Farewell to Mrs. Brown

Diane also called me one day last spring for no reason other than to say how much she enjoyed the column. That’s the kind of person she was.

In August when we spoke, she told me that she had two columns cut out and posted on her refrigerator, an Olympics piece and the one I wrote for mothers (“A Mother’s Endurance Will Be Rewarded”). The article for mothers was such an odd one…it wasn’t at all what I was planning to write that week. I went to bed one night with bits of it running through my head, but more from a strictly humorous perspective. When I woke up the next morning, it was starting to write itself, and I felt the strongest impression that I was to come at it from a different angle and that it absolutely needed to be written that particular week. So strong was it, in fact, that I started it early on a Thursday morning, which I never do.

Nearly every week I ask the Lord to take the column to the person or people who need it that very day. As we talked, I shared that with her, and she said, “Then it must have been for me. I look at it sometimes and think, ‘I’d better keep going then.’” Or words to that effect.

I am ever so thankful for the Holy Spirit’s faithfulness to lead and to guide. I share this as an encouragement to you, my friend. You are making a difference you may know nothing of, and the Holy Spirit can be trusted to give wisdom and direction in all areas of your life.

Mrs. Brown’s attitude of uncomplaining positivity and her heart for encouraging and loving others are what have been running through my mind this weekend as I think of her.

I want to be like Diane when I grow up.

The Squaw, feeling peace today