These two images have me in tears.
This one…
And this one…
I’m so thankful for MJ Floyd of the YMCA Community Center in Judson who captured them. When I was invited to the Greenville Y’s Women’s History Month author visit, I immediately said yes… and then had a humbling realization:
I may not be a “woman of history”… but I come from one.
My Grandma Rose.
I didn’t share everything about her with the students and families who were there, but I want to share a piece of her legacy here.
My Grandma Rose chose a different path—one of faith in Jesus—even when it meant standing against what was familiar… even within her own family.
And that faith?
She passed it on to me.
She raised me in her small town during my earliest years, and I truly believe she surrounded me with prayer. I can still faintly remember the sound of women worshiping together—their harmonies lingering in my spirit. Maybe that’s why worship, even harmonizing in worship songs, feels so natural to me even now.
It’s in me.
And that foundation of faith… that sound of praise… has carried me through life’s waves more times than I can count.
Grandma Rose went to be with the Lord in 2008, but her legacy is still alive. The greatest gift she gave me was introducing me to faith—before I could even fully understand it.
So to every parent, grandparent, and caregiver reading this…
Don’t underestimate the power of small beginnings.
Don’t despise the quiet moments, the prayers whispered over little ones, the seeds planted in unseen ways. You are shaping something eternal.
Keep positioning your children in places and spaces—and yes, even in your embraces—where they can encounter the reality of God’s love and truth.
Because one day… those seeds will rise.
And they will shine.
Forever honoring one of the greatest women of history—my Grandma Rose. 💛