WHAT HAS MADE MY FAITH STRONGER
I believe that as I aged and had time to delve into God’s word more, pray more and hopefully do more for HIM, my faith has strengthened. It may not be what I want it to be but I’m still breathing so I’m still working on it.
When we (Thomas & I) first married, we had little yet so much. As the children arrived, there were frequent times when he would be laid off or on strike. With very young children and few skills, it was not easy for me to get work. Plus, when I applied for a job, the same answer was always given, “Your husband is laid off from Hayes. If he gets work out of town, you will want to go with him so we can’t hire you.” ALWAYS!! That was depressing. We moved in with his folks, my folks, got cheap apartments when he would get some kind of work but usually it was with one set of our folks. As soon as Thomas was recalled to Hayes, it was back to Birmingham. Every time and for 40 years, Thomas did not lose his seniority with Hayes. He began in January of 1956 and retired (medically) January 1996.
I worked as a Kelly Girl and realized skills I had that only God could have given me. When I went to work at UAB in the late 1960s, the job went well for two years. The ‘grant’ funds were not being renewed and I was so naive, and I was disgusted with parking and some other issues at UAB, I quit.
I got a job with Psychiatry Associates at Hillcrest Hospital as a medical transcriptionist and at the end of the second year made the comment to a fellow worker that “at last I feel secure in this job”. That every day (I later found out she knew already) I was terminated due to being low man on the ‘totem pole’ (ha) I had slapped the office manager back down the stairs when he pinched me on the seat and his anger had steamed until that day when he got his revenge. Only Thomas had the right to touch my body!!
Anyway, I did a six month relief for a lady having surgery with Dr. John Whitehead, a surgeon, and then went to work for W.B. McDonald, M.D. That was the happiest I had ever been in a job up until that time. Doris and Bill McDonald were terrific bosses as well as friends. Their two children and their families and I still stay in touch. Dr. Mc had occasion to tell me one day that I was wasting my talents working for what they could pay me and since Tera was going into seventh grade that fall, suggested they give me my pension and profit sharing and I could spend that summer with my baby girl. It was a wonderful summer.
That August, I went back to work at UAB. I worked in Cardiology for 18 years and spent the rest of my 25 in Rheumatology, retiring from there as Administrative Support Specialist for Dr. Winn Chatham. He was a boss par excellence! I had accumulated 27 years with UAB. I had worked in medicine for 50 years.
Thomas’ health had become a concern when he was 61 and spent the first time EVER in the hospital. He had contracted staph infection from a root canal. From there, he had a knee replacement a few years later and the staph was reactivated. Multiple times that knee was operated on with the infection becoming active each time. He had the other knee replaced with the same result. He was being prepped for a shoulder replacement when he had to have a stent in his right coronary artery. This activated the staph and it attacked both knees. Doctors opened both knees, cleaned them and autoclaved the prostheses. Thomas never really woke up. During all this, God had given me better health than I had as a younger woman. That made it so I could take care of my love. He never spent the night in the hospital when I was not either in the room with him or in the ICU waiting room.
This was to explain some of why we did not have/take time for our daily time with God. That did not include my having more than one and sometimes two extra jobs going with my regular one.
So to the present, LIFE and our Father has made my faith stronger. My time belongs to Him. If I feel called upon by Him to do something, I can do that. He has given me better health than I’ve ever had. My ability for an 84 year old person is good with good joints and fair muscle strength. Some of my fingers and toes are bothersome but still function sufficiently that I can sew, cook, clean, do yard work, laundry or anything else I am called to do. I work a part-time job, not because I am in need, but because it gets me out of the house, allows me to spend time in the company of others and have a bit extra for whatever I want to share with others.
So, what HAS made my Faith stronger? God who is always with me, a gracious God who allows me pleasures of work I never could fit in my prior life. Would I change any of my life? Probably not. I did the best I thought I could in raising my family. All are honest, have good work ethics, are well educated and have good lives. They believe in God and Jesus Christ although few of my extended family do not currently attend worship which concerns me but they are all adults. My 12 great-grandchildren are being raised in the House of God with godly parents who are in church with them, giving them the knowledge they need to come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, teaching them the rudiments of Christian life as they follow Him. Am I concerned about my great grand-children for their future? I would be if they weren’t being led the way they are. Do I worry? Why? I am not in control of this world. God IS!!!!
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