Lois

She's a lady that I met when she was 78. She'll be 80 in January. I befriended her when I use to work at Caribou-she came in nearly everyday. She caught my eye because she carried a Marilyn Monroe purse, and a bag of sketches. She was a stitch from the minute I met her. Her somewhat pessimistic attitude, and humor were all together lovely. She always made me smile and laugh.

Whenever I meet people, I always look for the Kingdom value in it. Every person I see isn't just "a person", they are a creation of the Almighty, and He love and adores them, and so should I!

Lois and I would chat in between my rushes at work, and we connected because of our love for Art. She was actually an Artist. She'd been in Hastings for 12 years-moving to independent old folks home after becoming a widow. She's originally from Wisconsin, she grew up on a farm. She was famous back her teens for her paintings. She tells me to this day that Georgia O'Keeffe took her fame from her, that her family was wealthy, so they were able to make Georgia famous. Lois' work is splendid. I love it! She had her first Art Exhibit this past summer in West Bend, WI. She was so proud of that, and couldn't come to terms with the fact that it ended.

She has spent time in my home, and we've gone out for lunch and dinners often. I also pick her up sometimes on the weekends (when the buses aren't running), for a Caribou.

Like most creative people, she is very complex. Very emotional, and full of passion. I think she struggles with harmful thoughts and depression.
She use to paint at the art studio here in downtown Hastings, but it closed a couple of months ago because they couldn't afford to keep it open. That hit Lois hard. She is also getting antsy in her tiny apartment, with not much stimuli. They don't have much going on there, so she is wanting to move to Stillwater-they have a art studio there too where she could pick up the brush again.

She has 2 sons who spend some time with her, but she is very lonely. I think her attitude could be better-but how would I know what it's like to be 80, a widow, an artist not able to paint, and live with depression? About a month ago, she had a mental breakdown.
She was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and now they have her on so many medications, she is almost unrecognizable.

Last week when I called to check on her, I asked her if I could bring her anything, or if she needed anything. She actually said she could use some Banana's and some Milk.
When I got to her building, she was sitting outside waiting for me- she didn't look too good, so I offered to bring them up for her.

While we were there, I asked her if there was anything she'd like to talk about. She started opening up about the past and her feelings about her Mother. She said her Mother condemned her when she (Lois), got pregnant out of wedlock. (Lois and I also have that in common).
Her Mother shamed Lois and pretty much drove her out of her life. Her Mother died years ago, and Lois just can't let of how her Mother treated her or felt about her. She wishes she had that time back so she could speak up, and there could be a time of forgiveness. It's so sad that society and "Religion" has gotten people to the point of shaming others for mistakes/sins we all make. Jesus wasn't like that at all.

I listened, and told Lois that Jesus would have taken her hand, and loved her through that difficult time-that He accepts her no matter what she's done. And it is never too late, He will always forgive her. That God would always welcome her into His arms.
I tried to tell her that regardless of what her Mother approved or didn't approve of, it didn't matter. What mattered is that God loved her and defined her.

She was very attentive and really wanted to believe that. I continued to tell her the Gospel story, and tell her about what Jesus was like. That He wasn't like most of the denominations we have in this world-that He a servant. He was love. I told her she didn't need to "do" anything, that she could just ask Him to be in her life. I told her she didn't need to be perfect before she could have a relationship with Him. I told her she didn't have to be clean or proper first. She could just be with Him how she was at that time, and He would accept her.

She wondered how that could happen and I just told her to pray, and to read the bible. She said that she'd tried to read before, but it made her feel bad. She said she read the middle of the Psalms in the King James Version! I said for one, you are reading it probably out of context and for two, that version is really difficult to understand, and not for today's time!

I prayed over her, and she was brought to tears by the end of our time together. She said she had never had anyone pray with her like that (and I'm sure it was a little freaky for her, I know before I understood, I thought it was too)!

She was so sweet in listening to me, and I even changed the radio station for her, to a Christian dial, and she loved it!

It made me so sad that she is almost 80, and didn't know that Jesus was her friend. That to me is unacceptable! There has to be a sense of urgency to share the Gospel, (in love). The best way is to invest in people. Invest in taking time-building relationships. If you aren't, it isn't going to happen! People need to trust first. I knew Lois was at a place in her life-it was a risk for me to share what I did-she could have kicked me out! But I didn't care-she had lost all hope in everything else-and even though it took 80 years-it wasn't too late.