Everybody Needs an Evelyn

It was only a mile down the road.  At the top of the hill sat a little farmhouse that was picturesque.  The white framed house was surrounded by a few huge oak trees that seemed to outline the barn that sat in the pasture behind the homestead.  This is where my grandmother’s house rested.  As a child, I visited her almost every day since she lived close by.  She was bedridden and could barely communicate with us.  So, our family had a sitter that stayed with her most of the week. Her name was Evelyn.
Evelyn was a live in sitter for my grandma for 20 years.  A wonderful lady who never was a wife or a mom.  She was hired by our family to take care of our precious grandma and she did it with as much joy and elegance as you could imagine.  But she not only took care of Grandma, she took care of me.
The family would go work in the garden, but they would leave 4-year-old KJ in the house with Evelyn and Mrs. Johnson.  Evelyn would teach me Bible verses and Bible songs.  She would pull up a yellow stool, stand me on it and say, “Let’s have church”.  I would “peach” a sermon to them and they would amen me as I preached.  Even Grandma who couldn’t really speak would nod her head in approval.  We sang songs about Jesus, and we would pray together.  I can still hear her voice and remember how much she loved me and my family.
Miss Evelyn was never blessed to be a mom.  But God used her to be special voice to accentuate all that my own Mom had been teaching me.  She was that special lady that God used to plant seeds of my future even as a young child.  When I think about her impact on my life I often think, everyone needs an Evelyn.
As we approach Mother’s Day, I am now reminded of all the emotions that different people experience.  It just depends upon what season of life you are living in at the time.  But in the world we live in today, if I could give advice to any young mom out there it would be, find you an Evelyn in your life.  That person who from time to time invests in your kids about the Truth of God’s Word and the joy of knowing Him.  That person might be an aunt, a grandmother, a neighbor, or a friend. One of the greatest things a mom can do is to find that trustworthy friend or confidant who can speak into the lives of their children as well. In my heart, I think everyone needs an Evelyn.
For Ruth in many ways, it was Naomi. For Moses it was the daughter of Pharoh. Timothy had a loving mother but also that special grandmother. Throughout scripture we see how God placed certain women in certain places to encourage and nurture younger souls.  In my childhood her name was Evelyn.  After all those years of sitting with my family’s matriarch, it was Evelyn who died first.  I went behind the barn and cried that day.  My family had lost a sitter and a friend.  I had lost the lady who helped my mom raise me behind the scenes.  After all she was the woman who heard me preach my first sermon.