Tweet
Tough day here. My 95yo mom went to be with the Lord today. Amazing woman, amazing strength, but long-term heart issues, pneumonia that wouldn't go away and degenerated discs in her back kept her in the hospital, in bed, since the holidays. Finally, everything overwhelmed her. She was my best friend (not counting my wife) and we talked twice-a-day for the past several years. We developed an amazing, close relationship. She was so positive, non-judgmental and kind, that we usually laughed our way through the conversations. Losing her was the bad news.
The "good news" is that in the past week, she accepted the gospel, and of her own accord said, "I am trusting in Jesus Christ for my salvation." She was a born-and-raised, diehard, Catholic that was sure her religiosity, her regular church attendance, her baptism, her trying to be good, and her church would get her into heaven. Last summer, for the first time, while I was alone with her, she listened to the gospel and we sat at her kitchen table for an hour, talking about God's way of salvation and how that wasn't the Catholic way. She actually let me tell her that if she believed Catholic doctrine on salvation, she wasn't getting into heaven! I was amazed. It was the first time she didn't fight back! Over the months since, we had minor conversations, but last week she let my sister and brother-in-law go through the whole gospel again! It a short time after that when she made her very faint-voiced (she was weak!) profession with about all the strength she had. Then yesterday, one of my sister's pastors spent a long time with her privately. She passed this morning.
So, for all my Christian brothers and sisters, it's never too late on God's schedule. My prayer for YEARS has been, "Lord, please don't take her until you save her!" He let her live 95 years (probably just to hear me begging Him!)
Pray hard and regular for your parents, siblings, children, co-workers, friends, etc.! Pray until the day that they die. Take every opportunity to witness to them - even make opportunities! God does, indeed, answer prayers.
Please pray now for her funeral in 2-3 weeks back in Ohio that I will be pastoring. Pray that God draws others with the Gospel and her testimony that this joyous son can now give!
And, for others on this board who may believe other ways of getting into heaven than what is taught in the Bible, I'd love to talk with you and pray for you.
God bless all,
Bill
The "good news" is that in the past week, she accepted the gospel, and of her own accord said, "I am trusting in Jesus Christ for my salvation." She was a born-and-raised, diehard, Catholic that was sure her religiosity, her regular church attendance, her baptism, her trying to be good, and her church would get her into heaven. Last summer, for the first time, while I was alone with her, she listened to the gospel and we sat at her kitchen table for an hour, talking about God's way of salvation and how that wasn't the Catholic way. She actually let me tell her that if she believed Catholic doctrine on salvation, she wasn't getting into heaven! I was amazed. It was the first time she didn't fight back! Over the months since, we had minor conversations, but last week she let my sister and brother-in-law go through the whole gospel again! It a short time after that when she made her very faint-voiced (she was weak!) profession with about all the strength she had. Then yesterday, one of my sister's pastors spent a long time with her privately. She passed this morning.
So, for all my Christian brothers and sisters, it's never too late on God's schedule. My prayer for YEARS has been, "Lord, please don't take her until you save her!" He let her live 95 years (probably just to hear me begging Him!)
Pray hard and regular for your parents, siblings, children, co-workers, friends, etc.! Pray until the day that they die. Take every opportunity to witness to them - even make opportunities! God does, indeed, answer prayers. Please pray now for her funeral in 2-3 weeks back in Ohio that I will be pastoring. Pray that God draws others with the Gospel and her testimony that this joyous son can now give!
And, for others on this board who may believe other ways of getting into heaven than what is taught in the Bible, I'd love to talk with you and pray for you.
God bless all,
Bill
Comment