This is a series featuring Guest Writers. We hope the Lord will shower you with blessings through some of the people who have showered us with blessings.
Guest Writer Bio: Judy Hanks
Showers of Blessings (Part 3)
Spiritual Dyslexia
Which Way do we Go?
Several years ago, I attended a professional development event at a nearby school district. As heads of the math and social studies departments, respectively, my best friend Darbi and I were chosen as part of the team that was sent. When we broke for lunch, Darbi knew where the restaurant was that we wanted to go to, however, I was driving so she was going to give me directions as we went. I approached a 4-way stop with many cars waiting in all directions. While we waited our turn to be first at the stop sign, I asked her which way we needed to turn. The conversation went like this: Continue reading “Spiritual Dyslexia”
My Biggest Regret as a Christian Mom
To Tell the Truth
I’m going to be brutally honest with you…I’m not sure I have always been the most compassionate mother of all time, or even of any time. When my kids were little – and I have three – I mastered a course in How Not to Hear Your Children’s Voices. It was included in a much bigger educational catalog that I completed as part of the PhD I received in the Life of a Working Mother. Some of the prerequisites for my particular degree include:
- Oh Yeah, You’re A Teenage Bride
- Let’s Take A Toddler to College
- Let’s Take Two Toddlers to College
- Yep, You’re Taking Another Toddler to College
- Why Can’t Anyone Take Their Socks Off The Right Way
- Where Do Ginger Babies Come From
- Life Is Not A Fairy Tale
- Is Colic Contagious
- What to Do When Your 5 Year Old Contracts a Rare Disease
- Mini-Vans Are Sexy
He Will Come to Us Like the Rain
I was raised near the South Canadian River in a small town in Oklahoma. My family spent a lot of time on that river, noodling and swimming and searching for morels. I have always understood the power of its raging waters after the spring floods. A fact that was made all too clear to me when my brother, Robin, took me with him one day to hunt for arrowheads. There had just been a heavy rain, and he knew this was a great time to find them. Farmers had just plowed their fields for the spring planting, and the rain would help expose any treasure we sought. Continue reading “He Will Come to Us Like the Rain”
A Divine Choice
One of my favorite stories to share with my history students in class has always been that of the Prussian ruler, Frederick the Great. Frederick ruled in the 1700s. He didn’t have a good relationship with his father. I like to tell this story because a lot of teenagers can relate to difficult times in their relationships with their own fathers. It also helps me connect with them the fact that they cannot blame their behavior on their past. Regardless of the circumstances in which they were raised, or of any event they may have experienced, the decision is theirs, and theirs alone, how they behave. They are 100% responsible for their actions. End. Of. Story. Continue reading “A Divine Choice”
41 Hours to the Cross
More than 15 years ago now, I spent many days in a hospital room taking care of my mother when her time on earth was coming to an end. I slept in the bed beside her, fed her, bathed her, washed her hair, helped her brush her teeth, massaged her neck, talked to her, watched over her, and tried to comfort her during her pain and confusion. The emotions we all experienced during this time ran the gamut. My mother had not gone into this hospital to die. It was just another step in the process of getting her better, or so we thought. None of us, me or my three siblings, misunderstood the severity of the cancer that ravaged her body. Yet we were slow to accept the truth about how little time she had left. The reality of that fact would weigh heavier on me than anything I had ever faced before. So heavy, I all but crumbled beneath it. Continue reading “41 Hours to the Cross”
