Byrtle's memories of the olden days

Cleaning out closets is like a treasure hunt. Among all the clutter of a lifetime I sometimes find a precious gem that needs to be enjoyed again. Yesterday I found a copy of a talk my mom gave in 1977 to a group of church ladies. It is a collection of her memories growing up as a preacher's kid in Texas in the early years of the 20th century. What a lovely find. I fixed a cup of coffee and sat down to read my mom's words. It was a lovely moment. I miss my mom.

Here's an excerpt from her  speech.


My memories of these early days are very clear about certain events -one is about a very sincere prayer that I know God answered. Mother was expecting another baby and Ruby and I knew she was very sick. We sat on the door of our storm cellar -waiting and waiting. Finally a lady came out to us and said we had lost some baby sisters -Mother had borne twins, but they lived only a short while and now our mother was so very ill that she probably couldn't live long.

Well, the shock was almost too much for me -I took Ruby by the hand - he was barely 3 and I was only 5 -but I knew we had to talk to God. We went out back of the barn and across the big plowed garden -as far as we could go to be away from everybody. I told my little sister to kneel down and I did too -then we prayed to our heavenly Father to please spare our mother. We stayed on our knees a long time. Ruby was too little to fully realize what we were doing and she tried to get up. But I pushed her back down in the dirt and told her not to cry, but pray -and so we stayed out there a long time -till I began to feel that we had done all we could. It was in God's hands and so we came back and sat on the old cellar door again. It wasn't long till that same lady came out to see us. She smiled and said, "Girls, the doctor says your mother is going to be all right." God has answered many of my prayers since that day -but that first time gave me a faith that has stayed with me all my life.