Somewhere in the past life dealt out a different set of parameters. I don't know when it changed, but it did most definitely change. I remember when I first began to realize the changes, I was sitting on the park bench with Rick and we were talking about the future. He wanted to run the ranch, and I wanted to work with children. My dream was teaching Bible School, Youth Activities, and Youth Group - and he wanted to help me with that on the weekends. We planned to have a ministry "on the side" because ranching was his primary interest.Back then I didn't have children. I was dedicated to pursuing life before I had a family. My primary concern was being married to the best looking Rancher I'd ever met and living happily ever after.
One stormy night he left to get home the next day in time to work roundup and didn't make it home. Within a few minutes of the time he left me sitting on the front step of my home, he had a head on collision with a truck, and our dreams were shattered. Many hours, I've looked back on that night and wondered, would life have been different had I agreed to pack my things and go with him, or would I have died in that accident too?
Either way, my dreams changed that night. My life changed that night. The future looked a bit different, because I'd known Rick, but even more... because we'd shared our dreams. Since that time, my dreams of teaching Bible School, working with Youth Groups and many other opportunities of teaching Bible to children have come to pass. I know and understand where I belong in life and I understand the concept of Faith. I know where my faith comes from, and how it applies to my life.
That understanding has brought me through the valleys to the peak of the mountain many times, as I wade through the trials and disillusions that exist in my world. That understanding has given me hope and peace.
I'm not alone. I have my family and friends. I have the neighbors and people of my community around me. And I have a vast network of associates and partners in the business world. But, more than any of that, I have God, His word, and the Holy Spirit living in my heart, who remind me every day that I have Jesus.
