Mom

    

                       Mom

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and

you will be saved, you and your household.”

—Acts 16:31

Let me tell you a little bit about my mom. When I was a little child, my mom was very quiet and shy. Then the time came that we could afford the wonderful invention of the telephone, and she started to talk to friends. By the time I was in high school, she was talking to people every day. She went from being a shy person who was afraid to stand up for herself and her family to a person who would not waver in her convictions.

 

While living in Terraville, South Dakota, she started a weekly Children’s Bible Hour for the children in the community. She also directed two Christian plays in the Terraville School gymnasium. While living in Nevada Gulch, she enjoyed her animals and raised goats for milk and meat. She was often heard talking to her milk customers about the Lord.
 

Mom took a firm stand for what she believed was right and wrong. Those unwavering convictions made me wonder if she was placing her salvation in her own good works. I knew that Mom loved the Lord, but I had heard so many messages about the correct way to accept Christ that I wondered about Mom’s salvation. One time I heard a preacher say that if a person couldn’t remember the date and time that they accepted Christ, that person wasn’t a born-again Christian.
 

In 2000, Mom developed macular degeneration. I was impressed with the patience she had with her inability to see. Many times, when I would walk into their house, Dad would be sitting next to her reading the Bible to her.
 

My siblings and I moved them to Littlefork, Minnesota, to live with my brother and his wife in February 2005. Dad passed away a month later, and Mom was alone. As she said, “Dad never talked much, but at least I knew that he was in the room with me.” She started a new chapter in her life that day and was able to spend many happy hours with her grandchildren.
 

Mom had a heart attack in June 2006. We almost lost her in the hospital, but the Lord knew that I needed her around for a few more weeks. Mom never wanted to be in a nursing home, but we had to place her in one. When my brother and his wife went on vacation at the end of July, I was asked to go up and stay near Mom. I spent twelve days in the nursing home with her.
 

Remembering how I had wondered if she was placing her salvation in her own good works, during one of our conversations, I asked her when she accepted Christ as her Savior. I needed to know that she was trusting in Christ and not in her own steadfastness to her convictions. Her reply was, “I don’t know.” Due to the message that I had heard, fear rushed through me. I replied, “What do you mean that you don’t know?”

Here is the story that she conveyed to me when I asked her that question.

 

When she was young, she had heard a message that touched her heart. When the pastor gave an invitation to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, she raised her hand. She was crying, and apparently the pastor didn’t notice her. She said she made the decision to follow the Lord that day. The decision didn’t last only during her childhood. She wanted to continue to follow the Lord into adulthood. When she and Dad got married, she said to Dad, “Let’s not do anything that will hurt our wonderful Lord.” After she finished sharing these things with me, Mom and I continued to talk about salvation and the Lord. Mom was longing to go to her heavenly home to see Jesus and Dad.

I learned that it isn’t the words you say or remembering the date and time of one’s salvation that makes the difference in one’s life. What makes the difference is deciding to follow Christ. I believe Mom made that decision when she was a young lady. When she and Dad got married and started having children, she prayed diligently for each of us to choose to follow Christ as well. As I look at my siblings and their families, I am truly blessed that God answered my mom’s prayers as each family loves the Lord and has taught their children to love Him as well.

On July 24, Mom once again asked why she couldn’t go to her heavenly home. I didn’t have the answer but asked her if she wanted me to pray that God would take her home on Dad’s birthday, which was the next day. We thought that would be a great birthday present. On July 25, Mom’s heart started to beat irregularly. When the doctor checked her heart, he told me to make her as happy as possible as there wasn’t anything else that he could do to help her.

On August 11 at about 2:00 a.m., Mom put a beautiful smile on her face and went to meet Jesus. She was finally happy again. I knew that she was in heaven because of her choice to follow Jesus, not because she had placed her salvation in her own good works or because she had said some special set of words that convinced a pastor that she was following Christ.
 

When I left Mom for the last time, she told me not to cry for her because she would be in heaven. I am human and there are still many tears, but I rejoice that Mom is with her Heavenly Father. As the Bible says, “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I’”      (John 14:28).

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

—Abraham Lincoln  

 

 

Taken from Life on the Ranch: Life Lessons I Learned on the Ranch