“Her children arise up, and call her blessed.”
Proverbs 31:28
My mother went home
to Heaven at age 91. To this day, I can't describe her godly life adequately
and all that her memory means to me.
She gave me to God
before I was born, and as soon as I was able to understand the plan of
salvation, she led me to the Savior.
Mother never
graduated from high school, but she taught me many things I could never have
learned in our institutions of higher learning. She never sang in the choir,
but at home—where it really counted—her life was a constant song. She was
sweet, cheerful, and supremely happy in the Lord.
Words of Wisdom
My mother told me,
“Paul, when you grow up and get married, be good to your wife. Tell her often
that you love her.”
“Paul, don’t ever
borrow money–unless you have to. If you want something you can get along
without, don’t buy it on credit. Wait until you can pay for it—then buy it.”
She taught me that
promises that could not be kept should not be made. In other words, she
believed it was better to act without promising than to promise without acting!
However, she made an allowance for unforeseen difficulties in this way: “Always try to pay your debts before they
are due. But if you find that you owe someone on a certain date and you can’t
pay it, walk right up to that person and pay something–even if it’s only a
dollar or two. Tell him you’re sorry you can’t pay it all–and pay it as soon as
you can.”
Words of Encouragement
As a little boy, I
used to come home from church and “practice” preaching. Pastor Fred Nelson used
to have a lot of steam in the pulpit, and I secretly wanted to preach just like
he did. I’d rig up a pulpit of some chairs or a box, and I’d holler and yell
and wave my arms. Mother never ridiculed this “preaching.” Instead, she always
encouraged me and, in this way, brought me up to be a preacher.
When I left home at
the age of 14, Mother made it as easy for me to go as possible. She didn't
allow me to see her weep; she just patted me on the back and said, “God bless
you, son. Remember, you belong to Him, and whatever He wants you to do, do it!”
Never once did she put any hindrance in my way as I sought to do God’s will to
the best of my understanding.
I never saw her much
after that—only when I’d come home for brief visits. She heard me preach my
first sermon when I was 15. Just to see her in the audience was a tremendous
incentive to serve God to the best of my ability.
Words Spoken in Prayer
I could always count
on my mother’s prayers. When I was small, she would take me by the hand and
say, “Let’s pray.” Then she’d start—and I mean she would pray! Many times I
watched the tears stream down her face as she’d intercede for the salvation of
her children.
God’s Word Was Precious to Her
She loved the Bible.
When we presented her with a new one, she gave me her old one with its broken
binding, loose covers, and well-marked passages.
All the
pages are so fingered—
Many
verses underlined;
Places worn
where mother lingered;
Where
she left a tear behind.
—John
Peterson
No, she wasn’t
perfect. No human being is. I never heard her swear. She did not read dirty
books or magazines. Instead, I heard her pray—I saw her feed on the Scriptures.
She took me to Sunday
School and church—and made me sit still! When I got a little fidgety, she’d
pinch me just above the knee and twist it at what I thought was a 90-degree
angle. That settled me down.
Mother also took me
to church on Sunday nights and to the midweek prayer services. And when there
were special meetings at the church, we went every night, school or no school,
homework or no homework. God and the church were first.
Answered Prayer
Once, when I was
about eight years old, someone gave me a dime. I felt like a millionaire! On
the way home, I dropped my dime, and it rolled into the grass. I started to
hunt for it frantically, but Mother said, “Let’s go home and pray about it.
Then come down in the morning, and God will help you find your dime.” So we
went home, and both prayed that I’d find it the next morning. (Wasn’t it kind
of her to take such an interest in a little old dime? But that was Mother. She
taught me to pray about everything.)
Well, the next
morning, I could hardly wait to go down to the corner and search for my dime.
And believe it or not—I found two dimes!
While Mother didn’t
leave us a lot of worldly goods, she left behind something that all the bulging
bank accounts of all the world’s multi-millionaires couldn’t buy—faith in God
as taught by a sweet, godly Christian mother.
How About You?
What have you taught
your children, mother?
Will they be able
to say this to you?
When I arrive in
that heavenly city
Where never comes sorrow or care,
I’ll say to my
dear, precious mother,
‘It was you
who invited me here.
To Christ alone
be the glory:
He my sins
in His body did bear.
Yet to Heaven I
might not have come
Had you not invited me here.’
—Anonymous
A grief-stricken
mother said to me, “Please pray for my daughters. When they were small, they
wanted to be saved, and they wanted me to be saved, too. But I was not
interested. Now I am a Christian, but my daughters are not saved—and not
interested.”
Mother, the
salvation of your children is the most important thing of all. Other things are
fine in their places but seek first to be a good Christian mother and bring up
your children to know God.
A hundred years from
now, it won’t make much difference what kind of food you prepared for them or
what kind of clothes they wore. It won’t matter what university they graduated
from. But through a long, endless eternity, it will matter greatly what kind of
mother you were.
If you have never
trusted Christ as your personal Savior, come to Him as my mother did. He loves
you—He died for you. He is now seated at the right hand of God. He wants to
save you—so receive Him now! He will cleanse you from your sins and make you a
child of God. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
God loves you. He
loves your children. He wants them to be saved while they are young. He wants
them to become strong, mature, dedicated Christians and good, law-abiding
citizens. He may call them into full-time Christian work.
The only way you can
be the mother you should be is to receive the Lord Jesus and trust Him to
forgive your sins and give you eternal life.
Then go all-out to
be a godly example to your children. Read the Bible and pray daily. Join an
excellent Bible-centered, Christ-exalting church that believes in separation
from sin and unbelief.
Register your
decision today by signing one of the coupons that follow and mailing it to
Bible Tracts.
