Lessons from My Ordinary Life

By Loretta Swan

Loretta's purpose in writing her life experiences is to (1) show how God has been faithful and given her strength, (2) to help other women in their walk with God, (3) to help her seven granddaughters learn to find strength in God's faithfulness.

This book is divided into seven sections, each a different period of her life. In each section, she shares Bible verses that have helped her.

"From My Youth"

Loretta was raised in church, her mother was a Christian, but her father was an alcoholic. She gave her heart to God at the tender age of eight years old yet did not realize what it meant to be a Christian, a follower of Christ, until her teens.

"My Children/Grandchildren"

Mother of three and her lessons raising them: She desires to help other mothers.

Grandmother of eleven and great-grandmother of four: Her desire is to invest in them and to encourage women by what she has learned.

"As a Young Mother"

She shares her struggles with low self-esteem and God's promise to turn her from an ugly duckling into a grace-filled swan.

"Adult Children"

When her children were small, she remembers thinking how difficult it was to have three children under the age of five. She was wrong. It was much more difficult to have adult children that she could not kiss their "owies" away. She shares some of the ways she learned to interact with her adult children.

"Beginnings or Endings"

Her grief journey through divorce after a thirty-three-year marriage, how God walked those dark days with her: She wishes to share what she learned with other women who are walking through the valley of divorce.

"Africa"

Loretta shows how God can take an ordinary life and do extraordinary things, like a mission trip halfway around the world to help widows and orphans.

"Moving Forward with a Push"

She shares how God showered his love on her during nine years of living alone and gave her a soul mate. Together they have six children, twenty-one grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

She finishes up by sharing Romans 12:1 (NIV): "Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life--and place it before God as an offering." You will be amazed how God can take an ordinary life and make it extraordinary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638745907

Book preview

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Lessons from My Ordinary Life

Loretta Swan

ISBN 978-1-63874-589-1 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63874-590-7 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Loretta Swan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Scriptures in this book have been quoted from the following versions of the Bible:

Scripture quotations from (MSG). The Message Bible. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Scripture quotations from (NIV) HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

Scripture quotations from (KJV) The Authorized King James Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patented, Cambridge University Press.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Introduction

My purpose in writing my life experiences is to show how God has been faithful and my strength through all my years and to help other women in their walk with God. I also wanted to help my seven granddaughters learn from my mistakes and find strength in God’s faithfulness.

In Romans 12:1–2 (MSG), the apostle Paul admonishes believers: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Do not become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You will be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. That is what this book is all about, God changing me from the inside out through my every day, ordinary life as I responded to what He wanted me to do. As you read how God has helped me, I hope you will find encouragement and strength.

Section 1

From My Youth

Chapter 1

My Birth

My mother went to the hospital in labor before she was full-term with me. The nurse tried to send her home, but Mom said, This is my fourth delivery, and I am telling you, I am going to have this baby tonight! The nurse put my mother in a room, did not check her (this was before ultrasounds) and forgot about her. Several hours later, Mom screamed, and the nurse came running in the room just in time to catch me. I was all of five pounds, five ounces. This was back when five-pound babies did not survive. Now, the medical field is saving babies who weigh less than one pound. Amazing! I also had yellow jaundice, the nurses placed my incubator next to the window during the daytime, I was in an incubator for over a month until I weighed seven pounds, five ounces. Then my parents could take me home.

There were no car seats back in the fifties either. So Dad had one of his shoeboxes in the car, and that was how I traveled home, in a shoebox on my brother’s lap.

I did not keep milk down and lost weight the first few days I was home. The doctor told my mother to switch me to goats’ milk, and I started gaining weight.

From birth, I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. (Psalm 71:6 NIV)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14 NIV)

What I learned from my mother is that (1) I was a miracle, but I think all babies are; (2) if doctors or nurses make assumptions without checking, trust your instincts and stand your ground, insist they run the tests.

October 21st 1953

4 weeks old

Chapter 2

The Prayer of Faith

I was about seven years old; I had been sick for several days and was running a high fever. We did not have medical insurance, so there was no being taken to the doctor. My mom stayed home from church with me that Sunday. The pastor’s wife knew the only way my mom would stay home from church was if there was a problem, and with my dad not having given his heart to Christ yet and being an alcoholic, she was concerned. So she came over to check on us. I do not remember much, but I do remember her sitting on the side of my bed, taking my hands in hers, and praying for God to heal me. She left, and I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, the fever was gone. I sat up and wanted something to eat. The next day, I felt well enough to return to school. This was the first of many healings God would do.

What I learned, If God brings someone to my mind, I go see them, pray for them, or call them, or send them a card or a text, letting them know I have prayed for them. If I or a family member is sick, this verse says for us to call the elders and ask for prayer:

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. (James 5:14–15a KJV)

Chapter 3

The Words of My Mouth

I could write a set of books on what I have learned and am still learning when it comes to what I say or when I say it. Proverbs 25:11 (NIV) says, A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. In other words, they bring beauty to the soul. Too many times, I have spoken words at the wrong time or in the wrong place; and instead of creating beauty, they were hurtful and anything but lovely.

I was around eight years old, the middle child of five, and the oldest girl. Trying to get attention from my parents was no easy task as mom was a rescuer. It did not matter if she rescued children or dogs. She could not stand to see anyone hurting or doing without. We always had a full house. My mother was a foster mother before there was a foster program. She also worked full-time, so there was even less time to divvy up. Back then, my eight-year-old mind thought the best way to get attention was to talk, a lot! I thought that made me look smarter; unfortunately, I became a nuisance instead!

I remember one Sunday, about five years later, we were at church when the pastor read this verse from Proverbs 17:28 (NIV), Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent and discerning if he holds his tongue. The light came on in my head. I have this backward. I just need to shut up and people will think I am smart. It was no easy task as a thirteen-year-old to change my behavior. I memorized and prayed Psalms 141:3 (NIV), which says, Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. I also started praying Psalms 19:14 (KJV): Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. The Holy Spirit would bring these verses to my mind when I embarked on yet another episode of running off at the mouth. This was the beginning of many lessons on the power of my spoken word.

During high school, my friend and I decided to try an experiment. We did not have any classes together, but there was a girl—let’s call her Susie—that was in my first period class, my friend’s second period class, my third period class, and so on, for the remainder of the day. The experiment went like this: When I saw Susie in first period, I asked her if she was feeling well. She said she was and wondered why I had asked. I told her she did not look well (sad to admit it was a lie). My friend asked her the same question during second period. This time Susie said she was