Sound Words

Women tend to approach another study through Proverbs 31 with fear and trepidation because they assume they will leave feeling guilty and depressed. Could it be that we have not been reading Proverbs 31 the right way? These words of wisdom should encourage every women who realizes that she is a part of a cosmic battle on a daily basis and who desires to hear the voice of Christ. Listen as Pastor David teaches through Proverbs 31:10-31

Ten days from now will be the first year anniversary of the death of my mother. She died last year on my birthday, May 20th 2007. As I reflect on the past year living without the presence of my mom I have competing emotions. There continues to be sadness. It was difficult to see the devastating effects of sin in the world and to watch cancer sap her physical vitality and ravage her body. Since her death I have missed many of the little things she used to do like call me during elections seasons and ask me who to vote for. I miss the way she always pronounced Lydia Grace’s name wrong and countless other reoccurring, pleasant moments that seem to constantly pop back into my mind. I miss sharing the special moments of our family life with her. She did not really care that one of the boys hit a triple in the baseball game the night before but she wanted hear about it and I wanted to tell her. But the sadness I feel is that of separation and not anxious depression. My feelings of joy for her override my sadness with eternal realities. I would not want my mom to come back from being present with the Lord and she would not want to come back (2 Corinthians 5:8). Through faith in Christ she knows by experience what I pray for, long for, and dream about.

It sounds scandalous and I even hesitate to write the words but I will; I am glad my mom died on May 20th, 2007. Now do not get me wrong I did not want her to die and instructed the Doctors to use every means possible to preserve her life. But despite all efforts to the contrary she did die and I do not begrudge it because it was the unfolding of God’s good purpose in her life. The Psalmist beautifully declares, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:16) The days that He prepared for my mom were full of many things: difficulties and joys, triumphs and tragedies, as well as health and physical suffering. She was a sinner who I am sure wounded others at times and she possessed some deep wounds and anguish of soul which remained until her lungs gasped for one last breathe. Nevertheless, according to God’s plan and because of His amazing grace she died believing in Christ and with her sins forgiven.

Hers was simple faith. Jim Elliot (martyred missionary) after graduating from Wheaton College once said of his father, an uneducated itinerant evangelist, “He cannot spell Deity but he walks with God.” My mom never read a theology book or chatted it up with me about the logical order of the decrees of God but she died believing that “through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15).

I have been asked with Mother’s Day approaching, “Is it a sad time for you?” The answer is “yes, in a way,” but it is probably not what those who ask think. The fact of my Mom’s death does not make this Mother’s Day worse it makes it better. Perhaps more than any other Mother’s Day, all of my thoughts, even the sad ones, lead me back to the gospel. More often than not, my sad thoughts end with me smiling because I remember that the gospel is true and my Mom knows that better than me.That makes this the most wonderful Mother’s Day of all for me and my Mom and that will be true until we hug again in a New Heavens and New Earth with the glory of Jesus lighting our smiles. Until then . .  Yes, it is a Happy Mother’s Day for me because the gospel is true.