On July 18th,2016,my mom passed away from heart failure.She was 68 years old.This is a tribute to my mother,my friend,my confidant......

My mother left me with the following legacy...                                   

A love for Jesus and His Word.

A love for children and marriage.

A love for music and old movies.

A love for politics and critical thinking.

A love for service to others and mercy.

A love for laughter and teaching.

A love for sharing Jesus with others.

A love for justice and seeking truth.

A love for creating with my hands and a love for

gardening....but of all these things she influenced me in, I learned to stand for my convictions, no matter what anyone said or did, otherwise. My Mom was unwavering, firm, single minded, determined and resolved when she stuck to her convictions. Even if it meant an argument may ensue. This was my mother. Taking a stand on something the Lord showed her.

I always loved to hear my Mom sing. It was both comforting and convicting.Many people think she had a lovely voice and remember her for that, but the real beauty wasn't in her ability to sing so beautifully, but it was the Presence of the Holy Spirit in her heart AS she sang. Every word piercing hearts. Many a tear was shed through my Mother's singing.My mother was my greatest cheering section. She was an encourager, calling me 

and giving me Scriptures. There were times I can remember when my Mother would call and she said the Lord had given her a passage for me, to share with me. Sometimes, I cried while she was reading it to me over the phone, as it was exactly what I needed for what I was going through at that time and then at other times I would thank her and think," Well, that didn't really apply to me, "to only find out later that day, how much that Scripture was exactly what I needed to hear.

In high school, my mother would come and get me from school after lunch, even though I had 2 more classes left. I was teased a lot at school and it was hard to concentrate and I just didn't get the learning down. My Mom didn't hold a store over a 'proper education' and wasn't at all concerned if I was smart according to "national standards", she was more concerned about the Spiritual things, the eternal things that will last forever, like my relationship with the Lord and where my heart was in my walk with Jesus. I shared with her not too long ago, how thankful I was that she came and got me when I called from school with a heavy heart, I think that I would have done myself in, it was such a painful time in my young life.

That was the hope of my Mother,that her children would love the Lord their God,serving Him in humility.

Then when Daniel and I started to adopt our children, wanting so much to raise them according to Scripture and God's instruction, my Mom and Dad not only backed us up when we disciplined our children, but they encouraged us and praised

                                                                                       

what we were wanting to accomplish in the rearing of our children. For me, in a fast changing culture, where this is looked down on, it meant everything for us to have their support and encouragement and instruction.

I remember my folks praying with Daniel, Gabriella and I  in the airport   

right before we took off to China to get Danielle. My Mom sold many of her antiques for the adoption costs with our sons, Christian and Obadiah. My folks went to the swap meet and sold a trailer full of antiques for our sons' adoption.

My children called my Mom PoPo.It is Chinese for grandmother,on the mother's side.My Mom said she felt privileged to get such a unique name.

My Mom taught the girls how to knit and cook and make yo-yo's for quilting. She taught them songs and danced with them and told them funny stories about herself. She gave them a love for animals and especially goats and anything that had to do with farm life. My Mom had a servant's heart. She was cooking all the time and until everyone was served their plate of food, she didn't sit down and eat. When they were building their home in Vernon, they had 2 trailers. My Mom always fixed up the trailer we were to stay in before she ever got to theirs. She went so far as to fix it up in my favorite designer's style. Always the decorator, just another one of our Father's traits in her life. My Mom had a servant's heart for family, neighbors, and strangers alike. She would get involved if they had a need to be filled and people always seemed to appreciate her helping hand.One time, she called me, so excited to tell me that she had just helped the     

Sheriff's dept. by rounding up a bunch of runaway horses on the highway with her car, I will forever have this image of this older woman spinning her wheels in the dust on the side of the road, yelling, "Yaa, Yaa!" She was in her element at times like these. Very recently, while going down the back road she loved to take, she helped a man who was in a car accident, and came to his aid and later went to check up on him at the hospital. My Mom found immense joy in helping others.

I am able to honor my parents because I watched through the years, as she honored  hers. My Mom heard some cruel words as a child, from her father. Being told she was stupid and hit when my grandpa was angry. She went right on loving my grandfather. She said she knew my grandpa loved her in the only way he knew how. She taught me that people who don't know the love of Jesus need to be shown it, and that's what she did. My mother never spoke down to my grandparents,nor did she patronize them,belittling them, as so many people do to the elderly.While my grandfather was in a bad nursing home where they were abusing him, my mother showed great mercy and love for my grandpa, again moved by her conviction to stand up for someone whose voice was neither heard, nor respected, she attempted to remove him from this place. She risked and lost many relationships to do this thing for her father,at his request. That has left just about the biggest mark on my life yet, as to the love of Christ indwelled within her soul....Jesus stood with her, as the quote goes," One person on God's side is a majority."

                                                                                        

My Mom was a very different woman than most women today. She might even be called a backwards woman by this post modern culture, but I love her all the more for that. It is this character trait that I will miss the very most. She didn't get caught up in make up or hairstyles, she aged with grace, preferring to look like a mountain woman,preferring to look her age and not being ashamed of that. She never was known for going with the crowd. Never! She didn't follow church trends, or speak church lingo, she simply read her Bible and allowed the Holy Spirit to lead her. When she talked about Jesus, and  that was often, she spoke as a child of God with simple childlike faith and love for her Savior. If I was to describe her from a collection of people, it would be the following...Golda Mier, Lillian Trasher, Corrie Ten Boom, a little bit of Eliza Lucas Pinckney and an angel voice and there you would have  a closer picture of my Mother.I realize with great anguish, that I will never hear her give me a Bible verse or an encouragement or hear one of her stories, until I see her at home in heaven. I will miss her smile and laughter and the way she would laugh at herself, inviting anyone to laugh along with her. My Mother's favorite quote was always from Corrie Ten Boom's," There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still." I will miss her sweet, lingering hugs, our long phone calls and visits and talks about Jesus and her grandchildren. I will miss her scent...always of either Youth Dew or plain old mountain dirt.My Mom struggled with sickness in these past few years. She didn't travel often and when she did, she usually ended up sick. In our more recent family videos, we observed her with our children, walking and holding their hand, interacting and it was obvious that she was giving a part of herself that was out of sacrificial love to her grandchildren, because she even appeared as if she were struggling some. I know she was on oxygen at night and it scared her when she couldn't' get her breath...But, she's all better now and in the arms of our Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My Mom is gone, but her legacy goes on...through my life and that of my children. We come into this world with one purpose only, and that is to glorify God and enjoy Him. And after a very short time, we slip right back out of this world. But in the time my Mom was here, she had left an indelible mark on my life and that of my children. There are no words, in which to thank Jesus for giving me such an inspiring, delightful Mother and  best friend.A patient and engaging Grandmother for my children.Because she was more childlike in some ways,it was natural that children really loved her.

As Christians, we are all running a race. And we know that if we are running it with our feet firmly planted in the Pure Gospel, it will grow more narrow, as if on a precipice. It will grow more fierce, as if in a storm. My Mom ran hers and did  it beautifully because she was covered in the glory of God that is His Son Jesus

                                                                                        

Christ! I thank You, Father, I adore You, in all Your splendor, that you would bathe me in such a sweetness, that was my Mother. Oh Mom, if you could but hear me, I'm shouting, "You did it! You ran your race and you did it well because you clung not to your own accomplishments, or talents, or skills or works, but to the cross and the Finished Work that is Jesus Himself!

I close with these hymnal words so befitting of my Mom and her blessed Redeemer Jesus, her most cherished of friends....

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest, closed in everlasting arms pillowed on the Loving Breast. Oh to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign, while He whispers in my ear, I am His and He is mine. His forever only His, who the Lord and me shall part, ah with what a rest of bliss, Christ can fill the loving heart. Heaven and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light and gloom decline, but while God and I shall be, I am His and He is mine.

Mom,this song reminds me of you and your struggle with feelings of worth.Your worth is all about the One who paid the ultimate price for you and for me and for the world.Because of Jesus' worth,we are worthy...But you know all that now,as you bask in the Glory,sitting at the feet of Jesus now.....