Women's History Month

Vonette Bright

1926-2015

A dry, merciless, desert heat defined the day. A mysterious wind accentuated the intensity of the temperature. As I walked the pebble path, the weather and my nervousness walked with me.

My classes were over for the day, and I headed toward a small bungalow on the property of Arrowhead Springs. The appointed afternoon finally arrived for my visit with Vonette, the wife of Bill Bright.

Currently, at the headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ® (as Cru® was known then) in Southern California, I immersed myself in training to join this movement. Yet, too often my heart drifted across the country back to Mississippi; deeply in love, I sorely missed the one I loved. He worked as a summer youth director at a small church in a quiet Southern town, and our lives stood worlds apart.

As I walked, I wondered, “What would Mrs. Bright be like?” I had heard her speak, but that was at a distance when she stood behind a podium. What would it be like to be with her, one-on-one, in her home?

With embarrassment, I recall requesting a private appointment with a woman I had never met, an extremely busy woman with endless demands on her schedule. But I was driven by love. As the wife of a great spiritual leader, I wanted her answer for the largest question on my heart.

For this occasion, I carefully selected a short-sleeved cotton dress with a round Peter Pan-style collar. I can still picture the black, orange, white, and green tiny floral print. The wide, elastic waist made it comfortable. (Candidly speaking, that dress was too short—much too short. Blame it on the 1970s. Good thing this was California).

Upon reaching the top of the path, the red tile roof of their bungalow home came into view. I navigated my way downward, crossed the courtyard, and rang the doorbell. While I waited, a lizard scurried past. At least one detail felt familiar to Mississippi.

A smiling Mrs. Bright welcomed me and invited me to take a seat in her lovely living room. I moved toward an aqua velvet chair while she returned to her kitchen to retrieve two glasses of a cold beverage. In this moment alone, I admired the numerous gifts on display from around the world, and desperately attempted to quell my nervousness.

Momentarily, Mrs. Bright rejoined me in the matching pair of chairs; I could tell this meeting was important to my hostess. Concurrently, I sensed the need to get to the point, so I swallowed a gulp and launched.

““I came, Vonette, to ask you a question about a young man in my life. We love each other, and I need your input. So, my question is this: What can I do to best prepare myself for my relationship with him?” ”

“I came, Vonette, to ask you a question about a young man in my life. We love each other, and I need your input. So, my question is this: What can I do to best prepare myself for my relationship with him?”

Gripped with love, I possessed no better sense than to bring this dreamy question to this leading woman in the evangelical world, this question of my aching, longing, love-smitten heart.

Without blinking she asked, “Honey, are you engaged?,” as if engagement would make a difference in her answer.

Embarrassed, I sheepishly responded, “Noooo. No, we are not engaged.” Pause. “But there is a real possibility for a future together.” (I surely didn’t tell Larry of my answer to her!)

Sitting in her pale, pastel-colored living room, she answered, and there was nothing pale about her advice.

““Honey, you just get to know Jesus. That is the best thing you can do in your relationship with this young man.” ”

— Vonette Bright

“Honey, you just get to know Jesus. That is the best thing you can do in your relationship with this young man.”

Looking back on that hot day at Arrowhead Springs in 1972, I am so glad Vonette knew—not what I wanted—but what I needed. Her Spirit-anointed answer seemed way too simple and far too short.

I secretly longed for romantic suggestions. I came to her hoping for a curriculum, a list of books to read, a guaranteed formula for becoming the woman I wanted to be. I anticipated far more than I received, at least that is what it seemed.

“Honey, you just get to know Jesus.”

Even now, I marvel at the lasting impact of her words, for what was true then is still 1,000% true today. The one best thing I can do for my relationship with Larry remains to get to know and keep getting to know Jesus.

Imagine: One hot afternoon. One young woman. One short sentence. One lifetime lesson. Thank you, Vonette. Your words have born lasting fruit. I commit to continue sharing your wisdom with other young naive women, who like me, yearn to live life to the fullest along- side dynamic leaders as we partner to help fulfill the Great Commission.

A contemporary model of Proverbs 31, Vonette, along with her husband, Bill Bright, cofounded Cru®. She authored or co-authored more than twenty books and numerous Bible studies and devotionals. The founder of The Great Commission Prayer Crusade, Vonette enjoyed being a mother and a grandmother.

I always appreciated her forthright ability to articulate her commitment to her leader-husband.

Once, when I asked her, “What does it mean to you, Vonette, to be the wife of a leader?,” she responded by saying, “Honey, come here. Let’s sit down.”

We pulled away from the center of the party and made our way to a couch in the corner where she began to talk. Her thoughts flowed as one who spoke from the voice of experience and the voice of conviction. I felt privileged to hear this woman’s answer.

““Get ready to share him with other people, lots of other people. You must be ready to do this.””

— Vonette Bright

“Get ready to share him with other people, lots of other people. You must be ready to do this. This requires you to think and have a plan and be aware of his situation. You will find yourself getting jealous, but don’t be jealous. Be as involved as you possibly can in his world. Other women will be in his world. But you be the first to do what he needs done, if at all possible. Be actively involved with him.

““My first calling is to be the wife of Bill Bright. ”

— Vonette Bright

“My first calling is to be the wife of Bill Bright. I would say no to anything that he did not want me to do. Go where he goes, be in his world. Pursue what he is involved in,” she said. “I chose to have no other field for myself. I would ask myself, what does he need? And then I would seek to meet that need.”

When asked, “What was your job description on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ?” she responded with conviction, “To be the wife of Bill Bright. I just looked for what needed to be done, and I tried to do it.”

Living with Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Who has God used as a mentor in your life?

What wisdom from that person still molds your life today?

Content lifted from the pages of The Leader’s Wife: Living With Eternal Intentionality®

For more on Vonette Bright

Women’s History Month

Abigail Adams

1744-1818

“Abigail Adams holds the distinction of being the first Second Lady and the second First Lady of the newly birthed United States of America.” The scholarly work, John Adams by David McCullough, brings this extraordinary woman and her extraordinary marriage to life. The following glimpse into Abigail’s life is gleaned from his work.

Born into the family of a minister, Abigail Smith had two sisters and one brother. Considered too frail for school, she was taught at home by her mother. With Reverend Smith’s library of several hundred books at her fingertips, Abigail became an avid reader and lover of poetry. Intelligence and wit shone in her, and she was consistently cheerful. Her thirst for knowledge prepared her to live alongside a man who was a lawyer, a member of the Continental Congress, an appointee to the Courts of France and England, Vice President, and then President of the United States of America.

“Miss Adorable,” as he referred to her in private correspondence, and John Adams were married by her father on October 25, 1764. Her mother objected to the marriage, but the determination of both John and Abigail and their attraction to each other—like steel to a magnet, John said—were more than enough to carry the day.

His marriage to Abigail was the most important decision of John Adam’s life. She was in all respects his equal, and the part she was to play would be greater than he could possibly have imagined. Her determination that he play his part in history was quite as strong as his. They were of one and the same spirit. [She urged,] “You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spectator . . . We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.”

“She was the ballast he had wanted, the vital center of a new and better life. To no one was he more devoted. She was his “Dearest Friend.””

— David McCullough

Extremely long separations of months, even years, characterized their fifty-four years of marriage. Written correspondences sustained their relationship through these prolonged absences, and today are treasured artifacts. From them, we learn how heavily John Adams relied on his wife. She was the ballast he had wanted, the vital center of a new and better life. To no one was he more devoted. She was his “Dearest Friend,” as he addressed her in letters—his “best, dearest, worthiest, wisest friend in the world”—while to her, he was “the tenderest of husbands,” his affections “unabated,” her “good man.”

After her death due to typhoid, the obituary notice in Boston’s Columbian Centinel emphasized her importance to her husband’s career in public service and thus to the nation.

That he had been blessed in a partnership with one of the most exceptional women of her time, Adams never doubted. Her letters, he was sure, would be read for generations to come. He wrote to his granddaughter, Caroline, “Never ‘by word or look’ had she [Abigail] discouraged him from ‘running all hazards’ for their country’s liberties. Willingly, bravely, she had shared with him ‘in all the dangerous consequences we had to hazard.’”

For years after her death, whenever complimented about his son John Quincy and his role in national life and the part he had played as gatherer, Adams is credited as saying with emphasis, “My son had a mother!”

Reference source, David McCullough. John Adams. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Print. (Content quoted and paraphrased).

Living with Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

How did her upbringing seem to equip Abigail Adams for the part she would play in history?

In what manner has God used your upbringing to prepare you for His current plan for your life?

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out” (Romans 11: 33).

3 Life Lessons Learned in the Barn

On this blistering hot July day, sweat poured down my back as I left the comfort of air-conditioning and lemonade and trudged forward to complete the duty assigned to me. The gravel driveway out the back door of our home, leading across the highway and into the barn, felt longer with each plodding step.

While my friends laughed and frolicked in the nearby swimming pool, I had to work. There would be other days for the pool, but not today. A truckload of whole oats had been delivered to the feed room of our barn, and the oats had to be ground into a feed mixture suitable for our livestock. The process would take all afternoon.

Using a shovel, I loaded the grinding machine with a mound of oats. Next, I confirmed that no foreign objects (like nails) contaminated the mix. Then, I stood guard and monitored the grain as it went through the funnel of the grinding gears and fell onto the concrete floor beneath.

Taking up the shovel again, I transferred the ground-up grain into the nearby corner and then turned to repeat the dirty, monotonous routine. All afternoon, all afternoon long. The smothering atmosphere of the workroom, the sting of the oat fuzz, and the realization that I was the only one responsible for this chore made me feel crummy. But I persevered, one shovel load at a time.

At long last, the sun went down, and my job ended. Done! All the oats stood milled and formed a mound reaching nearly to the ceiling. Thank goodness. A cold drink, a hot bath, and a soft bed awaited me.

In the agrarian environment where I grew up, work was a necessity—for everyone. No one got a hall pass. Did I like the barn? No. Did I enjoy being isolated in the feed room when my friends were together swimming? No. But what I did not know then, I realize now … the barn served as a training ground, and for that, I am deeply grateful.

3 Life Lessons Learned in the Barn

• The value of hard work when there is no audience

• The significance of stick-with-it discipline needed to complete a task

• The satisfaction of pausing to savor a job well done

Hard work, discipline, and satisfaction—whether in a barn or a boardroom, at a desk or in a ditch, at a conference table or in a community center—weave the fabric for inner fortitude. The barn was hard and the nasty experience unpleasant, but the lessons learned there have stood the test of time, and are worth their weight in gold. I am convinced, God is in the barns of our lives.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also set eternity in their hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men . . .” (Colossians 3:23).

Do you have a barn in your life, a place of hard work without an audience, where only you and God know the grueling hours of work you put in?

Where is there hardcore discipline needed to pick up the shovel and complete a task facing you?

Perhaps you are a caregiver with no end in sight, the mother of a newborn needing a nap, a student preparing a paper, or a pastor cloistered away in your study. Maybe you are standing at a stove stirring a pot of soup or sitting at a desk grading papers. When did you last pause to savor the realization of a job well done?

What takeaway motivates you to stay in the barn until the job is done?