Setting I‘ve heard that setting is an important character in our life stories. We can be shaped by places, just as we are by people. I still live on this land where I grew up. Here, I’ve been a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and now an Oma. I was five years old when my father moved our family from a suburb of New York City to a hilltop in the country near Boulder, Colorado. Many years later, my husband Lynn and I built a house on this land next door to my widowed mother who had a lung disease. We raised our family here and I cared for my mother during her final years.
Faith My faith became rooted here as a teenager when I began to “lift my eyes to the mountains” to remember that “my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121) Though the changing seasons change the appearance of the mountains, their rock-solid reality never changes, reminding me of God’s character. When the changing seasons in our family brought changed relationships, the setting reminded me where my help came from. Our family has changed; God never does.
Family Our three children each left home for college far away. They followed their own callings, eventually married and began their families. Their journeys eventually carried them back to Colorado, and I am now living in my favorite season so far – being friends with our adult children. I am on the young side of my seventh decade, and still like to go sledding with my 10 grandchildren. The view in this season gives me perspective about the journey through all the other seasons and shapes the stories I now tell.
Stories “Write of what you know,” I was told when I began writing. And so I did, mostly stories about family. Articles in Guideposts, Today’s Christian Woman, Focus on the Family magazine. Nine books, authored and co-authored. Devotionals in Daily Guideposts (www.dailyguideposts.com). On staff at MOPS International, I told stories about mothering in books, publications and events. I taught storytelling and helped launch a Storytelling ministry, coaching women to tell their stories which helps us know ourselves, allows others to know us, and to know God more personally. All families are different. Our stories are unique. Still, we find ourselves in each other’s stories.
Ministry I love when this grandgirl comes to MOPS at our church where her Mommy has been the Coordinator and I am the Mentor Leader. Being part of the local ministry continues my passion for encouraging moms of young children which I did for nearly 15 years, serving on the staff of MOPS International – writing, speaking and equipping mom leaders all over the world. Those years shaped my heart for moms who, though vastly different, share the same courage and desire to be the best moms they can be. And the same challenges with loving and letting go.
Challenges Like all families, we navigated through some challenges: our nine-year-old son diagnosed with Type One diabetes; a daughter, a high school senior, lost all her hair with alopecia; we had relationship struggles. After our children left home, my husband Lynn and I faced the most difficult and surprising challenge of our lives. We were both diagnosed with advanced cancers six weeks apart from each other, a life circumstance that affected our whole family. I wrote this story in Guideposts about that journey which is still shaping our lives and choices.
