When Peace Eludes You

By Gina Stinson

Do you know someone who has been through a devastating circumstance and yet, through it all, they have had a peaceful countenance? I’ve heard it said that the depth of your true relationship with Christ is revealed by how you handle things when they fall apart. I’ve known some real peace-filled people who have managed to rest in the arms of Jesus during life-altering challenges…and then I’ve known people like me.
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The Spring of Hope

Tomorrow is my Mother-in-Love’s birthday. Lula Mae Willis always joked about being born on Ground Hog’s Day. My husband was also due on that date, but stubbornly waited until February 8th to arrive. This way, his mom got a day all to herself.

Mom Willis was one of my role models. I’ll never attain to her skills as a homemaker and penny pincher. But she gave me her heart for helping tween and teen girls. She attentively listened to them—not just hearing them, but enjoying their company, and always had two or three “adopted” well after her own girls had left home. She sang hymns with gusto and listened intently to sermons. She was uncomfortable in the water, especially before moving to a home that had its own pool, and it was a real act of faith when she was baptized by immersion. She always said as long as her feet could touch the bottom and her hair didn’t get wet, she could deal with being in the water-obviously baptism broke those two rules! She had a giving heart and loved seeing and meeting needs, often sensing someone was hurting when no one else noticed.
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Family Resemblances

By Kathy Carlton Willis

In walked a woman opening the door for another woman with an oxygen tank. Behind her was a wheelchair filled by a matronly figure using the oxygen, being pushed by yet another woman. They huddled in one of the waiting area sections, and talked about an upcoming wedding. I searched one face, and then another, and another until I circled the group with my gazes. A mother and three daughters. Probably together for unpleasant reasons (the mother’s health), yet they were making the best of it by talking about an upcoming celebration.

Then I allowed my eyes to visit the filled waiting room, picking out family units. Daughters resembling mothers. I detected at least five families with similar facial features. An elderly woman came out of the doctor’s office, her petite frame stooped over. A taller version of the woman followed behind, surely a daughter.

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Son Of A Saint

By James Watkins

Mr. and Mrs. Manoah were model parents. Despite living in a land that “did evil in the eyes of the Lord,” they ate a kosher diet, prayed to the one true God, offered sacrifices, and didn’t even drink. A Jewish mother would be proud to have them for a son and daughter-in-law!

After being childless for a number of years, an angel of the Lord announced they would have a son. What joy as he “grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.” The son of these godly parents was none other than—Samson!

Now wait a minute. What about the promises of “training up a child in the way he shall go and when he is old he will not depart from it”? Aren’t godly parents guaranteed godly kids?

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When Your Children Hurt

By Gina Stinson

My seven year old has extreme stage fright. She takes after her mother. Recently, after practicing for four months on a Christmas musical, purchasing the traditional formal attire for such an event, and spending some extra time getting ready, she almost didn’t make it up on stage. As the children filed in to step onto the stage, I noticed her usually light complexion was a rosy shade of pink. At first I thought, she is just a little flushed. Then I saw the look that accompanied the blush. She was frightened out of her mind. Tears were streaming down her face. She wanted her mommy. She was scared!

I tried to encourage her to go ahead and get on the stage with the other forty children. She reluctantly continued up the steps. When she got into place she was still sobbing and looked like a frightened kitten. For a couple of moments, I wanted to step in and rescue her, make it all better, let her step out of the program, but rational thinking got the best of me and I decided to wait a few minutes and see if she could regain composure. And then it happened.

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