My Late Mother's Birthday

Her name is Mary Ann.

Today, October 26, 2004, my mom would have been 74 years old. She went to be with her Lord about 10 years ago. Complications from leukemia.

She was an amazing testimony to God's grace. Full of love for the Lord. Full of love for His people. And always praying for the lost to come to Jesus Christ. She was a selfless person, who readily would sacrifice to help someone in need. Her thousands of pages of journals are a passionate work of art.

This isn't the place to go into great detail, but I'm reminded of two lessons from her life.

1. The power of God to change a heart, even in the midst of a mostly pagan upbringing. He shall save His people from their sins.

2. The importance of a newborn sheep being fed with the truth of Jesus Christ. I say this because although my mom came to Christ in 1950, the year I was born, my dad did not. And so we seldom ever darkened the door of a church. My mom was left to rely on bits and pieces of good teaching here and there, mixed with quasi-Christian bad literature influences. Without a strong biblical foundation, she was tossed by winds of doctrine (as we all can be at times) for 26 years. But she always loved the Lord, as best she knew Him, and she always prayed for me and my sister Jan to be saved. In 1976, I was saved, as was my sister shortly thereafter. When I told my mom, she wept with joy. I began picking her up for church every Sunday. We attended a precious bible-teaching church, and she, and I, and my sister grew like weeds.

Regrets are a waste of time, but I sometimes think, "If only she had been grounded in a good knowledge of biblical truth and life in Christ from the beginning . . ."

Yet God "restored the years the locusts had eaten", and there is no Christian lady I admired more than my new mom. If you knew her, you would agree, and you would glorify the Lord for what He did.