My words from the Memorial for my Mom

Mom was always quoting scripture, these were two of her favorites that came to mind this morning. 

This is the day that The Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. 

They that wait upon The Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. 

Today we bury my mom.  She loved Jesus with all of her heart. She prayed for everyone she knew.  She believed that nothing was impossible with God.  She saw friends healed of tumors, she saw headaches and backaches disappear.  And now she has seen her own healing completed.  

Over and over growing up we would have a need and mom would pray and the need would be met. There were times we would come home to groceries on our porch, money in the mailbox, or the very item we had been praying about just sitting there.  I remember one time my mom wanted a new bible and for weeks she waited to see how God would provide it.  I don't remember how she got it now, but the point is that I watched her wait expectantly.

Shortly after she was saved at a Billy Graham crusade she believed The Lord was telling her to go to Alaska.  She packed her bags and went to Seatac.  She walked up to the counter and asked if anyone had paid for a ticket for her. Praying, she waited all day.  Later that evening she came home thinking perhaps her timing was off, but she never disbelieved God.

In 1984 God called her to go to YWAM for a Crossroads Discipleship Training school in Hawaii so we packed up and went! The trip was life changing for my brother and me. In the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, and Korea we saw raw poverty, orphans, Christians pulling together to serve and to pray. It was in the Philippines where I held a two year old baby the size of an infant that my heart for orphan care was born.  But we learned through that trip that nothing was impossible. We saw God provide financially over and over during that period of months in such a sweet way that built our faith in Christ. 

To say Mom was special would be a gross understatement.  When Mom read Gods word she believed it.  It wasn't a theological study for her or an academic practice, it was truth. Face value. She has a gift of faith and of everything Mom had, that's what I want, her faith, her childlike belief that God will do what His word says.  And a double portion please, God, give me her faith.