This weekend marks 18 years since my mom has been in heaven. It is hard to believe. In honor of her, I would love to share her story with you. She was my best friend and the BEST Nana to my kids!
My mom was also the best example of someone relying on God and relying on His love. My mom was fifty-five years old when she had an MRI of her brain. As we left the doctor’s office, we were silent. Approaching the bottom of the steps she turned to me and said, “I know that the doctor told me that I do not have long to live… but I have a peace.” Astonished I looked into her eyes and said, “Mom, I DO TOO!” She said, “Let’s pray for Grama to have this peace also.” God was merciful. Wonderfully my Grama also received His peace that surpassed all understanding!
That day on the way home as my mom contemplated all that the doctor had told her, she said, “Dawn, I could have died in a car accident and never got to say good-bye.” She became overwhelmed and said, “STOP THE CAR!” Shocked at her request, I came to a stop. She threw her arms into the air and exclaimed passionately,
“THANK… YOU… JESUS … FOR YOUR MERCY… AND YOUR PEACE!”
I looked at her in amazement thinking, “MERCY?” I thought. “Did you hear the doctor say, you are dying?” She was overjoyed that God mercifully gave her time to say good-bye to her family and friends. She was thankful because she knew she was loved. Even on the hardest of days she could see how He was providing for her. He provided time for her to say goodbye.
Through the seven weeks that my mom was with us, she taught me more about life, faith and dying than through all my other years combined. Every day, we all were sustained by God’s amazing peace. In the face of death, she continued to stay faith-filled.
We had been praying and believing that God could heal her. I remember one night I thought to myself, “We have had so much peace, I am not praying powerfully for her like I should.” So, I went into her room and told her how I felt. I then asked if I could pray for her. As I prayed, I guess I began to strongly pray and plead with God to heal her, because I did not want to lose her. She looked at me and said sternly “Dawn, don’t you ever pray your will for me! Only pray for God’s will for me!” The air left my lungs and tears fell from my eyes as I knew, she was content with whatever His will was. I was astonished by how she was faithfully relying on Her God, for His best.
Her faith in Him was a bright light of hope shining for all of us to see.
One warm summer day as she sat on my swing outside, she took in all of the beauty as she watched her grandkids who were running and playing in the yard. She loved having her family so close. That is when she sat back, her face lit up and with a huge smile she exclaimed, “I am the happiest that I have ever been.” My grandmother could not believe her ears. Later she said to me, “I wanted to say to her, ‘Don’t you know you are dying?’”
Amazingly, my mom was filled with His joy and peace. I found out why as I cleaned out her house. On a little sticky note she wrote:
When you don’t see His hand, Trust His heart. Re: God
She could not see God’s hand in cancer. She decided to trust His heart for her no matter what she faced in this life.
She had Released herself, her life and her future into His Mighty hands.
She relied on Him and He sustained her. The night before my mom went to heaven some of her friends from church came to visit her. Before they left, I asked if we could pray for her. All agreed. During the prayer I prayed that God would not let her suffer. As those words came out of my mouth, my mom was shocked that I would pray such a prayer. She abruptly turned her head toward me and with obvious irritation she said, “HE WON’T!”. We all immediately broke into a roar of laughter. We were all amazed at her faith.
Her faith was so strong that she was indignant that I would even think for a second that He would let her suffer. The following night as she laid with her eyes closed now for hours, all at once she opened wide her eyes and gasped in delight as if to see the BEST sight ever. I knew at that moment my mom just saw Jesus. With that she let go of three little breaths, and she was gone. She was now with her faithful Lord. In His presence, she was being held and comforted by His mighty love.
Friend, thank you for allowing me to share my mom’s faith with you. This is always a bittersweet time, because remembering immediately stirs up my longing for her which is hard. But the sweetness is that I always know this is only until I see her again. I am so thankful to God for His wonderful plan for all of us in heaven.
Forever in my heart,
Dawn
I Invite You to Join Us for a Month
PS Oct-Nov in my Membership I will be sharing teachings on HE IS FAITHFUL/ Walk by Faith. I share how God set me free from living in fear to learning to walk by faith! Enjoy a quick video teaching weekly with practical tools to apply. These teachings are tried and true.
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