Bobbie
King Iliff

Contributing Writer

Bobbie is the founder of LiveLifeQuenched Ministries. Bobbie writes and teaches transparently about her life struggles to fill her emptiness deep within. She discovered that we truly can live life quenched if we drink from the right well.  In her life, Bobbie worked hard at being a wife, mother, friend, career woman, church worker−but still, down deep, nothing satisfied her deepest longing. She was so thirsty for more. Finally, divorced, faced with an empty nest and no job, she found what she had been looking for all along. Bobbie is passionate to help women learn to LiveLifeQuenched no matter what their life situation.

Bobbie has a degree in Marketing Management, enjoys playing with her Grandchildren, speaking at women’s conferences, reading, gardening and traveling adventures with her husband. She is currently living her life-long dream of writing inspirational fiction, devotionals, articles and short stories that inspire faith and hope. Bobbie and her husband love their LORD, and their family. They enjoy sharing tips from their latest traveling adventures on their blog, Travel Thirsty Toes. She and her husband are members of First Baptist Church of Atlanta where they volunteer as Lay Counselors and Bobbie is a facilitator for Divorce Care.

More from Bobbie King Iliff

More from Bobbie King Iliff

A Legacy to Live By

Mama and Daddy learned how to survive in the aftermath of the Great Depression while growing up in farming families. This was a good thing for our family. The economy took a downturn while Daddy was working hard to start a new business. With four small children to care for, it was challenging but over time Daddy succeeded. During our childhood, we saw perseverance modeled. My parents lacked higher education but made up for it in work ethic fueled by determination to give their children an easier life than they’d known growing up−and a better future.

My parents' sweat and backbreaking work overflowed from our large gardens onto Mama’s kitchen table. Our family gathered for full meals and never wondered where the next meal was coming from. I have no memories of Mama ever complaining.  She made do with what she had. Setting a happy tone in our home, she took us to church, made our clothes, and canned or stocked the big deep freezer with produce from our family’s large gardens. She raised chickens and had cows for milk and butter.

Daddy worked hard starting his business and succeeded by ambition, hard work, and willingness to learn. He also knew his wife believed in him and supported his dreams. He came home every night to his own personal haven, was refreshed and went out to conquer his dreams the next morning.

Mama loved God and tried her best to teach us about Him. Her faith-filled loving actions were the best lessons. She was up early to make breakfast, had a full day and still, this one tiny woman had energy to skip double rope faster than all of us. She made life fun. Instead of whining, she made inconveniences into adventures rather than chores. I remember an ice storm that encased our little part of the world in a crystalline icy shell. Power lines hanging heavy with ice were snapped by falling pine trees. The electricity was out for days. Mama made a cozy fire in the fireplace. We camped out in the living room. Wrapping us in layers of clothing to stay warm she rigged up a cook-fire in the front yard. In my mind, I can see her face now, glowing from the heat of the fire. She was laughing.

“Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.” OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) NASB. 

We saw Mama smile in the face of difficult times because her ultimate hope was in her God.

My parents achieved their dreams for us. As a girl, I carried coal for a wood heater but my little sister, eight years younger, grew up learning to use a microwave. We all finished our education and went on to successfully follow our dreams.

Mama and Daddy left us a rich legacy in daily lessons of faith, hope, love, hard work, and perseverance through the trials of life. As children growing up we didn’t realize these daily character lessons were soaking in to become a part of our futures.  

“ ... in order to offer ourselves a model for you, so that you would follow our example.” b NASB.

Our own children saw us diligently pursue our dreams through the victories, and yes, even the failures of our lives. Today, our parents’ legacy lives on as we watch yet another generation lovingly model faith, hope, love, hard work and perseverance for their children. It was and is a legacy to live by.

Copyright © 2018, Bobbie King Iliff, used with permission.

Garden of Blessings

My family had a large garden for the six of us as I grew up. We ate organic back when it wasn’t the in thing to do. I was over ten years old when I had my first can of processed soup and I thought it was wonderful!  As an adult raising my own family in this busy world I strayed to the processed food track.

But this year, I realized all the health advice I had been ignoring was true. You really are what you eat. In my heart, I had known this but just didn’t have the interest, the time, or the wisdom to eat more healthily. In the rush of life, I had ignored what the experts were saying. 

“Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) b NASB.

The reality of my foolishness hit when my own personal and very painful reality-check arrived­­ with dividends from all the processed and fast food I had eaten. My body was complaining with painful symptoms that would not go away and could not be ignored. Faced with the brevity of life and a host of precancerous cells, I stopped to listen. On my doctor’s recommendation, I am now paying more attention to what I eat. Taking better care of my health motivated me to find the time and energy to grow a vegetable garden.

To my delight, my four-year-old Grandson calls it, “our gahden.”  His excitement has been contagious for our family and made gardening fun. In late winter, during my health scare, the two of us planted trays of seeds and grew them in the warmth of the kitchen. Tiny boy fingers plowed furrows and scattered seeds. His big brown eyes widened in wonder and his face erupted into self-satisfied smiles as the soil rewarded us with rows of little green shoots. Laughing with joy he called me to see. “NeeNee, come see the wittle baby pwants!”

My son and grandson helped me build a terraced garden on the hillside by my home. On Good Friday, our wittle baby pwants, were lovingly removed from our kitchen nursery and transplanted with care to their new hillside home. Our tender seedlings began to grow, climb, and blossom. A symphony of bees buzzed their pollination chorus and before long, tendrils hanging with beans climbed up fences, yellow squash peeked out from under lush foliage, and the tomato plants popped out in little green tomatoes. The garden became a source of delicious and healthy foods for us and we enjoyed sharing with others.  Each time my grandson visited, he could hardly wait to go outside and check on them. It gave me so much joy to hear his sweet voice victoriously calling out, “NeeNee look, scrawberries and bwuberriess too!”

My family found gardening to be a fun adventure that yielded a bumper crop of tender memories. For me personally, I found it to be a deeply spiritual time. I looked forward to carrying my basket to the garden in the cool quietness of the mornings. The sweet spiritual times of reflection and praise nourished my soul as I worked to feed my body. Looking back on this painful time in my life, I can see that I am still reaping the harvests of improved health and of a deeper walk with the Lord. Both are richer to the glory of God.

“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  NASB

Copyright © 2017 Bobbie King Iliff. Used by permission.