Author Archives: Patricia Ann

The Kid on Second

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No matter the sport, there’s a fine line between cheering a team on–shouting what one might think are encouraging remarks–but instead, are discouraging to one or more players. It is not a pleasant scenario.

Chapter Twenty-One  –  The Kid on Second

The batter hit a line drive straight to second base. The player made a valiant attempt to catch the ball but missed, allowing the run to count at first.

“Get that kid off second base. He’s killing the game. C’mon, get him off there!”

It was the blonde screaming like an irate parent. She belonged to our team. The kid at second heard her and hung his head.

There was an overthrow to short stop, a fly ball dropped in center field, and another fumble at second base before the inning was over. The third out was finally called, and the team came off the field, a look of dejection on all nine faces. The score was eight to one for the other team.

“Never mind guys, just get that kid off second and you’ll be okay,” the blonde yelled…..

 

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.(James 3:6)

 

Tomorrow  –  The Still Small Voice  –  A Lesson in Acknowledging

The Time I asked God for a Sports Car

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It has been said that God does not answer frivolous prayers, especially for things like a new sports car.  I had a much different experience.

Chapter Twenty  –  The Time I Asked God for a Sports Car

I knew I needed a new car when I could see pavement through the cracks in the floor of my ten-year old Toyota Corolla. This unpretentious vehicle had served me well all these years, until it began to literally fall apart at the seams. Rusted hunks of metal ravaged the once sturdy body.

Now I had my eye on a beautiful, brand new Datsun 200SX on a nearby car lot. It was sleek, black, and out of my price range. It spoiled me for any other car I looked at. “Lord, I’d sure like to own that car,” I prayed…….

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

Tomorrow  –  The Kid on Second   – A Lesson in Diplomacy

My Answered Prayers

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I believe that prayers are answered; maybe not always to our liking or to our understanding, but whether it’s a yes, no, maybe, not now, not yet, or even “I’m sorry”, there is an answer. This chapter tells of some of the answered prayers I’ve experienced.

 

Chapter Nineteen  –  My Answered Prayers

My sister and I had spent the better part of our childhood in foster homes, and for some reason, when we finally went to live with our mother, I became aware of how precious life was.

“Please God, don’t let my mother die until I am grown up and have a family of my own.”

I somehow believed that would make a huge difference in the hurt level. That prayer was also answered. I was thirty-six years old, and the mother of five children when Mom died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in her fifty-ninth year……

“According to your faith will it be done to you…”(Matthew 9:29)

 

Tomorrow  –  The Time I Asked God for a Sports Car  –  A Lesson in Things Hoped For

 

 

The Mustard Seed Gift Shop

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“Some day I’m going to have my own business.” It was New Years Eve, 1976, when I made this statement to some of my closest friends. It’s known as planting a seed.

 

Chapter Eighteen  –  The Mustard Seed Gift Shop

It was Monday, September 16, 1985, when I turned the key in the door of my shop, and took another step on my spiritual journey.

The first trade magazine I received in the store included an article which ended with, “…..when God put a pricing gun in your hand, and said, ‘All Things Are Possible.’” It gave me the tingles when I read it.

I had written a poem with that title in 1984, shortly after resigning from my job at the hospital. The poem is about having faith as a small mustard seed, and was, in part, responsible for me becoming the owner of this shop….

Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me? (Job 6:13)

Tomorrow  –  My Answered Prayers  –  A Lesson in Praying

Seventy Times Seven

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There are times in life when bitterness and anger towards others can actally make us sick, spoil our zest for living, and slowly steal our happiness, like a thief in the night. It happened to me a long time ago. I found the antidote in forgiveness.

 

Chapter Seventeen  –  Seventy Times Seven

The anger I carried inside was making me sick. It felt like a grapefruit-size growth taking up precious space in my body, threatening to annihilate me, and it was directed at my husband. We had recently separated, and it was not amicable. Bill’s verbal abusiveness and alcohol dependence had taken its toll on our twenty-one year marriage.

One day, my sister came to visit. She knew about the separation, but did not know the details. I had shared these with no one. Eyeing me over the rim of her coffee cup, Mary bluntly said, “Patsy, you look very unhappy.” Astute observation, I thought…..

“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.”  (Matthew 18:21,22)

 

Tomorrow   –  The Mustard Seed Gift Shop  –  A Lesson in Entrepreneurship andFailure

 

A Leap of Faith

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I had spent twenty-one years of my life at home being a wife and mother when my husband and I separated. It was now time to get back out into the working world.

 

Chapter Sixteen  –  A Leap of Faith

I searched the classifieds for a new job but nothing appealed to me. Then one day, these words came to me: If you have that much faith in me you will not worry where your next job is coming from. My fingers flew over the typewriter keys as I typed my resignation. Let me state here that I was still a single mom, with an outstanding mortgage, a home repair loan, and a car loan (I had dumped the Toyota for a beautiful Datsun 200SX) but I did resign. It was my leap of faith. Years later, I came across a scripture: Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21). It reminded me of that leap.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…(Ecclesiastes 3:1)
 
Tomorrow  –  Seventy Times Seven  –  A Lesson in Forgiveness
 
 

Worry-Wart

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Worry was a way of life when I was a young mom in a challenging marriage–until I learned to “take it to the Lord in prayer”.  It was a lesson well learned, and although it didn’t save my marriage, it saved my sanity.

Chapter Fifteen  –  Worry Wart

It was the early 1970’s. I had a husband, who for years had no qualms about drinking and driving. It worried me sick as I waited up so many times for him to come safely home from a night out with his buddies.

I also had three teenagers who didn’t always keep to their curfew, causing even more worry. Two younger children brought different kinds of worry. I was a true worry-wart…..

“Therefore I tell you not to worry about your life…(Matthew 6:25)

Tomorrow  –  A Leap of Faith  –  A Lesson in Being Aware

On Being a Mother

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By the time I was twenty-three, I was raising a son and three daughters; another son joined us seven years later.  Their dad had his work cut out providing for our growing family.

 

Chapter Fourteen  –  On Being a Mother

“You should be in school, not here having a baby.”

It was the voice of an indignant, yet empathetic nurse, who was coaching me through the final stages of a forty hour labor.

The nurse’s words were drowned out by my agonizing shriek, as Deborah Faith crowned her way into my life. Daughter number one was here, and I was too exhausted to welcome her. However, we had the rest of our lives to get to know each other, and she was a very brave little girl to give this seventeen-year old, inexperienced mother a chance to discover a new dimension of love. It was September 19, 1954, a new beginning for both mother and daughter……

 

“Be fruitful and increase in number…”  (Genesis 9:1)

 

Tomorow  –  Worry-Wart  –  A Lesson in How not to Worry

 

My First Job

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I learned early in life that earning money was a prerequisite to having the good things in life. To me, at that time, those good things were cigarettes.

Chapter Thirteen  –   My First Job

I had several part time jobs from the time I was twelve years old. The first one was a sales clerk in the F.W. Woolworth’s store at Bloor and Yonge Streets. The hiring age in December, 1949 was thirteen, and my birthday was in January, so I fibbed. I needed the money to pay for my newly acquired smoking habit.

If I remember correctly, I earned fifty cents an hour and my cigarettes cost twenty cents a pack. I was ahead of the game at age twelve!

She sets about her work vigorously…(Proverbs 31:17)

Tomorrow  –  On Being a Mother  – A Lesson in Reproduction

Toe Picks

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This chapter reveals a devastating disappointment in the eleventh Christmas of my  life.

Chapter Twelve  –  Toe Picks

My quivering fingers ripped part of the paper off my present. Yes! There were the white boots, but wait, they were shoe polish white! Tearing at the rest of the paper I uncovered the gleam of steel blades. But it was a steel wool gleam. My heart sank as the paper fell away from the rest of the skates– no toe picks.

The lump in my throat felt like a tennis ball. Choking back tears, I examined the skates a little closer. The insides of the boots were a dull, worn flannel. They were second-hand skates, somebody else’s has-been skates. Disappointment crushed me. They were not even figure skates……

A hope deferred makes the heart sick… Proverbs 13:12

Tomorrow  –  My First Job  –  A Lesson in Self-Reliance