Alma Hallworth

ALMA HALLWORTH
I am married to my best friend, Don Hallworth and this April  we will be celebrating our 15^th anniversary!  Marriage, I have learned, is a momentary gift in this life that merely shadows the True Reality when we will be with Christ forever and so I am gratefully enjoying God’s gift. 

We have 6 children, four of whom are now adults.  Our eldest daughter, Julianna is married to our son in law, Tyson Morlet, our son, Anthony Hallworth is married to our daughter in law, Jessica and our daughter, Julissa is married to our son in law, Landen Goodnight.   Landen and Julissa are expecting and will be introducing little baby Ezekial Brey Goodnight into our family in March 2012!  Our daughter Ashley lives with her mother and is attending college in San Marcos.  Danielle, 11 and Andrew, 8 are our little cabooses and we are blessed to have them in our lives!

My favorite part of being a mother to teenage daughter’s was equipping them to be independent of this culture we live in and dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ.  Seeing them flourish and becoming virtuous young ladies, desiring to walk in the ways of the Lord was my deepest joy and still is!

My worst part of being a mother to teenage daughter’s? Well,  on two separate occasions I was blessed to have these life changing conversations with two sweet mom’s who also had daughter’s the same age as mine.  One shared how she wanted to enjoy the teen years by making her teenage daughter’s her friends.  Developing a friendship with them that would aid in overcoming and easing much heartache down the road of life by honoring, loving and respecting one another.  The other mom shared how she was not going to fall for this cultures excuse of “the teenage’ years!  She was determined to not stereotype her daughter’s in that way, but again by cultivating an honoring, loving and respectful relationship with each one of them and pointing them to Jesus in their relationship was her intentional goal as a parent.  And so I took those two  conversations and by God’s grace intentionally went to work at implementing them.  The worst part of parenting was seeing my daughter’s hurting.  

Pain is a tool that God uses in our lives to bring about His will, but it is difficult to watch a loved one suffering.  Another is when I would fail them.  But God is so gracious to restore relationships when we seek Him and put Him  first.  I would have to say that these two are the worst part of parenting my daughter’s.  Through those difficult times, they were able to experience God’s love and no matter what might have come their way,  Jesus is their Hope!

 Who is God in my life?  He is my life!  Jesus is my Savior, and my King!  He is my hope, my all, my everything!  I asked Jesus to come live in my heart when I was 8 years old.  My desire in this life is to love Him, know Him more and more each day and to share His love and make Him known to others.

If I can be a comfort and encouragement in the Lord to a mom who has lost connection with her daughter, a mom who finds herself going with this culture and not knowing how to say “no” to society’s reckless tug, or to a mother who has a wonderful relationship with her daughter, but is not sure of how to navigate through the peer pressure pull on her daughter’s life, that is my joy and desire!                                                                             

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”                                  II Corinthians 1:3-4