My Sister Carol

I have been reading a book recently about my sister Carol's life. She passed away a number of years ago in a car accident. I was very touched by the way she lived her life in quiet, Christ-like ways. She was a mother of 9 children, and the family struggled quite a bit financially. She had to work outside the home part of the time, and she was always very tired with everything she had to do to care for her large family. 5 of her children wanted to play soccer and there was no money to pay for their registration. So she made a deal with the person in charge that they could all play in exchange for her setting up all the nets, flags, etc. for each of the games. This she did, as well as drop off her kids at four different locations, and pick them all up and take everything down.

Well, there was a neighbor boy who used to come to visit, named Albert. He didn't come from a very good home, and he was treated unkindly there. He used to come and visit at Carol's home, and she always treated him kindly, and fed him and showed him love. He eventually got into drugs, and started stealing from them to support his habit. Over time, he stole hundreds of dollars in cash from her purse, and thousands of dollars in things in the house. One day he was caught by Carol's son in law, and he was arrested. Carol was glad about this, because she thought that now he could get the help he needed. He was sent to jail(not prison, like he normally would have been), and was sent to rehab, all because Carol went down and plead his case. Even though he had abused her kindness, she forgave him and tried to help him.

Sometime later, after she died, Carol's husband and new wife saw Albert in Denneys. He hadn't heard about what had happened to Carol. When he heard of her passing, this 6 foot 2 inch tough guy broke down in tears. He said he wished he had been able to thank her for all she did for him. He had since gotten out of rehab and had turned his life around and had a good job.

Carol lived her life always thinking of others and serving others. She has been a beautiful example to me of Christ-like love.