From Robin Pack, Children’s Legacy Library, Rogersville, TN.
August 1, 2018. For every person, there are dates that are significant. Dates of birth, death, anniversaries, and other occasions signify times of remembrance. August 1, 2018 is a date that I will never forget. On that date, God showed His love and faithfulness through His people…friends and total strangers…in saving a library.
For many, many years my family owned a pharmacy in our small town. It was a historic place with a lunch counter and lots of personality. My husband started working there in high school then came back from pharmacy school to buy it a few years after graduation. During many of those years, our lives were full with running the pharmacy, farming, homeschooling, operating the library. But as time went on, changes in health care were utterly devastating to the store and our family. We lived off of our savings until it was gone and were on the verge of losing everything we owned.
On August 1, 2018, I was at the kitchen table counting change, begging God that we would have enough to pay our electric bill. I looked at my husband as he was leaving for work and said, “I have to sell the books…” With tears in his eyes, he nodded his head. My initial plan was to sell 1000 of the less desirable titles. As I was pulling those, the thought of God calling to Abraham and saying, "Abraham, you must sacrifice your son, your only son Isaac," and I thought..."This is not enough. I have to sell my best." So, in tears, I started pulling hundreds of books beginning with my most precious and rare, with the intention of selling at least half the library.
When I came to the history section and trying to wrap my brain around getting rid of all those beloved series...Landmarks, Signatures, We Were There's, Piper, North Star, Garrard, Childhood of Famous Americans, Immortals...I knew I needed help...and prayer. I hurriedly wrote a message to the trusted librarians in our yahoo group and briefly explained my situation without giving too much detail. I just asked them to help me think through what I was having to do.
At that point, it was all out of my hands. God took over by using His people to enact a plan to rescue this library (and our farm) from ruin. Without my knowledge a dear librarian on the other side of the country whom I've only met through the library email group set up a Go Fund Me page to "Save the Library!" Librarians across the nation rallied together to raise support. Local friends worked tirelessly on a campaign including offering a benefit concert featuring an international award-winning string quartet (who happen to be some of our dearest friends on earth.)
That was 7 years ago though it seems like yesterday. So much has happened since then. The pharmacy closed its doors on June 25, 2019. My husband died of a massive heart attack January 2, 2020, I believe from the stress. My sons and I were not able to keep the farm going so had to let it go.
But the library is still here.
I don’t know what God is accomplishing through my library and others like it. But I pray I am faithful to the calling of stewarding these books and ministering to the families He brings through my doors. And that He gets all the glory.