A Long Road but a Sure Road to Heaven. Mom went to heaven this week....

This last week my mother was promoted to heaven through her trust in Christ alone. But is was a long road.
the bible tells us that Christians are seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, even while we are seated within these broken jars of flesh we call our bodies.
My mother was 76 years old.
Her mind was failing through Alzheimer Dementia and her body was failing , not from age alone but from a series of tragic events as well as medical imbecility and the corresponding complications. The body can only take so much abuse before it gives out.
To make a long story short, my mother slipped into a coma and though treated well and cared for by wonderful people it was just to much for her and she passed away last on the 24th of February.
I will miss her greatly but look forward to the day that I will see her once again but not before I see my Saviour First of all.

For you See I know Jesus, The author and the finisher of my Faith, who for the Joy set before him, endured the cross, suffering the shame of sinners upon himself. He became sin for ME that I might become the righteousness of GOD in HIM.
His Mercy extended to my mother as well and she to knew HIM as the Captain of her Salvation.
I do miss her terribly, and this is as it should be.

My mother taught me many things about life, she and my father were not the type of parents that would give there children anything they wanted but if we were poor we were never told about it. If Times were hard, at least early on , we were never let in on it. I was happy with a used bicycle that my grandfather found and refurbished. It was new as far as I was concerned and my Grandfather made it. We had plenty of food and liked mashed potatoes and even TV Dinners, My father made the best oatmeal raisin Cookies you could ever want and I shared a bedroom with my younger sister with bunk beds till I was in the forth grade and it never dawned on me that my room was small and our house was tiny.
That was none of my business, I was to busy being loved by my parents and grandparents and a host of cousins and Aunts to worry about such things.

My Grandmother took me to Church but I never was told about being saved through a personal relationship with Christ. Seeds were planted however and when time was right and God visited me through the sound witnessing efforts of a man of God, I yielded to his grace. It was not to long after that I began to share what God had done for me with those who loved me. First my Grandmother and Grandfather yielded to Christ through the ministry of a preacher on television. I had explained to them the Gospel but it was not me who led them to Christ but another. Soon Afterward my mother would come to Christ, again not by me, though I planted his seed and watered through my tears for her. She would listen to my grandmother and take her to church after my grandfather died and eventually yield to Christ herself.

She has always been supportive and yet a critic when needs be.
Alzheimer's and Dementia changed her a great deal but as the disease began t take it's toll on her mental clarity and memory and the other issues destroyed her body. But though it all I was assured by the LORD that he would never forget us though we could possibly forget him. He would never leave us nor forsake us .

The last few weeks were the hardest, the last day that I spoke to her she though I was her mother and that she herself was a little child unable to comprehend why she could not come into the house. I was so sad as she looked me in the eye, a 54 year old bearded man and could only see her mother. But is all this God, though Christ held our hands, Though we were poor and needy he never told us we were anything other than rich and joint heirs with Christ.
As I would read his word to her I could see that his focus was not on physical poverty or calamity or illness but on the riches and wonders that are in Christ Jesus. I Have come to know more, through this trial that Gods verdict is SURE and that he knows them that are His.
If any man be IN Christ , he is a NEW CREATURE. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.
We are MORE that conquers....

Dear Mom,
I could not miss thee more
From my earliest thoughts
From my hardest falls
To my highest climbs
You have always been there/

I Could not thank you more
From Nature to Nurture
From Baseballs to Bottles
Dalmations to Bulldogs
or beaches to Boardwalks

I Could not have asked for more
What can I say more
My Words now fall though tears
So Many Many Years
My Mother and my Friend

I could not look forward with more joy
Once again to see you
For Jesus Has saved us both
To be absent is to be present
And he shall wipe away ALL TEARS

And we shall REMEMBER