My Mother

Thinking of my Mother tonight…
An Amish lady, she brought 14 children into this world, and loved each of them.
She died of diabetes in 2004.
She was patient, kind, and she put up with a lot.
She obeyed everything she could in the Amish church we were in.
I remember her asking my dad one time about a scripture she found in Colossians 2:20, where Paul warns us about obeying man made rules, while pretending to be a Christian. Dad did not give her a satisfactory answer, and it always bothered me. Mom didn’t make a fuss out of it. Looking back, I think she had more faith in Jesus than we knew at the time. Many times, while she was taking a break from her unending house work, she would sit in a chair and prop her right leg up on another chair (her right leg was affected from the diabetes), and read the bible, or an Amish newspaper.
I got married in 1996, and didn’t spend as much time in Dad’s house after that. After Mom died, I became very curious as to what Mom would tell us if she could talk to us. The thought burned in my mind, and I wanted an answer.
So I asked God directly. I said, “God, I am not expecting my mother to come and talk to me in person, but please tell me what she would tell me if she had the chance.”
Then, as plain as day, yet without audible sound, I heard the message as if from Mom: “God is always right. What he has written is true, even when people don’t agree with it.”
That message was a turning point in my life. I started believing everything I read in the bible, and soon I was no longer the same man. My walk with God has brought me through things I never imagined. It has freed me from things I had no hope of being freed from. I learned that Jesus meant every word he said. There came a day when I was ready to let go of my old life and turn it all over to God. I saw Jesus, hanging on the cross, suffering more pain than I had ever imagined from hearing or reading about the crucifixion. He looked straight into my eyes from his uncomfortable position on the cross, and the look he gave me was so pure love that it melted my heart.
I saw it so plainly: He was dying for MY sins. He chose to die because he loves ME. As far as I was concerned, there was no other person in the whole world that he died for. All of his focus was on ME, and in giving ME the opportunity to accept his free grace. All my sins were PAID FOR! I was FREE! The unforgiveness toward others, that I had felt in my heart up until that day, was gone. In its place was a love like I hadn’t felt before. A feeling of pity for those I hadn’t forgiven before then.
Today, I think of my Mother again…
I ponder as I wonder what she would say if she were to appear in person and converse with me…
And as I think back to her life, and me growing up under her care, I can not help but think that she prayed for me. I never heard her praying for me. But I believe she did.
I love her. I have always loved her. But I didn’t know it as well as I do now.
She has a special place in my heart… But… JESUS is my Hero!
So, here we sing with the children God has blessed us with: