Four Women…One Changed Life

One of the more unique things about my life experience is that I have had the opportunity to live with four different families over the years. This has afforded me the wonderful opportunity to view four different women “up close and personal” and I have learned valuable lessons from each one…

Of course the first woman is my own mother. I am grateful for the many ways my own mom has been an example to me, but one of the things I love the most about my mom is her ability to laugh at herself…she probably does this better than anyone I know. I have so many great memories of all of us being in stitches and laughing together, all because my mom didn’t take herself too seriously and had learned to laugh at herself. When my own quirks come out or I do something embarrassing I want this same ability to enjoy the moment and simply laugh at myself.

The Haughery’s were the second family I lived with, during my last year and a half of college. I think I could fill a book with what I learned from Cynthia during that time. Simply put, she is one of my heroes! But if I had to pick just one way I want to be like her, it would be her unwavering, bedrock faith in God. I have watched Cynthia walk through the deep waters of suffering and I have never heard a complaint, only a resolve to trust God. When trials come my way in life, I want to walk through them with a “Cynthia-like” faith in God and his goodness.

Family number three is actually a family from here at Covenant Fellowship. During that last year of college I did some hospital rotations in this area for a few weeks and Jeff and Martha Clark were kind enough to let me (a complete stranger at the time) stay with them. What I saw in Martha during that short time was a woman who thoroughly enjoyed her children and her role as a wife and mother. To be around Martha was to experience her joy!

The last family I lived with was during the year that Jared attended the Pastor’s College down in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Somehow we ended up getting to live with the best host family ever…the Linn’s. What amazed me about Marianne was that we were the fifth family to live with them (and they have had two more since then!). Talk about learning to be flexible and embrace change! Every year Marianne had an entirely new family (with all their quirks and habits) to get used to and yet she did it so graciously…in a short time she made her home feel like our home. I want to be like Marianne in the way I embrace hospitality – and change.

I thank God for each of these four women. I love that I have had the chance to glean from each one during different seasons of my life…their impact has been bigger than they realize.

Perhaps God may give you the chance to host a family or single lady your home in the future. I promise there is eternal impact as you demonstrate what it means to be a godly woman, wife, mother, sister and friend to a woman welcomed into your home.