End of an Era


Just after I was married, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She responded with determination and even though she owned and operated a Bible bookstore with a demanding schedule, she managed as well as she could. 

When my sis-in-law Deanna was a college freshman, and her life was just beginning, she quit in order to return home to help her mom. If she questioned her decision, she never voiced it. She just knew her mom was sick, and needed help. I’d never seen that kind of sacrificial love before—in someone that young. Eventually she returned to college, but quit once again when her mom needed her. I should have known right then how strong and courageous Deanna was—she was a lot like her determined mother. 

Deanna finished college, found love, married, and showed the same kind of sacrificial love as she raised her three children. She has a dynamic blend of humor, sensitivity, faith, and strong resolve. 






When her mom wanted to retire from her Bible bookstore, it made sense for Deanna to keep it going—after all, she’d been helping since she was a teen. As working moms know, you somehow make time for everything. Deanna was fully engaged in running her business while also juggling the sports activities of three super active teens. 


Then this beautiful woman—strong, faithful, and determined, faced cancer. Not once. But twice. Radical surgery. Her strength and courage were on full display.




But this mighty force of a woman was not a quitter. As bookstores faced extinction across the country due to online sales, she faithfully served her customers, and kept her doors open. Eventually, she had the only Bible bookstore within the entire region. 





And then 2020 brought COVID. It infected more than humanity, it created a crisis for small businesses—like hers. She had just purchased all the products to sell in her store for Easter, Mother’s Day, Graduation, and Father’s Day—and then she was forced to close as a non-essential business. Even re-opening by mid-summer could not recoup the losses this time. 



Cancer didn’t win, but COVID did. It is the end of an era. But I know it is not the end of the strength and the courage of its owner, Deanna. She will survive this because she knows Whom to trust. Over the years she’s learned that when something is taken away, God is preparing for something new. 




Deanna proved to me long ago that life is meant to live with your eyes on others—helping as needed. She’s been my inspiration and my friend. She’s my COVID heroine this season. Even though her store will have its final closing in a few days, she will be using her trademark humor, sensitivity, and courage to see how God will use her next. And knowing Deanna, it will be something that helps others because that’s who she’s always been.




This photo was from one of Deanna's early morning walks before heading to the Bible bookstore. 

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