When my brother and I were in grade school, one thing I remember my mom would not allow us to say was “I Can’t”. “I Can’t” was like a curse word around our home, it implied that we felt defeated or mastered by something. When in turn what she was looking for was inner drive in us to overcome and to push through and allow no obstacle to stop us from achieving anything we wanted in life! It’s one of those things I’m still proud to this day that she impressed upon us! However, somewhere in our later lives it seems the phrase “I’ll never…” was also one of those phrases we didn’t realize have so much power as well. I think because so many of those “I’ll never” phrases are like vows. “I’ll never get divorced” etc. Well somewhere in life, I believe my family and I always believed we’d “never” be a burden to another person, a vow really. Well when my family and I were moving from Arkansas to TN, we would soon learn that we’d be forced to break one of those “I’ll never”. I’ve really learned “I’ll never” is really “I can’t” packaged in another form of pride. I can’t usually says “I can’t achieve that high”, while “I’ll never” is another sense of the word sometimes means “I’ll never stoop to that low”. When we were planning our move to TN were had the hardest time finding homes and jobs in a close proximity to each other. We were taking trips to find a job and home. We had looked at homes north of Knoxville, but right after we left mom got home and found she was hired at a hospital south of Knoxville. We were excited, but our home searches really hadn’t been in that area. Now we thought about prolonging the move and taking another trip, because we knew we’d “never live in an apartment” and we “knew we’d never rent a home online without seeing it first”. Well my mom’s friend talked us into go ahead and coming sooner and staying with her a few weeks until we could find something else. That friend was Dollie Evans. We had stayed a few times with Dollie during our trips to TN, and she had truly been a blessing to us. My family and I were certain that we couldn’t impose, but we also knew jobs just don’t wait either. So, we found ourselves making a decision we’d “never” do! We brought our belongings and stored them in a storage facility (again something else we said we’d never do). We had a wonderful time at our stay at Dollie’s. Dolly took care of us like we were her on family. She cooked, she entertained, and what we appreciated the most was how she spent the time visiting and fellowshipping with us. She went out of our way to see that we were comfortable, and never made us feel we were an inconvenience! I thank you Dollie for all that you did for us, and I thank you for helping us to swallow our pride so God could teach us such a valuable thing. Those weeks were special to us, and will be something we will carry with us always! The next time you (the reader) find yourself about to say the words “I can’t” or “I’ll never”, remember we are to have the mind of Christ and apply this verse to the circumstance!Friday, September 30, 2011
Blessing #7 - Dollie Evans - God's Servant
When my brother and I were in grade school, one thing I remember my mom would not allow us to say was “I Can’t”. “I Can’t” was like a curse word around our home, it implied that we felt defeated or mastered by something. When in turn what she was looking for was inner drive in us to overcome and to push through and allow no obstacle to stop us from achieving anything we wanted in life! It’s one of those things I’m still proud to this day that she impressed upon us! However, somewhere in our later lives it seems the phrase “I’ll never…” was also one of those phrases we didn’t realize have so much power as well. I think because so many of those “I’ll never” phrases are like vows. “I’ll never get divorced” etc. Well somewhere in life, I believe my family and I always believed we’d “never” be a burden to another person, a vow really. Well when my family and I were moving from Arkansas to TN, we would soon learn that we’d be forced to break one of those “I’ll never”. I’ve really learned “I’ll never” is really “I can’t” packaged in another form of pride. I can’t usually says “I can’t achieve that high”, while “I’ll never” is another sense of the word sometimes means “I’ll never stoop to that low”. When we were planning our move to TN were had the hardest time finding homes and jobs in a close proximity to each other. We were taking trips to find a job and home. We had looked at homes north of Knoxville, but right after we left mom got home and found she was hired at a hospital south of Knoxville. We were excited, but our home searches really hadn’t been in that area. Now we thought about prolonging the move and taking another trip, because we knew we’d “never live in an apartment” and we “knew we’d never rent a home online without seeing it first”. Well my mom’s friend talked us into go ahead and coming sooner and staying with her a few weeks until we could find something else. That friend was Dollie Evans. We had stayed a few times with Dollie during our trips to TN, and she had truly been a blessing to us. My family and I were certain that we couldn’t impose, but we also knew jobs just don’t wait either. So, we found ourselves making a decision we’d “never” do! We brought our belongings and stored them in a storage facility (again something else we said we’d never do). We had a wonderful time at our stay at Dollie’s. Dolly took care of us like we were her on family. She cooked, she entertained, and what we appreciated the most was how she spent the time visiting and fellowshipping with us. She went out of our way to see that we were comfortable, and never made us feel we were an inconvenience! I thank you Dollie for all that you did for us, and I thank you for helping us to swallow our pride so God could teach us such a valuable thing. Those weeks were special to us, and will be something we will carry with us always! The next time you (the reader) find yourself about to say the words “I can’t” or “I’ll never”, remember we are to have the mind of Christ and apply this verse to the circumstance!
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