Way back when I was in high school, I had definite ideas about what I wanted
to be when I grew up. I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be a wife and
mother. I was very happy with my decision; and at 16-years-old, I had even
met the love of my life and knew that he was the one I wanted to spend my
life with and have children with. I felt very good about all this until my
senior year in high school. It was then that it became evident that I was
going to rank at the top of my graduating class. That should have been
something else for me to feel good about, but it seemed to bring me undue
pressure. It seemed that every adult I came into contact with wanted to know
what my future plans were. I shared confidently that I wanted to be a wife
and mother with those who asked and that's when the pressure began. No one
seemed to think that my goals were lofty enough. They all urged me to aim
high. I couldn't think of a higher calling, but they didn't seem to
understand. No one did except for one teacher, my English teacher. She
encouraged me by telling me that she trusted my judgment and knew that in the
end all would work out for me even if I followed my heart and chose to simply
be a wife and mother. I was so grateful for her understanding and encouraging
words.
Well, life was good as I pursued my goals. I did attend college for 1½ years
while waiting for my love, who was serving in the Navy to get back to the
States. I knew that I was really just buying time until our marriage, but I
had scholarships that took care of the expense, so it seemed like a good
thing to do. Finally, we were married, and I was extremely happy with my
choice to be a wife. Two years later, we started our family; and again, I
knew that I'd made the right choice. Being a mother was so wonderful. We went
on to have two more children, and I was blessed by being able to be a
stay-at-home mom. It was all I'd ever dreamed of.
When the day came that all our little darlings were in school, I began to
pray about what to do with the time I found I had on my hands. Through a
series of events that could be an entire story of their own, God let me know
without a doubt that my next goal should be to become a teacher. I was so
excited! I mean, how many people get the chance to grow up and be exactly
what they want and then do it again with a new dream? I made preparations and
was all set to begin classes in June of 1991.
On May 16, 1991, however, things changed. My husband was in an accident that
resulted in his having to have his arm amputated. He was left unable to work,
and we were left with lots of questions. While it was evident then that we
would actually need for me to go to work, we weren't sure exactly how we'd be
able to put me through college with neither of us working. Fortunately, when
life was good, it was very good. We'd been able to purchase our home while
Jimmy was working and the day after his accident I made the last payment on
the only bank note we had, so we were debt free. I had postponed starting
school in June, but by August we were feeling led by the Lord to go ahead
with my plan to go back to college for my degree in education. There were
many times that we weren't sure we could "make it". As a matter of fact, it
never did make sense on paper that we were able to do what we were doing, but
we never went without anything we needed. God always came through just when
we needed help. One Christmas we weren't sure about the next semester, so we
asked my father if he and mom would buy my books for that term instead of
other Christmas gifts. He immediately wrote me a check that covered not just
my books but the next semester's tuition as well. Not long after that I was
awarded a nontraditional student scholarship and another smaller scholarship
that I'd applied for. I wanted to send thank you notes to the companies that
funded the scholarships, so I went to the financial aid office to inquire as
to whom I could address notes to. What I found out that day assured me that
God was in control and that I had been right all along in following my heart.
You see, the big scholarship that I was awarded had been funded by the very
same teacher who 20 years earlier had encouraged me to do what I knew was
right in my heart. Even after all those years, there she was enabling me to
fulfill not only one dream in my life, but a second one as well. Thank you,
Mrs. D…You know you're the best.
