity is part of the journey.
“Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8
Let’s be friends,
Becky
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