Trust and Respect by Beverly Skiles

    My parents divorced when I was ten years old. My father was always a wanderer and not a “faithful to my mom” type of man.  I must say he did become a Christian later in life and totally changed. I did grow up without a father figure. My mom was a Christian but didn’t attend church.  She was the disciplinarian. She loved my brother and me very much.  We were not ideal kids. Ha. I have a great brother. Anyway, I especially remember as a teenager and began to date that she was always very frank with me about the facts of life. What she really did that was so right was TRUSTED Me.  I never wanted to cause my mother trouble and I did not get into trouble. I respected her and she respected me.  I hit some times of serious temptation but with God’s help and my mother’s trust I did not cave in to them.  She was such a precious person in my life. She died in l990.  We are presently listening to old tapes that were sent back and forth during our early years of being a missionary and she displays that same trust in what she had to say then to me and my family.  God gave us lots of guidelines, rules and regulations to live by. He made us and knew what was best for us.  The Bible is our guidebook for raising families. WE do the best we can with God’s help. I have tried to give my children trust but it seems that sometimes it was betrayed.  Well, I think my mom did a very good job of that and I want to commend her for that. Being a parent is a long  tiresome job but worth every minute of it.

Bev Skiles