2005 Debbie Watson

What a sweet woman!  She is a widow who smiles and does not frown!  She is blessed and a blessing!  She is an honor to her Heavenly Father.

She will probably chastise me for writing most of this but she has impacted me far more than she realizes.  Debbie walks with two metal, hand-held crutches.  She walks slow and sometimes when you are not looking, she walks with a very serious, intent look.  If she sees you though, you will see only a smile.  She has gone to the hospital for test after test as her condition has changed and modified throughout her life.  She never demands a call.  She never is found needy.  She is awesome.

I asked her once, "Debbie can I ask you a personal question?"
"Yes."
"Does it hurt to walk?  It just looks like it hurts.  I am sorry, I don't..."
"No, Doug.  Don't worry about asking.  It doesn't hurt at all."

I met Debbie in 1996 when I was planning an evangelism crusade for the Noonday Baptist Association.  Her husband fell ill and could not go.  Since that time, he went to be with Our Lord.  Debbie has bounced around from place to place and after a couple of years of travel - she found her God-given home with the people at Northwest.  We are blessed because she is a gift from God.

I have learned from Debbie that she endures and that I can.  2004 and 2005 have been challenging years for me overcoming debilitating pain from a broken back and then encountering a total life change through finding out that I have a gentic diabetic condition.   Debbie has prayed and encouraged me every day that she has been around.  No it isn't sappy like - when you see someone with more physical challenges than you, then you...

Such thinking would only dishonor Debbie and her God.  She neither needs or wants pitty.  Just try to get her car for her and when she is done wrestling you to the ground and beating you with her canes, then you will know - she is tough.  She will let you get her car if it is a day she cannot but she understands something about survival after all these years.  If you give in, it is over.  Do what you can while you can because you can.  Don't take sympathy and don't desire to be the center of attention.

Debbie works every day that she is able.  Her life does not center around the difficulty of her illnesses nor the loss of her husband.  Her life centers around Christ and His people.  She is inspiring and even in her weakest moments, a true light!  Physical and emotional endurance such as Debbie's was found in Christ and results in a non-needy person who gives far more than she will ever take.  It seems easier some days when you have an example of a finished, functioning product.  Perhaps her motto should be "Devotion then motion".