WHO IS MY FAVORITE minister’s wife? My mother! She was always kind, loving, and compassionate, a dedicated daughter of God.
My mother was from the state of Wyoming, which was considered a “northern state” back in the 1930s. She longed to graduate from college, something not common among young women back then. But since she was determined, she worked her entire way through. Her parents, being very poor, sent her a dime every two weeks—that was all they could spare.
Upon graduating from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska (USA), she received a call to a different part of the country where she had never been. This would be a new culture for her, and at first she felt she wouldn’t like it there. She was nervous about the far distance from her home and from all she’d ever known. But since she determined that she would be happy with her new challenge, she was.
She could have felt out of place, but she decided that she would love and accept the people and the changes she would be making. How did she do it?
1. Prayer. She prayed that the Lord would help her learn to like her new post. She decided she would work as though God were her boss. She asked God to give her a love for the job and the people.
2. Determination. She had to accept the call. She needed work (it was the only opportunity offered to her), so she approached it with an open mind and an open heart. (And she did learn to like the new location—she met her future husband there!)
3. Flexibility. She loved people for who they were, which is necessary for all of us to remember. It just might be that we are more alike than we realize—we can find good-hearted people all over the world.
4. Sensitivity. When we look for opportunities to learn about other people’s ways and mentality, it might surprise us to find that some of “their ways” are even better than ours!
5. Adaptability. Probably one of the most important things to remember is to be adaptable. Jesus was certainly adaptable when He came to this earth (Philippians 2:5-8). May we learn from His example.
6. Decision. We can decide to be happy in our new circumstance. When strange new situations arise, we can determine to accept them and even rejoice in them (1 Thessalonians 5:16).
7. Humility. Let us never convey in word or action that we think ourselves superior or different. Humility and service are important, inside and outside our comfort zones.
May we remember that Jesus is with us always (Matthew 28:20), and His help is bountiful and free!
