A Dangerous Woman?

A Faithful "Dangerous Woman"

My Grandma Thaxton, pictured above, had a big positive influence on my life. She taught me what a strong faithful Christian woman looked and acted like. Fern Thaxton raised three little girls as a single mother during the Great Depression in Boelus, Nebraska. She supported her little family by working fulltime as a schoolteacher. When this photo was taken, Grandma was riding on her favorite horse, Daisy, who carried her on the daily trek to teach her "little folks" in a one-room school house.

Grandma may look meek and mild in this photo, but she truly was what Lynne Hybels would call: "a dangerous woman." Why? In her book, Nice Girls Don't Change the World, Hybels says, "A dangerous woman is one who shows up with everything she is and joins the battle against whatever opposes the redeeming work of God in our lives and in our world. A dangerous woman delves deeply into the truth of who she is, grounds herself daily in the healing and empowering love of God, and radically engages with the needs of the world."

My Grandma Fern lived a full life loving God and caring for children by teaching during the week at a small public school and also every Sunday at her little Methodist Church's Sunday School. Even after she retired from fulltime teaching at age 73, she volunteered as a private tutor for special needs children in her home.

Grandma never left Nebraska in all her 93 years, but she still fit Hybels' description of a "dangerous woman" who: cherishes children, embraces the elderly, and empowers the poor; who prays deeply and teaches wisely." As her adoring granddaughter, when I looked into her eyes and listened to her speak, I could see she was a strong and gentle leader, who sang songs of joy and talked down fear; who never hesitated to let passion and conviction compel her and righteous anger energize her. She was a "dangerous woman" who overflowed with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus. By that power and God's amazing grace, Grandma Thaxton changed the world for those whose lives she touched in Nebraska. And she continues to change the world through us her offspring and for generations to come. Thanks be to God for faithful dangerous women!