Dear Editor,

I have read your “Letters To The Editor” for many years and there have been some very interesting articles that have caught my attention, both good and bad. I want to address an issue a bit on the lighter side if I may.

I love to care for the elderly folk who need a helping hand and loving attention. Recently, I received a call from a family member of a dear lady who needed the kind of support I try to provide. As the caller explained the situation they were in with their mother, I started to feel the Lord tugging at my heart. When her son told me the lady’s name, I knew this lady from years past. The lady in need was my Sunday school teacher when I was a very young girl in need of help and looking for someone to help me with my special needs. In my time of need, she was there to extend a helping hand and be a great inspiration to me. Many times over the years I have remembered and prayed for her.

It’s been a great blessing for the Lord, after all these years, to bring my path to her door and allow us a short time together in the twilight days of her life. In my early years, she used kind loving words to reach my heart and a gentle touch to mold me into what God would have me to become. Now after all these years, the rolls have changed. She is at the point of seeking to make sense of things and understand when all the pieces do not seem to come together. Now it is my blessing to be able to reach out to her with kind loving words and a gentle touch to meet her special needs.

My husband, a preacher, has quoted “Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.” Many times, I have seen the good grace of God returned to me by His leading, and surely this has proven true here. Each day in our prayers we ask God to allow us to be a blessing to someone today, and it has opened many doors. I believe that prayer may have had a part in leading me to the door of Mrs. Evelyn Segars.

On April 13, 2014, this dear friend of mine, and so many more that she has touched, turned 90 years young.

Linda F. McElyea

Hartselle