I want to highlight an international figure that is impacting her generation. I have known her well all her life. From a young girl I said, “She would rock nations,”—and she is. The joy of this incredible young woman is that she is our youngest daughter, Lydia Ellison McWilliams.

Watching Lydia tackle life has been fun, dramatic and life changing. She has overcome obstacles from heart defects to heart issues. Some challenges like: dyslexia, child of a blind mother, youngest daughter, and finding her place and way have made her a fighter. Her childhood nightly dreams have been of rescuing someone and fighting for the innocent. Being a strong leader and personality has at times left her misunderstood and left to face lonely seasons. Her big laugh and intensity are applauded, yet always with all that life brings her, she has loved deeply and shown mercy. It has not been an option to quit in her game book and life is her adventure.

Lydia was a child that should have never been, according to the doctor’s prognosis and advice. She was the only high-risk baby I delivered that I was able to hold in my arms after birth. When I sang to her, “You are my sunshine,” shortly after she was taken from my womb, she pulled her head back to look at me, as if checking me over to see if I was really her mother. She continues to pull her head back as she examines authenticity of people, motives, leadership and life.

From a little girl she has demonstrated courage and strength. She used to dig up worms and throw them at her baby brother to see how high of a pitch he could scream. However, when it came time to save her drowning brother, when she was only four, she used great wisdom and stretched across the concrete to reach for him, when no adults were around to help. Unfortunately, her orneriness and joking has kept this fact in front of that same brother, as he grew, whenever she wanted him to conveniently serve her. “Remember Connor when I saved your life?” Then she would laugh and make her request for his help. Her pranks and random stories.

The mix of outside and inward beauty radiates a heart of loving others, beyond her comfort zone. Bringing the unwanted to our home and loving the rejected, while befriending the challenged has been her mode of operation. All has prepared her for the season of life she now experiences as she serves on a seven-month mission effort. She left on Labor Day of 2012 for Hurlach, Germany for training. On December 10 she and a team of seven missionaries entered Liberia, Africa to serve for ten weeks. The conditions are not for the weak at heart, or the fearful.

No running water; little food; lizards from the well-drawn water; bats flying at your head and mosquitoes galore; and questionable drinking water, is only a few of the challenges in this third world nation. Living off a dirt road, with scorching heat and endless noise, she has found purpose in loving the forgotten and unlovable. Teaching at the school for the deaf and loving abandoned children is only a glimpse of a day on African soil. When most young ladies of 18 years of age are concerned about what sorority to join, or who to date next, Lydia has chosen to pledge her hands and feet to serving mankind and pursue a love that few know.

I am privileged to know such a woman of courage and faith. My life will forever be impacted by one who is called Ellison when overseas, and our Lydia when she gets back home in the spring.

God keep you safe till we hug again.

When you choose to look past the horizon… the sky is the limit!