WHAT WOULD I ADVISE MY 20 YEAR OLD SELF?
Get your babies in church and be there with them. Do not wait before you follow God’s direction in teaching your children to know, love and follow Christ.
Because that is what I did. I waited until they were 4 and 5 to get them in church. Having been raised in church all my days up until I was married, I was in church Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday night. I was in Sunday School, Worship, choir and activities included in those worship hours, Sunbeams, GAs, Acteens, Young Adults. When we married, we went ‘home’ every week-end. We visited my parents for an hour or two and spent the remainder of Saturday and Sunday with Mama and Daddy Junkin, worshiping with them Sunday with no Sunday School for our children. Sometimes, I guess you are without hearing God’s word as I was accustomed to hearing it until you forget HIM. I NEEDED to return to my spiritual roots and wanted the same for my children. It’s too easy to stray when you are not in the Word. Make prayer and a quiet time with God a priority. Regular attending a Christian, Bible teaching worship center is vastly important. Have daily devotion with the entire family unless someone is working at that time. In that case, have devotional time with those available.
Further your education. My generation was mostly ‘on the job trained’ for their career unless they were able to attend college right after high school graduation. If you are not able to do that, make arrangements as soon as possible to further your education; night school, virtual learning, correspondence school. There are possibilities that were not available when I graduated from high school. If you are married and neither you or your spouse are college or technically educated, alternate going if you can’t both go at the same time. If you already have children, that can change things. One of you might have to be the breadwinner with help from the one attending college on a part-time basis. Check out your options.
Stay close to your family! Stand your ground with them, gently, but with determination. Do not cut ties with those who love you most. It might be parents, grandparents or aunts and uncles. Our cousins should remain our friends for life. A cousin is a sibling by another set of parents. Never lose touch even if you are in a different country. My Sanderson cousins were like brothers and sisters to Billy and me. We were five but one for all and all for one. The others were either older or younger but we stayed in touch as much as possible and still do with those who remain. We would be considered close. My Davis cousins and I remain close including not just first cousins, but my Dad’s first and second cousins are like my first cousins. We are close also.
This epistle will close. Being now old and having seen all the technical changes in this world in the last 80+ years, it’s hard to know what I would tell my 20 year old self. My main thought refers back to the first paragraph of this ‘story’. Get your life right with God and keep it there. Follow HIM and lead your family in HIS way.
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