Barbara McKinnon

   This is my first attempt at blogging and it is mainly for me to just write down my prayers, praises and thoughts for what they are worth. If anyone else reads it I hope it will glorify God and point them to a relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

   I was 10 years old, younger children were like lower g gods to me, on what turned out to be one of the most important days of my entire life. My Mom and I went to my brother’s baseball game at Bartlett Park, and I saw two young kids playing in the grass, just rolling around and doing somersaults, I was drawn to them. I know now that it was the Holy Spirit that drew me to them but at the time I just knew I wanted to play with them. I asked them if they wanted to play with me and they said, “We have to ask our Mommy.” I followed them over to a young women sitting in a lawn chair, keeping score for the game and when they called, “Mommy” She turned around and looked at them. They asked, “Can we play with her?” and pointed toward me. She looked at me and smiled, a simple but very sweet smile that I loved receiving from that day forward, and said, “Yes”.

   After that day, I played with the children, who told me their names were ”Gonky Paul and Gonky Lordie”,  every time my brother had a game and sometimes the family would bring us home. I loved those times and asked if I could come play or babysit for the kids. Her answer again was yes so I would come over many days to just play with, help with, and babysit for her, at that time, 4 children.
    That was the start of my relationship with Barbara McKinnon, a relationship that I know was a gift from God to me! Over the next several years they had two more kids, the youngest being born on my 16 birthday, and I continued to babysit for them all!  As I grew up, I would stay at their house on Elkam Blvd., even after they got home, for hours and she and I would talk about the kids, school, my family, my friends, well, everything, but mostly about Jesus.
   I got married and moved to SC and we started a family of our own but I continued to stay in touch with her through phone calls and letters. My family spent several summer vacations staying at their house. They were family not just friends! There are so many wonderful memories with her and her family that I could go on for hours and still have more to tell!
   Barbara and my relationship grew from a mother/daughter type to best friends! I describe her to people who don’t know her as my God mother/other Mother/best friend all rolled into one amazing women! In 1 Samuel 18:1 it says, “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.” That is the closest the Bible comes to mentioning anything like “soul mates” and it’s about a friendship. Barbara and I have often talked about her and I having that kind of friendship.
   Barbara and Terry McKinnon were more than instrumental in my having a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I knew about Jesus before I met them but not about a real personal relationship with Him and without the McKinnon family I am not sure I ever would have! I knew them before Terry was saved and saw the transformation which was amazing and much due to the prayers of Barbara! I have my close relationship with Jesus largely because I watched them live out theirs.
   Without Jesus I can only imagine who or where I would be! Because of Him, I have made it through countless tragedies and trials in my life and come through better than I was! I never used drugs, smoked or drank even in high school, though I was made fun of. The cycle of alcoholism in my family was broken! My children were raised Christian, and even though one of them is not living that right now I know he will come back and he is better off for being raised that way! My grandchildren are being raised in Christian homes! Again, I could go on and on about what God has done for me and my family and still have more to tell.
   All of that and more because Barbara Mckinnon was, well, Barbara McKinnon, welcoming, loving, caring, and nurturing. She was and is Jesus’ hands and feet to me and many others! She has a legacy of leading, not just me, but many people to a relationship with Jesus! Is she perfect, no, but that’s just it, she knows her need for a savior and isn’t afraid to show it and tell others about it. She leads by example and that is how she led me!
   I can never say enough about what she has done for me or thank her enough! She would tell you that I was a gift from God to her but that is just her, very humble and unaware of how incredible she really is!
   I love you Mrs. Barbara McKinnon! You are a women after God’s own heart!!

God Bless!!

Tamy : )