2 Ladies. 2 towns. 2 seasons. 2 churches. 1 name. 1 purpose.
Today I got a phone call from this sweet lady: Linda McDougald
Shortly after moving to Crossett Mrs. Linda wrote me a letter and she said that she believed God brought me to Crossett for a purpose. I wasn't just there because my dad was the pastor. We didn't just move because of his job. Sure that was part of it, but God wanted me there just as much as he wanted my dad. Now, no one had ever told me anything like this. I had always been Larry White's daughter, the pastor's kid. I was always there because of him not because I had my own purpose. I remember writing a card back and telling her about my dislike for her prayers. I told her I really didn't want to be there but I would like to see God's purpose. She told me she believed that I was there to love on the girls my age and be a good example for them. I hope I fulfilled that purpose.
During the four years I lived there Mrs. Linda sent me cards and called to pray with me before school. She took me to visit lost kids or youth that had not been at church in awhile. She challenged me to live a life set apart. She prayed for me a lot. She continually encouraged me. She believed in me. She supported me. She LOVED me. and I learned to LOVE her. When I was in seventh grade she taught my Sunday School class. In eighth grade, our church was without a youth minister and so Mrs. Linda, a working woman at the age of 50, stepped up. Every Wednesday she brought the Gospel and every Wednesday youth flooded the altar with hearts crying out to the Savior. She lived what she taught us.
When we moved I was in ninth grade. It was the hardest move ever. I hated it. She reminded me that God had completed His purpose for me in Crossett and that the journey and purpose would continue in Cabot. She prayed for me. Send me cards of encouragement (my love language). She reminded me that I was not forgotten. When I was in 11th grade my church went on choir tour over Spring Break. We were shopping at a mall in Alabama and my phone rang, I answered it to hear the sweet familiar voice of Mrs. Linda. She just called to check on me. Last spring during finals week, I was stressed and cramming for a test one morning. My phone rang and it was Mrs. Linda calling to pray with me and lift me up. She always shows up at the perfect time even if I didn't think it was so perfect at first.
Today she called me to get my family's address so she could send us a Christmas card. She asked how school was and if I was still dating the same guy. She taught us to only date people we would marry. I am forever grateful for that lesson. She reminded me of my purpose and that God has an awesome plan. She encouraged me. She loved me. This year has been rough for me. I have struggled a lot with the lie that I am forgettable and forgotten. It is the way Satan gets to me most and best. Even today I was thinking that. God used Mrs. Linda once again to remind me that I am not forgotten but that I am remembered, loved, thought of often, and prayed for more than I know. I started crying after we hung up. I was so overwhelmed with love and with grace.
Then I started thinking of another Linda in my life, Linda Parks
The summer after my senior year of high school my family moved from Cabot to Conway. My dad had gotten a job as the associational missionary for Faulkner County. He was no longer pastor of a church. For the first time we had to go look for a church. We had always just gone wherever he pastored. We visited several places in Conway but none of them seemed to be the perfect fit. At the end of summer I helped with a lock-in at Crosspoint and we started visiting there. Crosspoint is in Greenbrier, about twenty minutes from our house in Conway. But it fit and it is where we have been going to church for the past year. I love it. It is exactly where God wants me in this season and I am thankful.
When we first started going there I didn't feel like I fit in the college and career class. It was mostly career aged people and all guys; all two of them. It was awkward and uncomfortable. I was 18 and a girl and in college. I didn't have much in common with them. So I went to the youth Sunday School class for the first few months. My friend Emily started coming so we decided to grow up and face the college and career class together.
Linda Parks, and her husband teach this class. They are in their late 60s/early 70s and they are precious. Every morning they get up and pray together. You know who they pray for? Me. every day. I am so grateful for them. Mrs. Linda welcomed me when I didn't feel like I fit. Every time I walk in the class she greets me with a smile and genuinely wants to know how my week has been. She doesn't just accept "fine" or "good". This woman wants honesty because she wants to pray specifically. She is a firm believer in the power of prayer. Every week she asks for prayer requests and every week she goes to God on our behalf. She cares. On Wednesdays she helps cook dinner for our church and then she serves it with a smile and a laugh. She is full of joy even on dark days. This fall she lost her step father to an illness. Even in that time she was pouring into others and loving with all she had. She opens her home to a bunch of 20-somethings. She cooks delicious food for us and lets us stay late so she can beat us at dominoes. She has a heart for people our age because she wasn't where she needed to be with Christ at our age and doesn't want us making the same mistakes. She is honest about her life and quick to tell us of God's faithfulness in every season. She loves K-Love and always shares songs to challenge our heart. She has a huge heart for the Gospel and desires to do something about sharing it. She challenges us and she practices what she preaches. I so look up to her. I am so grateful for her influence in my life.
These ladies are much older than I am. They are in their golden age. They could easily be sitting in a Sunday School class with people their age. They could be letting the young people serve instead. Yet they choose to reach out where God has called them. Mrs. Linda McDougald went to church camp with us in 9th grade. Mrs. Linda Parks worked at the same church camp. Mrs. Linda McDougald didn't have to lead our youth group when we needed a leader but she did. Mrs. Linda Parks doesn't have to teach Sunday School to students who come and go and aren't always alert or responsive but she does every week. Both of these ladies are amazing. They both came into my life at unwanted times. In seasons where I thought I would be better off elsewhere. But I am beyond thankful that they came when they did. I will never be able to thank them enough for their prayers, encouragement, and love. I looked up the name Linda and it means "pretty one". How fitting? These are two of the prettiest ladies I know. They have hearts that beat for Jesus and lives that live for Him alone. When I grow up I want to be a Linda. I want to be the Linda of my generation.
Thank you Jesus for the "pretty ones". Thank you for the love they give. Thank you for their obedience and prayer-filled lives. Thank you for letting them have such a great influence on my life. Thank you for bringing them at just the right time. Thank you for answering my prayer. Make me a Linda!
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