Life Lessons: Real Relationships
by Kim Baskin
All my life I’ve looked for women to bond with, learn from, and love. You know, real relationships, not just superficial ones. Usually I find someone who I work with, or someone I am related to, or even someone at church. It’s wonderful when God shows you just who should be in your life.
My mother was killed when I was only 9 years old and I really felt like I was cheated. I felt I hadn’t had the chance to have her be my teacher or my friend. So I’ve looked for that in other women of all kinds and everywhere.
Over the past few years God showed me that he had given me several awesome women in my life. My mother took care of me and tried to protect me; my Granny Clara raised me, taught me how to take care of my home and how to love my husband and that I should submit to him My Sunday School teacher taught me to love God, My first mother-in-law taught me how to be an independent woman; my second mother-in-law taught me to accept people for who they are and to cherish my children. My best friend has taught me to be wiser and that my words and actions do matter. My sister has taught me to never give up hope and never take my children for granted. My Grandma Rose has taught me how to be strong and that grief won’t kill me even though it feels like it will, and my daughter has taught me to love unconditionally.
I know that God always brings other women into my life at just the right time. I have met several women in the church that have influenced my life and they don’t even know it. There are older women that I hope to be like when I am their age. There are women that are my age that have overcome so many obstacles in the past and in their every day lives that I aspire to be strong and love God like they do, and there are younger women that I want to help along the way like I’ve been helped. I feel that if you truly desire to live your life for God, you will want to pour your time and energy into the future of His Kingdom. The women in the church are our future. The younger women must be shown God’s love and grace. As a more “mature” woman, as some young woman call me, I want to love on, teach, bond with and encourage the younger women so that they can reach their full potential in God and in their personal lives. I challenge anyone reading this to find time to invest in other women, whether it is someone who is 60, 40, 20 or younger. You don’t have to be a lot older than someone to impact her life. Even the younger women impact my life with their fire and excitement for the things of God.
I hope that through this small glimpse into my life, you really see the women who have touched your life and let your relationships with younger as well as the more “mature” women bless your life!