Hi, I’m Judy!

Let me give you a brief introduction to me. My desire is to have a place to share my life-journey and hopefully help yours avoid some of my mistakes.I ask for your grace when you don’t agree with me or think I’ve really missed it. I’ve never blogged before nor have I read any, but I want to invite you into my life and maybe we can learn from each other.

My name is Judy, I’m 82 surprising years old. There is no fact in my current life that I ever thought would exist in or around me at this age.

I married at 18 and in 10 months had my first baby. Two more children came eight and 16 years later. Not my plan. In fact I had no clue that I could plan anything, I just found things happening and dealt with them, or not, as they came. The word “intentional” didn’t enter my brain until at age 53 I found myself divorced, minus my middle child, Jerry, and needing to find my way in a world I was profoundly unprepared for.

My mother ruled my world until I married and then my husband, Jerry, ruled my thoughts and actions. I was raised in church and Jesus was always an undercurrent in my life, but not at the forefront. I will tell more about that later.

 In 1976 I had a significant encounter with Him and that’s when I started to learn that I was a person with thoughts and desires of my own, separate from Jerry’s. That encounter  changed me and the way I conducted myself in my marriage. I had been compliant up until then, but began to find I had needs and dreams that conflicted with the norm in our life together. He said I was getting “hard”, not the “soft” girl he married.

 In 1994, February 14, our son was diagnosed with cancer. We lived through that heartbreak for 18 months and he died in October of 1995. My husband had built a thriving business during our marriage, and we had lots of things; a Mercedes, beautiful home filled with beautiful things, but the business was going down and we had moved into a much smaller condo and lots of our beautiful things were gone. That same year my mother-in-law, who I loved as my mother, died and in January my husband left. There is much to tell about all of that, but for now, just the bare bones.

I have discovered so much about being a “human being” rather than being “a human doing” that I’d like to share bits of my journey and perhaps speak into the lives of others in a life-giving way. I welcome your feedback and invite you into authentic conversations about this life we’re called to live during our time here on earth.