Happy Fall

I love this time of year. Some people like spring with its singing birds and blooming flowers. Others like snowy white winters. And there are even a few people who love the summer sun and activity. However, Fall is my favorite - the changing foliage, the cooler temps, the smell of a bonfire and taste of s'mores.

I have some great fall memories of my childhood visiting my grandparents and listening to my grandfather tell stories from his childhood in eastern Tennessee. For a girl born and bred in Ohio, the mountains of Jelico and its surrounding area sounded like a pretty exotic place to me. We would gather around a

bonfire and he would begin each with "I remember when . . ." That was our cue to settle in, sit back and listen.

Now, I have another fall memory to add to my list of reasons of why I love this season. On October 1, 2009, Riley, my oldest daughter, accepted Jesus' gift of salvation and made Him Lord of her life!

We had spoken of it for a long time, but she had brought up much more frequently in the days leading up to the 1st. She had come to me while I was sorting laundry during a short thunder bumper of a storm outside. She said it was as if

the thunder was God's way of telling people to believe in Him. When I asked her what He was trying to tell her, she said "I need to believe in Him too." My husband and I spent the next few weeks fielding questions and trying to gently guide her to the point she knew that she knew she needed Jesus as her Savior AND Lord.

At bedtime on that first night of October, she knew. There was such certainty in her voice. She prayed straight from her heart words of her own and when she said "amen" I was crying happy tears. She looked at me and began to cry too, exclaiming, "Momma, you're making my eyes water too!"

My husband and I were careful not to push or pressure Riley's decision. It needed to be her own. We don't ever want her to look back and doubt. Time will tell . . . But from the day we knew she was coming until now, we continue to entrust her to Him, the one who made her, died for her and, now, calls her His own twice over.