Texting Faith, Hope, and Love

Book excerpt: I started writing down favorite scriptures, quotes, and sayings in fifth or sixth grade. I taught children's Bible classes for 42 years and public school classes for 29 years and I always found a way to use many of the quotes and sayings in all my classes. I still get excited when I see a great quote in a book or magazine, or even on a T-shirt. I have four grandchildren I adore, and I don't get to see them as often as I did when they were children, or during the pandemic. Cale is a graduate of Oklahoma Christian University and is busy with his career. Mackenzie will be a senior at the University of Oklahoma. Tate is a newlywed and is attending the Oklahoma State University's Fire Academy to become a firefighter, and our youngest, Danny, is a 6'4" basketball player who will be a junior at Edmond Memorial High School. I found a quote a few years ago from the gymnast, Gabby Douglas. She said, "By now, you've probably caught on to something: my mother is always standing by with just the right scripture or inspirational saying to get me through any tough situation." I was so blessed to have my grandchildren living in the same town when they were growing up and all four of them were in my sixth grade Sunday school class. I think all of us who are grandmothers want to be like Timothy's grandmother, Lois. I read Gabby's quote and realized how important that was to her. I can't stand by my grandchildren, but I thought I can text scriptures and quotes to them. Also, Corrie ten Boom's book, The Hiding Place came out when my girls were babies. I read it during their nap times. I also watched as many of her interviews as I could. She and her family were Christians in Holland and hid hundreds of Jews being smuggled to safety in a secret hiding place in their combination home and watch and clock repair store. Her entire family was caught by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps. They weren't allowed Bibles, so they taught people using the scriptures they had memorized. I heard her tell a story of finding a broken piece of pencil and writing scriptures down on little scraps of paper and giving them to people to give them hope. That inspired me to memorize more scriptures, so I could always have a Bible close to me. I started texting scriptures and different quotes to my grandkids group once or twice a week. I prayed that this would keep them in the Word and remind them their words and actions need to glorify God. One night I needed to send a new text and it took me about thirty minutes to write one and send it. I remember thinking I wish I could go online or go to Mardel's store to find a book that had the type of devotionals I wanted. My next thought was why don't I write one. I'm retired and I already have over thirty devotionals finished. I could just add about a hundred more and I would have a book of devotionals. I said a prayer and started compiling my devotion "lesson plan" book the next day.