When I was twelve,
Just a bud in the flower of womanhood,
I'd not yet chosen purpose or direction
For the years that lay ahead.
The future was a book as yet unwritten
With so far only preface.

I did not know what life would hold,
But as the years unfolded,
I decided to try to live
So that I would please my Lord
And demonstrate the love He had for others,
And the book was now in process.

The chances to advance my plan
Were more than plenteous,
As I became wife and mother,
And teacher of teens, as well.
Mistakes and failures that I made
Required constant edits.

With God to choose the setting,
The plot, and the characters,
I followed along the best I could
The examples Christ had given,
And for each time I didn't reach the goal,
The Lord erased the errors in the book.

And now with many chapters to review,
Where blessing over blessing is revealed,
My chosen mission, to please my Lord
And demonstrate His love,
Will have the perfect ending
In His promises of heaven.

All this I never dreamed
When I was twelve.