Look Up, Girl!Sample

When Love Shows Up

Joan Cadwell. She was a force of nature and lived a fierce life. Born in Devon, England, my mother shared a tiny 2­-bedroom flat with her parents and seven siblings. Eight children slept four-­to-­a-­bed. I know this because I traveled there with my mom and two sisters, and shared one of those beds. She owned one pair of shoes and walked miles to school. At sixteen, she went to work at a parachute factory as the bombs fell during WWII. London had been decimated, but my mother’s dream of coming to America wasn’t the least bit dampened, only fueled by the fire.

At nineteen, she married a US G.I. They crossed the Atlantic and put down roots in the deep South where his family lived. They had three kids. But after a decade, his abuse ended the marriage, and her young children were placed in foster care by her vindictive ex­-mother-­in-­law. How helpless and brokenhearted Mom must have felt.

There she was, a foreigner, a woman alone, unemployed and desperate, her babies taken from her. She ended up working in a bar, then a shoe store. My dad happened by and saw a lovely raven-­haired woman working there. He went in and bought a pair of slippers he didn’t need just to meet her.

And like all great love stories, the handsome Navy man and a fiery British beauty fell in love and got married. Dad adopted all three kids, and they had three more children after that. He gave them a wonderful life, filled with com­fort and security. Still, I think about where my mom came from and how much she had been through. But she held out for love to show up. And it did.

They weren’t perfect people, my parents. They fought as forces of nature often do. But they loved, deeply and completely. I hope we can all fight for Love the way my mother did. No matter what trials prevail, let’s never give up on Love.

Question

In your entire life, where has love shown up the most?

Prayer

Jesus, my dear Love, thank You for giving me the stamina and faith to wait in expectation for what is to come. And if I begin to doubt, remind me that Love never fails. Amen.

References

“We love because [God] first loved us.” —1 John 4:19

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.” —Hosea 2:14

“Trust the Almighty. He’ll open up the right door at the right time.” —Sophieya

“Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.” —John Keats