Good morning…
Today I will have lunch with someone I have loved for nearly ten years, a someone I have never laid my own eyes upon. I have admired this person from afar for her courage, for her dedication to God, for her commitment to holistic health and genuine authenticity. I have chewed on her words, and the words written about her, year after year, class after class, with seeking woman after seeking woman. Today I will sit across the table and soak up in the person the voice, the presence, and wisdom of Betty Skinner, who turns ninety years old next month.
The Hidden Life: Revelations from a Holy Journey touched me deeply the first time I read it and its impact has grown in my life ever since. This book is one of my all time favorites, and it is written by Kitty Crenshaw, a woman in her sixties who was mentored in her teens by Betty Skinner as her Young Life leader, and Cathy Snapp, a woman in her fifties, who met Kitty and then Betty when she was on staff with Young Life years later. Cathy Snapp sat in my living room and soulfully taught my classes one day last semester, and today I will meet Kitty for the first time in her Jacksonville, Florida home. Kitty and I will drive to pick up Betty and take her out to my lunch to remember. I will be sliced up and served a little piece of heaven.
These are the words living on the back cover of The Hidden Life. “Betty Skinner, a dedicated Christian wife and mother, was hospitalized for clinical depression in the 1960’s, before modern therapies were available. As a result, Betty had to find her way to wholeness through determination and utter dependence on God. It was a frustrating and lonely journey, but over time, God redeemed her dark, broken places and crafted a life that shines as a beacon of hope.”
“Kitty Crenshaw and Catherine Snapp beautifully capture Betty’s amazing life story. Now, in the twilight of her years, Betty courageously offers her life story to you in total vulnerability. She walks beside you, encouraging you to follow a balanced path to physical, mental, and spiritual wellness. As Betty says, ‘It is well to remember that Jesus was not primarily a teacher of information or morals. He was a teacher of a way that leads to internal transformation and a new heart brought about by a surrendered life deeply centered on God.”
Many of the words living like God’s yeast in my heart were put there by Betty Skinner, with whom I will break holy bread today, remembering Jesus transforming power.
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough,” Matthew 13:33 (NIV),
Sue
