A "gentle and quiet spirit" aptly describes the woman I am writing about today. I mentioned Sister Fairchild in the post I did on my friend Mary. Sister Fairchild is Mary's mother.
Sis. Fairchild did not have an easy life. I do not know much about her childhood, but I do know she married at a young age, and she and her husband had 4 children - 3 boys, and 1 girl. I also do not know all of the details, but Sis. Fairchild's husband left her and the children for another woman, and Sis. Fairchild was left to raise the children all by herself.
Not having much of a formal education, she worked on that and was able to get a job to be able to provide for her family. She told me one time that she doesn't know what she would've done without friends and neighbors, who pitched in to help her watch the children when she was working. She also told me of how Christians helped her monetarily through those years.
Through it all, Sis. Fairchild's faith in God never wavered. She was a small woman with a quiet voice, but she was apparently a large force to be dealt with when it came to ruling her house, and having her children in subjection to her. She was strongly committed to making sure those kids grew up to love and serve God, in spite of the fact that they had no father. And she did an amazing job of that. One of my favorite Sis. Fairchild stories is about baseball. Her boys played little league, and sometimes they would have a game on a Wednesday night, or on a night during a gospel meeting. Sis. Fairchild would let them participate up until the time they had to leave to go to worship services. They said that it didn't matter if their team was behind and they were up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, and two outs - when their mother picked up her lawn chair and headed to the car, that meant it was time to go worship God, and they had better be following right behind her.
Because of that commitment she had to God and service to Him, she raised four fine Christian children. One of her sons is a gospel preacher, and her daughter Mary - - well, you've already read about her.
I didn't meet Sis. Fairchild until later in her life. The hand she was dealt early in life was of no fault of her own, and she would readily tell you it was hard. Really hard. When I met her, she was suffering through another hardship - lymphoma,which she fought through and overcame as well. She cheerfully persevered through hardships, and enjoyed the blessings that came with her hard work and dedication later in life, as her children "rose up and called her blessed." Those others of us who knew her praised her as well.
I loved spending time with Sis. Fairchild. She was small and feeble, but she loved to joke and laugh. She LOVED the Texas Rangers, and that was back in the day when they won very few games. She loved sports of all kinds. I remember one year when the Dallas Cowboys were in the Super Bowl, our kids had the chicken pox, and Jeff was working out of town. (A few of our guy friends volunteered to come over and "babysit" that Sunday night so I could go to worship, but I declined those offers!) Sis. Fairchild was undergoing chemo treatments at that time, and she told me later that if she had known I was home, we could've watched the Super Bowl together! She also loved her family, and was passionate about them. And she loved me, she told me that often, and my life was better because of her love. But most of all, she loved God, and loved to talk about how blessed by Him she was. Her faith in Him never wavered. When the end of her life approached, she confirmed that resolve to her family.
From Sis. Fairchild, I learned more than I can list in a paragraph. I learned that God is always there, and if you truly put Him first, He will see you through the most difficult of trials. I also learned that unwavering dedication to teaching your family, in spite of all obstacles, pays off with great blessings in the future, and that one small, gentle lady can pack a powerful punch of influence. Sis. Fairchild taught me that it's important to move on, and to be happy, and to not let bitterness take root. I miss Sis. Fairchild, and I'm thankful for the blessing she was in my life. I'm also thankful for the way she raised her daughter, and my friend, Mary.
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