LEGACY OF LOVE: CARE

Her name is Janet Martin...and yes, she is giving me a foot massage. ..

Yesterday, I gave you four words from Dan Cooper's Sunday sermon. He challenged us to let the Spirit of GOD use us to give GOD'S LOVE to the afflicted, brokenhearted, captives, and prisoners as is described in Isaiah 61 and in Christ's fulfillment of that in Luke. The four words? CARE, DARE, SHARE, and PRAYER. The next four days, I plan to write about how I see these four words connecting with the LEGACY OF LOVE that you and I want to leave. Today I am grateful that GOD put a living breathing example of the word CARE in my life. Her name is Janet Martin.

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The picture above was taken on December 2, 1994. How do I know? December 1 is Janet's birthday...December 3 is mine. I first met Janet in the summer of 1990 when my husband, Steve, began preaching at the church in Texas where she and her family worshipped. This was now the 5th year for the birthday girls to do something together, but this year it would be different. I had been bleeding internally, blacking out, and feeling very weak. We both taught at the same elementary school and I wasn't going to be able to make it until Christmas break. So, I was going to have a complete hysterectomy the next morning - my birthday.

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If you have been around me much at all, you have heard me tell this story:

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I had spent the week before doing the best that I could with Christmas shopping, making lists for Steve and the kids, cleaning what I could...basically acting like the world would not go on unless I had everything prepared for the days that I was going to be out of commission (See the pencil behind my ear?!?!). The night before my surgery, the family had sat down to my "last supper". The phone rang. It was Janet. She was coming over. I begged her not to. Told her I had too much to do. She said all the more reason to come...she would be there soon.

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After we finished the meal, as pictured here, she told my family that she had something to say...something to do...please watch and listen... Janet had arrived with a tub full of lotions, oils, towels in hand...(I am so thankful that Steve captured these moments on camera).

Janet had me take off my shoes. She washed my feet. She massaged my feet with oils and lotions. All the while, she talked. Something like this...

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"I love your mom. She is a very special friend to me. I am doing this to her feet for many reasons...including that it just makes her feel good and will help her to relax. Over the next couple weeks you are already planning to pitch in and help in more ways than you already do...yet here is one more thing that I would like for you to do. When she comes home from the hospital, I want each of you to take turns doing what I am doing for your mom. It will be a way for you to show her you CARE...show her you LOVE her..."

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What a wonderful 14 year gift that keeps on giving! Thank you, my friend! You passed on a LEGACY OF LOVE through the way you CARE.

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I talked to Janet a long time on the phone last night as we celebrated her birthday. I wish you knew her...I am smiling as I write this.

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Janet is:

• like Christ in her kindness, gentleness, patience, peace, compassion, grace, loving the unloveable, going the extra mile, seeing the unseen, thinking outside the box, caring...


• giver to the poor, needy, hungry, downtrodden, brokenhearted...


• wife of Chip, mother of Tanya and Caleb, grandmother of Summer


• educational consultant


• reading specialist


• special education teacher


• author/illustrator of several well known books / programs to help children with reading


• founder/creator of Ten Thousand Angels


• a daughter of the KING!

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Janet is passionate about helping those who can't help themselves. It is very apparent in how she lives her life. One of the series of books that Janet has written is called SIGHT WORDS THAT STICK for children who just can't remember all those "tricky" words. They learn each word through a story that can be "drawn out". Here on the front cover of her first book of the series is ME! "Help" is the perfect word to use me, Patti, as the star in. Often, Patti needed help. Often, Patti's friend Janet cared enough to help!

This series of books and LETTERVILLE can be found at http://www.carboreading.com/. Janet told me last night that she has a new invention that she has the copyright/patent on and is working with a company to perfect it for help with reading.

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This New Jersey woman is very thankful to one Abilene, Texas woman for modeling that there are many ways to CARE and leave a LEGACY OF LOVE. Thank you, Janet!