Hollylu Jostes

Hollylu Jostes Coon: Wife-Mother-Teacher-Reforming Control Freak-Speaker-Pediatric Specialist-Author-Counselor-Deposed Dictator-Really Slow Runner

Words from the author:

I’m way too selfish to be a “good Christian”. I want to be in charge. Of everything. My life, my kids, my job, my husband. Everything. For years, I trotted off to church willing to work hard for the kingdom. I loved God and wanted to serve Him, even to the point of agreeing to use glitter glue with the threes class. But surrender was another deal. Not real surrender. People who surrender to God end up working in the African dirt. They end up with no control. I didn’t want to go to Africa. Call me shallow. I wanted to go to Walmart.

This is the holding pattern I circled in for 30 years of sturdy Christian living. Until God busted me loose from my “good christian behavior”. Freed from the slammer of my own selfish heart, God smashed through my unrealistic expectations, record keeping, and rule-following and let me run with loving abandon. And now I’m NOT willing to settle for anything less than the FULL life He promised.

My writing, speaking, parenting and playing revolve around living the free life. At home, my husband Mike (my superhero for over 3 decades) rejoices in my shift from “raging dictator” to “slightly less selfish albeit completely inept at laundry” homemaker. My kids, Annalee and Teddy are in the young adult years with a mother solidly behind them- even if she can’t cast from the WiFi or keep up on Instagram. She knows how to pray. And how to make brownies. And for now, that’s enough.

At work, I continue to serve amazing families in my role as a speech-language pathologist. Twenty some odd years later, I better understand how much I don’t know. Each patient is unique. All nervous systems are different. Communication is a puzzle that doesn’t come with prewritten instructions. And making progress takes a lot of hard work – so it better have some fun thrown in. All of my teaching and therapy involves “avoiding extra work” by discovering what the body needs and/or craves. We search for the easy answer first by treating the environment, the nervous system, and then the behavior, in that order.

My favorite thing to do is to sneak away and speak and teach. And encourage! Life doesn’t have to be a “drudge march”. God promises more. His call was never to perfection. His call is to surrender. It’s all about the real. Real people. Real life. Real God. The “free life” involves daily discipline. Unfortunately, “staying real” isn’t easy. But if treated with proper amounts of seriousness and milk-out-your-nose laughing, our time on this planet, cradle to grave, can be filled with adventure – and joy.

Hollylu 7 < 8