Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed.  I have been blessed with a wonderful mother and am so thankful to still have one wonderful grandmother.  I grew up with a lot of grandparents and great grandparents.  They had brothers and sisters, so I also had lots of great aunts and uncles and great greats!  They all loved me.  While I did not realize how fortunate I was to almost have too many places to go on Christmas Eve, I sure was.  As they started dying, their loss was felt more and more; and I was so glad I took time to go to family reunions and had to when I was little!  It makes you understand yourself a little more, I think, when you see others acting like you - sometimes good and sometimes not so good!  But it was always entertaining and filled with fun. 

So tomorrow is Mother's Day, and I am so thankful for my mom and my grandmother and all of the others I have to help me through this journey.  I have an aunt who is like a second mom.  I have friends who are like second moms and have had to fill in from time to time with words of wisdom.  God has given me so much and so many to help me.  Sometimes we don't listen to the obvious people, and God is gracious enough to send others to get through!

When I was growing up, I knew my mom was the smartest person I knew.  She could help us with school work and with our projects.  She could make clothes for us and decorate our rooms better than any DIY network show.  She could work inside and outside the house.  She was thoughtful and took care of many people in many different ways.  She helped us with our spiritual walks and was honest with us so we would learn lessons that we would need.  My dad worked hard - six days a week for most of my childhood - so my mom made sure we were taken care of and that we had what we needed when we needed it!

When I was older, I remember talking to my mom one day and she was telling me she probably was not going to an activity she always enjoyed.  She told me things had been "different" or funny, but she did not know why.  That was the beginning of the end of her time at the church where we all grew up, got baptized, got married, held funerals, and had a huge family.  That time was the toughest my mom ever went through.  I remember she asked people what was wrong, and they would not tell her.  It was unbelievable how she was treated by people she had known for years.  It was almost like an Amish shunning.  To this day, she still does not know who stirred up what against her.  No one would tell her even what it was all about.  I harbor a tiny bit of bitterness there still that pops up when I see certain people acting as though they are working for the Lord.  I know they were involved and never have gone to her and settled things.  But I have to remember that I have probably unwittingly been a part of the devil's work at times too, so I try to not let it take root.  It was a hurtful time, and I am thankful it did not do more damage to her physically than it did.  My mom was diagnosed with MS in early 1996.

After weeks and weeks of hurt, my parents began attending a church where the pastor we had had at their previous church was an interim.  They have worked in that church and found lots more families to love and support and have gotten a tremendous outpouring of love and support.  I know God works things together for good.  Sometimes the journey seems as though it may kill us and that we will never recover, but He is always faithful and will never leave us.

Joni Eareckson Tada had a devotional that reminded us what we do to people may not be seen by them, but it is ALL seen by God.  So we are to watch what we do, and we should be assured that He sees all and will help us through what others seek to do against us.  That is comforting - for He is the One Who loves us the most.  I think knowing that got my mom through those dark days when she lost so many.

But then others were there who had been there before.  And they have always been and continue to be faithful friends who believe in the same One and want to work for Him and not their own selfish desires.

My mom is not perfect, but she is an example of the Lord living through her.  And she always points us, her children, to Him - not herself or what she thinks.  She shares things she has learned and is still learning, so we will be quickly reminded of the perspective we should have or strive for.

Happy Mother's Day to my mother.  She is an encourager, a supporter, a prayer warrior, a hard worker, a great example, a beautiful person, the most thoughtful person I know, a great seamstress, a great cleaner, the best chocolate cake baker, and so many other things.  But the most important job God gave her on this earth while serving Him was to be our mom.  We are so glad He gave her to us!