My grandpa discovered hunting when our family moved from Florida to Kansas. He bought a muzzleloader rifle among other guns and for a few years went deer hunting with it. Then the novelty wore off, but he always loved guns.

I was his oldest granddaughter and called him “Pal.” I liked to shoot his guns and impress him. He teasingly called me Annie Oakley because I could shoot pretty well.

So when I was 14, Dad took my brother Dave and I to hunter safety class and then whitetail hunting.

Deer have overrun parts of Kansas, and we hunted with a friend on some ranch land with deer everywhere. I got an 11-point buck that day. It was the first and last time I went deer hunting. My cousins used to ask why I never went again and I told them I would when they beat my rack.

Pheasant hunting was more up my line. You get to move around and talk while you do it. So…obviously. I used a nice single shot 20-gauge shotgun that was lightweight and easy to shoot.

Friends of ours from the city would come and hunt on our land. Mom always said I went with them because I liked the attention. No doubt she was partly right. Guys think a girl with a gun is hot, okay? I did actually enjoy the hunting too though.

Around one of those hunts, I was feeling lonely and just wishing for a boyfriend. I always seemed to maintain great friendships with guys but none of them ever asked me out. One night I came late in and was sharing my bedroom with an aunt, so I was reading my bible by flashlight.

Psalm 40:17 jumped off the page into my heart:

I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinks upon me.

I wasn’t alone. I would never be alone. God thought about me, even if no guy ever did. It was another moment of freedom. That verse hung on my wall for years afterward. The almighty God of the universe takes time to think about me as his child! I don’t need the approval of anyone else.

Have you soaked in that truth lately?

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