I am a mother of four wonderful children. Two boys and two girls. They all live on their own and I am proud of each one of them. I also have five beautiful grandchildren. Three boys and two girls. I love to play the piano, love music, and everything God has created for us to enjoy. Flowers are blessings from God for His people to enjoy. I have a beautiful garden with all kinds of flowers. I have fibromyalgia and cfids and on bad days my flower gardens have been such a comfort to me. They make me think of the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. How beautiful it must of been! I can't do the things I am used to doing, but God always finds something I can do. Being disabled is not a punishment from God but a way to make us grow in areas we need too. I have grown a lot and am still learning!
God is everything in my life and I was raised with Christian parents and aunts and uncles.
My father died when I was 9 yrs. old so my mom had to support us and raised me and my three sisters with the help of our aunts. I went to a Christian school and we went to church every Sunday. Christian values were instilled in me and my sisters at a young age.
My grandfather was a Luthern minister and very strict. He was killed in his study by a young man who had problems and that man took his own life as well. My grandmother had the responsibility of raising 12 children. She then died, they say from a broken heart, a few years later.
At the present time I am doing good and the Lord is my
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS.
Growing Up with My Aunts
After my Father died, my mother had to work two jobs to support us four girls. I had three sisters; Doris, the oldest, then
me, my sister, Norma, and the baby, Carol. My mother could not work two jobs and take care of us also, so our aunts watched us most of the time. We were fortunate to have an aunt who sent us all to a Christian school. My aunt Tracy always made sure we went to church and Sunday school. She was like a mother to us. She never married and was a piano teacher. The pastor of our church asked her to marry him but she always said no. She dedicated herself to us four girls and Jesus Christ.
Because of her I learned how to play the piano. She was always so proud of me cause I could play so well. My other sisters weren't that interested in playing piano. She still gave them lessons whether they liked it or not.
I loved the recitals she had. I was always nervous but loved to sit at the piano and have everyone watch me play. When we were all teenagers my mother moved a lot. We would be moved to one high school and then the next year have to start another one. It was really hard making new friends all the time. Things were very hard for my mom, and we all started to date and poor mom had her hands full.
My aunts always told us to marry a Christian and guess what? None of us did. My oldest sister at least married a man who came from a Christian background. Norma and Carol ended up getting divorced and I stuck in there with my marriage.
Raising Four Children
Well, like I said I stayed with my husband even though our marriage was not the greatest. I had 4 children by the time I was 28 yrs. old. We had a house we were going to buy and my husband had a very good job. He did take care of us I must say but there was something missing. I went to church every Sunday with the children with the help of an older lady in my church who picked me and my children up every Sunday. I did not drive. I made sure all 4 of my children were baptized. My husband didn't care to much for the lady that helped me out, and tried to keep me away from her because he was very controlling and I guess he was afraid I might learn something from her. Well, I did! Jesus came first. My husband started to run around on me and then finally left me with the children to raise. We had bought a new trialer in the country and now I had to work to keep up the payments and taxes. He did leave me the old station wagon and now I had to learn how to drive at the age of 29. I have to be truthful... I was scared being left alone. I didn't work or know how to drive or do much of anything because he had always done everything. I had to get assistance for a while until I could learn how to drive and find a job. Thank God for my church because they really helped me. I got my license in a month and found a job working as a teacher's aide. That was still not enough money to pay all the bills. I decided to pick apples after work and weekends to make a little more money. I could take my 4 kids with me to the orchard while I picked apples and pears. My kids were 3, 4, 5, and 9. The oldest one helped me pick and watch the little ones after school. When she was in school I took them with me and used the crates to sit them in so they didn't run around the orchard. It was darn hard work for someone who only weighed 110 lbs but I was good at getting up high in those trees. I filled a lot of crates and the extra money helped.
My health started to go down hill. I started to get sick alot and had to stop picking apples.
I kept working as a teacher's aide until they no longer needed me. Things were getting hard and I was way behind on bills and lost the trailer and our land. I moved to the city with my kids and found an apartment. My station wagon also died and I was blessed with a used station wagon from the people in my church. God was always there with me and my children even when I thought I couldn't go on.
BACK TO SCHOOL
I thought about going to college at 39 yrs old and I did. I liked playing the piano, so I majored in Music. I went through three semesters, (never learned how to spell lol), and then came down with chronic fatique syndrome and fibromyalgia. I was in bed for weeks. There went my education. My husband did step in to help me and I sure wasn't going to say no. I never was the same. The doctors said I had too much stress and was doing too much and my immune system just shut down. Whatever, I knew I was not the same. My dream of teaching music went down the tubes and I got very depressed.
God always turns something bad into something good. All those years my husband was gone I prayed daily for him. Years of praying and I saw nothing different but still kept praying.
To make a long story short, it took a lot of myself, my own changing before things got better. I always told God about what he was doing and had done to me. My famous words were "what about me"?
God taught me how to change my attitude, and I was stubborn so I walked in that valley a long time. Once I started to surrender all and to forgive, healing started to come to our marriage.
It was a hard lesson and sometimes seemed unfair.
I raised the kids, I paid the bills, I kept us all together,
Well God loved my husband too. He wanted him to come back to Him. God's ways are not our ways.
God Has Blessed Me
Today I am still serving the Lord and loving everyday He gives me. My husband and I are back together and still working on certain issues in our lives. He knows there is a God but does not live it. I will not give up on him and neither will God.
God gets all the credit and praise for all that has come about in my life. In the valley or on the mountain top, He is the One who gives me peace and joy in any situation. My 4 children are learning that they can do nothing on there own. They have had to learn some hard lessons, but they have come back to the One who cares about everything in their lives. I am proud of all of them.
I had lost a lot in my earlier years, but God has restored everything back to me. I have a beautiful home that my husband has done lots of work on and the most beautiful backyard you could ever want with a garden and lots of flowers. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. My desire is to be as close to God as possible and His creation, is like touching Him. I love to sit in my backyard and listen to the birds sing and enjoy the beauty God has created around me.
Health-wise I am doing somewhat better. I have my bad days, but God gets me through. He has blessed me with my poetry. I love writing about what is in my heart. I thank Him that I am able to get out and function and go to church. I thank Him for my wonderful aunts who raised me and instilled a love for God in me when I was little. I thank my Aunt Tracy who is with the Lord for her dedication to me and my sisters, and her love of Jesus. I thank My Aunt Freida for sending us to a Christian school.
I thank my Lord and Saviour for the wonderful family He gave me. whatever tomorrow brings I know the Lord walks with me.
Written by Janet Ford
This set was created by Janet.
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