2.25- My marriage to Sheila was a blessing to me in so many ways.

 2.25-

My marriage to Sheila was a blessing to me in so many ways. A hard change for her was my transition from teacher to minister. Her parents were a door opener to a new vocation for me. Life teaches to go through open doors and help the best you can and don’t beat your head against closed doors. When I was teaching school in Vidor, Texas I started some substitute teaching in the church at Port Neches, Texas at the same time. It seemed to suit me better than the teaching and coaching I had been doing. Sheila’s parents, Ralph and Gladys Self were members of the congregation there.

Gladys Self lived a life of order and striving to make her home as beautiful and peaceful as possible. Ralph and Gladys were known in their town as being hardworking people who paid their bills whatever the cost.

Ralph once sold a nice car to be able to have the money for down payment for a house that came with a refrigerator which were hard to get at the time near the end of WWII. This caused him to have to ride a bike to work for quite a while. Later they built a new home with more room and convenience. This was the house where Sheila was born and spent time in her high school years.

Ralph was trained as an accountant, but moved to work in the refineries in the Golden Triangle area near Beaumont, Texas in order to make a better living for his family. He worked at Jefferson Chemical where they made Anti-freeze, (ethenel glychol) (sp). Later moving to Sinclair-Koppers, later Arco, where they made plastic pellets from crude oil. He worked with very skilled engineers though his training was in another field. Through hard work, brain power, persistence and integrity he moved up in responsibility and retired at 58 as a shift superintendent.

From age 58 until they moved to heaven they took care of their home very well, and maintained a perfect lawn and garage and flower beds. They traveled and visited and supported their kids and grandkids and went to their sporting events and graduations and did volunteer work with the church and meals on wheels.

Gladys continued what she had been doing for their entire marriage providing a near perfect house, clean, orderly, peaceful, loving and joyful. Gladys finished her life they same way she had lived her life and Sheila did the same. Full of gratefulness for all the good things in life, facing the realities of life with honesty, courage and fearlessness. Ralph and Gladys and Sheila trusted God to carry them through everything in this life and finished with peace and great faith.

Gladys and Sheila used their gifts to reflect God’s beauty and love and serve others with as a low a profile as possible. Ralph was willing to step us and out as leader who lead with fairness and steady discipline. All three of these taught me a great deal and opened many doors for me. The transition from school teacher and coach to a minister and writer turned out to be a very good change and today I am thanking God for all three of them.

To finish life with gratefulness, love and joy is a good thing.

Galations 5.

 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who [h]belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well. 26 Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

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29Carol Wishard, Sandy Wallace and 27 others