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Topic: Endurance (03/22/04)
TITLE: Consider it all Joy By Katrina Richards 03/25/04 |
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How my mother endures
by Katrina Richards
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My mom is an example of endurance. She married my dad when she was 19 and he was 29 because she was pregnant with his child. Everyone said it wouldn’t last, but she chose to endure. My mom was a Christian, even though she didn’t act like it much back then. When she got older, she got more serious about God and started going to church again and studying the Bible. She has us four kids to take care of, three boys and me, the girl.
My dad is angry a lot of the time. We couldn’t sit and watch TV or play Nintendo like normal kids because he could throw open the door at any minute and throw a temper tantrum like a two-year-old in a suit. He used to punch holes in the walls and doors and chairs. He even broke our Duck Hunt gun on our first Nintendo. But that was okay because we could shoot in any direction and it would still kill the ducks. We didn’t mind our dad that much because Mom was home all the time and she cleaned, cooked, and played with us. But my dad didn’t like being the outcast, even if it was his own fault, so he started his own law office at home and made my mom work in it.
We could have 15 minutes with her after school, but not during deadlines, or we’d get yelled at. I thought my mom should’ve divorced him for being so mean, but she stuck with it, even when Cory would call me mom sometimes because he was so young when she went to work. Mom tried her best to take us to church, even when my dad said, “let’s go fishing instead.” I liked her better, so I went to church and got saved.
It got rough sometimes. Mom would be crying while she loaded the dishwasher because my dad turned her last friend against her. He even tried to take her away from God. He would go by her office and say, “is that Jesus music?” and make her turn it off. He told her to quit studying the Bible so much because he thought she loved Jesus more than she loved him. I know she did. I did too. But he didn’t know that’s why she stayed with him.
She has a beautiful heart full of light and joy and won’t let my dad take it from her. It took her a lot of years to learn how, but she does a lot better now. She gets up before the sun every morning and does a quiet time, she cooks every meal, she does all the cleaning and laundry, and she takes care of us kids. That’s a full time job, but she also has to work in the law office 60 hours a week, manage all the money, and pray for God to provide money when my dad bought a tractor instead of paying the house payment. My mom has had a hard time, but God has used the bad things in her life to make her a beautiful new creation. I love God and know God because I met Him through her, and I watched her endure.