REMEMBERING MY MOM

My mom, Jennie ❤️

Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death. On March 12, 2007 my mother went home to be with the Lord. You can read about her journey to salvation here.

BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TOMORROW

As I age I’ve become more aware of the fact that things can change very quickly in our lives.

Last week Billy and I were going out to run some errands. As usual, I had my walker with me. I use it because I have a deformity in my right leg, and it’s now difficult for me to walk outdoors without it. I can walk at a brisk pace with my walker though. 🙂 Billy always puts it in the back seat as I get into the car. Last week I was in a hurry (it’s not good to be in a hurry) and I left the walker by the back of the car where Billy was putting things into the trunk, instead of leaving it where I usually do, by the side of the car. As I quickly turned to walk away, my foot caught in the back wheel of the walker and I fell. I fell on my right hand and my right hip. I don’t even remember my trip down! I was just up one moment and on the ground the next.

My first thought was my hip. What did I do to my hip! 🤦‍♀️ I am at risk for fractures, and I’m very aware that hip fractures at my age can be deadly. But praise God all I got was a bruise by my hip, and a swollen and colorfully black and blue hand. Not a pretty sight. I’m healing slowly and still aching some, but all the swelling has now gone down. It happened so fast. Billy turned around for a split second and I fell. I thank the Lord that Billy was there to help me. ❤️ I thank the Lord that my injuries were not as bad as they could have been. 🙌🏻 We really don’t know what a day may bring forth, regardless of our age or circumstances. It’s good to know the Lord and His comfort in trying times. Do you know Him?

(Please pray that I don’t fall again, and for healing. Thank you!)

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Gill’s Commentary:

…for, what he has today he cannot be certain he shall have the next; he cannot assure himself of health and honour, of pleasures, riches, and friends;

he may have health today, and sickness tomorrow;

be in honour today, and in disgrace on the morrow:

he may bid his soul eat, drink, and be merry, seeing he has much goods laid up for many years, and vainly say, tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant, when this night his soul may be required of him;

he may have his wife and children, friends and relations, about him now, and before another day comes be stripped of them all;

he may be in great affluence, and gave great substance for the present, and in a short time all may be taken from him, as Job’s was; riches are uncertain things, they make themselves wings and flee away.

We know not what the present day … will bring forth; and still less what tomorrow will do, what changes it will produce in our circumstances, in our bodies and in our minds; so that we cannot be certain what we shall be, what we shall have, or what we shall do, on the morrow, even provided we have one.

LOOKING FOR HEALING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

The following is a post I wrote in 2007…

LOOKING FOR HEALING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

There were many opportunities in the nursing home to share Jesus with the residents and with their loved ones. And not only with Roman Catholics, but also with the Jewish people there. It was a great mission field!

This is the song I sang that I talked about in the post…

Look for healing in the right place… here.

REMEMBERING MY DAD

Remembering my dad…

My father first heard the Gospel when he was in his 70’s. He did not respond favorably because he did not like the conflict and division it caused within the family. My father was born in Italy where almost everyone is Roman Catholic. He told me he had never before heard the things that we were telling him from the Bible. Even so, he took the Bible we gave him and began reading. I don’t know how far he got but I do remember that he said 1st and 2nd Timothy were “perfect”. I’m not exactly sure what he meant, but it was definitely encouraging to hear him say that. I also remember that he liked the hymn “How Great Thou Art”, a hymn he learned when my husband and I did Sunday services at the nursing home.

My father had an autoimmune disease that left him with bloody blisters on his body. When we prayed for healing the Lord mercifully healed him. The nurse’s aid who took care of him was a Christian woman, and she said his skin had become smooth like baby skin! He also had a stroke that confined him to a wheelchair, and Parkinson, and later dementia. He would vacillate on what he believed and that was discouraging. My father never said the words I wanted so badly to hear… “Don’t worry about me, I’m saved, and I will go and be with the Lord when I die. I’ll see you again on the other side.” He never said that. Oh, how I wanted him to say that, but he didn’t. The Lord gave me such an intense love for my Dad in his latter years. It was truly a work of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I remember holding his warm hand and being glad he was still alive but also sadly knowing that soon he would be gone. My father heard God’s Word until his last unconscious dying hours. On a Sunday night in March 2010, a few short hours before my 93 year old father entered eternity, my husband was quoting Scripture to him. And that’s how it ended.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

***

As I sat with my father and observed how feeble he had become my mind went back to earlier days when we were younger. Those days were not trouble free, but there was time left to live out life. More importantly, there was time left to seek the Lord. As I sat there and pondered these things, the words “days of wine and roses” came to my mind. I looked up the meaning and I found they described a period of happiness and prosperity. Thinking on these things, I wrote this poem shorty before my father died. I recited this poem at my father’s funeral.

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

The days of wine and roses,
They have been called by the world,
But we as Christians know that,
Just like flowers they unfold.

The days are just a vapor,
Oh, if we had only known,
So fanciful and passing,
In vanity they were sown.

The days of wine and roses,
Cannot have them back again,
And even if we could have,
Would we choose as we did then?

Lord please cleanse these our vessels,
With new wine and with your blood,
Please change our hearts forever,
By your Spirit’s cleansing flood.

The days of wine and roses,
Seemed to us a sweet sweet song,
But like the flowers fading,
The wind blows and they are gone.

The only wine of value,
Is the shedding of Christ’s blood,
The only rose enduring,
Rose of Sharon, our beloved.

Cathy White 2010 ©

GREAT REDEEMER