Vickie McDonough & Her Mom’s Cinderella Life
My guest today is Author Vickie McDonough who shares very frankly about her “Cinderella” mother and how God changed a heart. I think there’s more than one Cinderella in this story. Vickie has also offered a copy of her latest book Finally a Bride. Leave a comment with your email using (at) and (dot) to be entered in the drawing. Here’s Vickie:
“There was a time when I couldn’t stand to be around my mother. In fact, I all but quit going over to visit. My mom has always had myriad problems. Her mother was accidentally killed when Mom was only two years old, then my granddad remarried shortly after that, and he married a woman who hated kids—until she had one of her own. Mom literally grew up a Cinderella life, with a step-brother who was highly favored, while she was made to work and received little love and attention. It’s no wonder she had problems.
My dad, on the other hand, was the youngest of ten kids and had parents who lived to be in their nineties. He lovingly cared for them much of his life. He was the nurturer in our family, and the one I was closest to.
When Dad died suddenly six years ago, I didn’t know what I was going to do with Mom. She believed she had environmental allergies—among a host of other illnesses—and hadn’t left her home in 20 years. I’m not kidding. Dad had done everything for her—and now everything fell on me. And I wasn’t happy about it. And I let God know that.
But, I did what I had to do. I couldn’t abandon my mom, no matter how I felt. At first, I went over daily to do things she couldn’t do for herself, then we started bringing her over for Sunday dinner and for the afternoon. Long story short, God gradually did a big work in my heart. Mom and I pretty close now. Thanks to getting her meds stabilized, she’s much easier to be around. We still argue at times, but God has healed things between us.
The biggest work was done in my heart. I’ve never been known as a compassionate person, so taking care of a senior citizen has been an adjustment. I now if God had taken Mom first, I’d have suffered much guilt over how I treated her, but in His mercy, He gave us this time to heal. And you might like to know, lately I’ve gotten mom to go eat in a restaurant and go in a store with me. I just wish my dad could see her now. He would be so proud.”
Yes, Vickie, your dad would be proud and I think that your heavenly Father is proud of you too. “Love one another as I have loved you” isn’t about “feeling” love but “doing” love. In loving your mother with your actions, you healed. So both you and your mother had a Cinderella Happily Ever After Ending.
Finally a Bride, her book that releases April 1st, is the third book in her Texas Boardinghouse Brides series and is the book she’s offering to giveaway. So leave a comment. Do you have a story where loving actions prompted love?
For more info about Vickie and her books, drop by www.vickiemcdonough.com
