The age of my awakening.

At age 14, I realized that the very people (my parents) who were making my life challenging were the very same people who gave me the tools to help me with the challenges. How ironic! My dad was on a year long drinking binge and my mother did all she could to do the basic things to keep the family together. But, that was not enough for me.

We had moved so many times during my teenage years (from Alaska to Arkansas and many places in between) that I quit trying to make friends. So what I did was put my nose in the books. I tried my very hardest to get good grades in school. I had low self esteem and wasn't eating properly. This is probably why I got mono. I remember only getting out of bed long enough to eat and go to the bathroom. I was so sleepy that I didn't even feel like doing my hair. I was discourage because my grades were dropping and I didn't understand the algebra that the tutor who came to my house was trying to teach me. Of course being too tired, I had to quit early morning seminary which was the only church I was getting at that time. I loved to go because my teacher was nice to me made me feel good about myself. I also loved what he taught. What I probably was loving, was feeling the spirit of the Holy Ghost.

Dad did what he could to provide for us after having a brain tumor removed when he was 45 years old. This surgery left him legally blind and with chronic head aches. I believe that he made the moves all across the country because he never gave up. He was always looking for something better. Because of our poverty, I have never been a worldly person. I have always looked for happiness through other means.

Now (at age 53), when I think of my parents, I can only think of how blessed I was to have had them. My struggles through my childhood has made me a strong adult. I look back and realize that my parents instilled in me a strong faith in God which has sustained me throughout my life. I have this amazing inner strength from the truths that they taught me. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER did my dad who struggled with a disease and poor health ever deny that God lived and that Jesus was the Christ. In fact, he was probably closer to God then most of us because he depended on God to help him through his trials.

And so, the first egg in my "nest egg" is my Savior. My belief in him is what I am all about. If you take him away then I am nothing and I would rather be nothing then to live without him. Correlating scriptures:

Phillipines 4:7 And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.