I am one of those blessed people in
life. Don’t get me wrong, my life has
not been perfect but it has been good. One of my favorite sayings is that “God
wastes nothing.” He uses everything to
mold us into who He created us to be.
I am a daughter to Jimmie and Patsy
Griffith. I am a sister to Sharron and
Tonya. I am the wife of Randy Howard and
mother to Jessica, Destiny, Olivia and Zachary. I am mom-in-law to Brant,
Donny, Isaiah and Kara. I am Nana to Chloe, Maximus, Aubree, Nicholas, Titus,
Annabelle, Justus, Azariah, Raelin, Jaxon, Zion, Brooke and others who are yet
to be born! I’m Auntie to a few nieces
and a bunch of nephews. More than any of
these, I’m a follower of Jesus Christ and I hope that everything in my life is defined
first by His name.
I
grew up in a Christian home in which my mom and dad provided a safe and happy
haven for my two younger sisters and me. When my parents pass from this life,
they’ll not leave us with a lot of money and monetary things to put in yard
sales. The inheritance that they have
given us is in memories that created a happy childhood and healthy
adulthood. I’m privileged to have a
father who absolutely loves my mother with his whole heart and has committed
his life to her. I also have a mother who returns the same affection and life
dedication to him. Together they teamed
to provide a wonderful home for us girls.
What more can a child want? I
left my parent’s home to marry my high school sweetheart at the young age of
twenty-one. August 20, 2014, we
celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. My husband is my hero and a man that I
completely adore. All of those years
have not been perfect. A few were quite
difficult in fact. On our 25th
anniversary, Randy surprised me with a trip to Turtle Bay in Hawaii. While there one evening, we were having
dinner when I raised my wine glass to him in a toast, “To twenty-three
wonderful years!” Randy looked at me in
slight confusion and said “We’ve been married twenty-five years.” I said with a smile, “True, but a few of them
weren’t very good.” He thought for a
split second, raised his glass and agreed, “To twenty-three wonderful years!”
Yes, most of the time has been pretty amazing
but the hard years are what helped to shape the good ones. The hard years are always reminders of what
is valuable and worth working and fighting for. Sadly, I know that there are many who have
different stories than I have. My
husband has served in the role of a Senior Pastor for over 25 years and was a
youth pastor prior to that. I have
counseled hundreds, if not thousands, of precious people throughout the years
that have had poor to very bad childhoods.
They’ve looked at me with tears in their eyes telling me of the horrors
that they have suffered through. With
compassion, I urge them to “BE what you wanted”. Be the mother/father that you wanted. Be the husband/wife that you wanted your
mother/father to have. Be it. As a servant and disciple of Jesus Christ, it
is my call and passion to see men and women have healthy and happy marriages
that mirror what God designed marriage to be.
God has given me a vision to see moms and dads raise their children to
serve all of their days for Jesus Christ.
I do not believe for a second that this is an impossible dream or
goal. Jesus’ final prayer in the Garden
of Gethsemane included, “Father, may they be one, as You and I are One, …. So that the world will know that You sent
Me.” My heart is to see this prayer
request of our darling Savior answered.
We must become “one” in our homes so that we can be “one” with our
brothers and sisters in Christ. Having a
happy, healthy marriage does not just happen.
Having your children become God-seeking and serving teenagers and adults
does not just happen. We have to determine
that we will not fail at it. Good
intentions are not enough. We must plan
it and then work out the details of seeing it brought into reality and not just
good Christian rhetoric and lingo. Let’s
do it! Being a perfect parent or
husband/wife is not a pre-requisite to seeing this come about. If it were, this would be an impossible
task. But it’s not impossible. With God, All things are possible,
right? So, why not this? Isn’t He big enough? Yes.
He is. Let’s be the generation
that becomes the answer to that prayer our Lord prayed so many years ago. So that the world will know………….
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