A Dominate Influence

My mother imbued me as a child with a love and appreciation for the scriptures - which became the foundation of my identity, values, and worldview. She would read to me from a Bible story book that indelibly imprinted me. 

David, Daniel, & Gideon became my heroes and role models. I would dress up and pretend to be David while herding our sheep. I had a slingshot and contemplated how the Lord instructed Gideon to arm only 300 men with a pitcher, lamp, trump, and sword to defeat tens of thousands of invading Midianites. All of this would have a profound and dominate influence on me. 

I distinctly remember working at Liberty Elementary School on the morning of April 19, 1990, and was surprised when Kristie walked in. I believe it was the only time she ever came to my place of work while in Albany, other than the District Office. She told me we needed to talk, so we went to the stage where we could be alone. She then told me that my mother had passed away suddenly that morning in the Boise Temple and then she held me while I cried. 

The feeling of despair from losing the primary source of my worth and self-esteem was soon replaced with a sense of reassurance that I was going to be okay because Lucile McAllister Goates had gotten enough love inside of me that I would be able to go on and handle the vicissitudes of life without her earthly presence and influence.

I have come to know and feel that God loves me, but prior to that and deeper within me is the feeling that my mother loved me and felt I was valuable and created for a purpose. My father has been an incredible role model for me, but it is my mother's love that has kept me going through the really difficult times when I doubted myself. Lucile McAllister Goates is a faithful, devoted mother like those in the scriptures, and a dominate influence in my life.