I remember: The choice is ours

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By Doris Schroeder

Doesn’t it seem that all through our life on this earth, we have to make a multitude of choices every day? There are times I wish I could go through a whole day without having to choose this or that, right or wrong, good or bad. Now as the wisdom (?) of older age has come upon the scene, it does help to think back and remember the times I made the wrong choice.

When I was between three and four, I had to get used to making choices for myself after my 6 -year-old sister was killed. That was hard and I know I sometimes struggled with the answer. There were instances I made the wrong decision but I got through it, and I learned not to make such quick opinions. One night when the pastor visited our home with his family, including his little girl, I blamed her for something I did. Then I remember hiding in the closet no matter who came to talk to me. I knew I had done wrong without anyone telling me and I felt terrible.

Living in California for a year and a half and moving around there four  times, I had many new decisions to make…some good and some bad, but it turned out all right so some options were good. My parents seemed to give me as much leeway as they could. I know after my sister’s death I learned about heaven and it really was something I wanted to know about so every place we lived, I would find a little church to attend Sunday School all by myself. The teachers were always nice but no one seemed to give me the answer.

For some reason I thought I would find the answer back in Kansas…and that is the way it worked out. The teacher had the Rural Bible Crusade come to our country school. They told us if we learned 500 Bible verses we could go to summer camp for a week. I wanted that so I worked hard memorizing and through that came to know Christ.  I accepted Him into my life and I really had someone to help me in choosing the important things in life.

It was really important to me to do what Christ wanted so I checked with Him… most of the time. I attended Buhler Rural High School, I worked at the Buhler Nyal Store, I met my future hubby and we got married two weeks after I graduated.

Life was good but we certainly had a lot to learn. It’s amazing, now that I think about it, how God led us along in spite of our youthful opinions. We continued along life’s road and even though we were far from perfect, God led us in a wonderful way. He even gave us a son and a daughter and later, five grandsons, as well as two great grandsons and one great granddaughter who are all very precious to us.

God helped John find the right job and He arranged for me to help teach Children’s Bible Clubs…the Busy Bee and the Child Evangelism. We joined a new church at that time and continued in His service and opened up a carpet business. We chose to do whatever God opened to us…direct a Youth Camp, direct DVBS, help with music, Christian Women’s Club, speaking, writing, etc. and He was always helping us.

Now, as we are still going at an older age, He gives wonderful opportunities to serve others in different ways. Hubby still raises a garden and we sell produce at the Farmer’s Market every Saturday through October. We have met some wonderful Christian people through this avenue and although we get very tired, we always come home refreshed.

Even as our country is going through very difficult times by wanting to leave God out of the equation, there are still many people who trust in Him. The only thing is, some are afraid to speak up. We have found that God does give us the courage and the wisdom if we rely on Him when we have opportunity to say something positive about our nation and about Christianity. After all, even if something would happen to us because of this, we know where we are going when we leave this earth so why should we be afraid? After all,  even though we ourselves are far from perfect, we have cho the right way!

Doris welcomes your comments and can be reached at dorisschroeder @att.net

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