To Everyone, I just wanted to let you know that the FNS will be back online as usual next week should the Lord terry. I thank you all again for your Prayers, Well Wishes, and Support during this hard time for myself and my family. I wish you all could have known mom and been there at her funeral. God was at work that day and I pray that He uses things said and done there to change hearts and lives. My family is stead fast in the Lord and we continue to trust in Christ. Please continue to pray for us. I can tell you personally that I have taken some time to relax and reflect upon God and how He worked in mom's life and in all of our lives. I've made new friends. I've grown. I feel good about how God has been good to my mother. I'll not take a great deal of time. I'll just leave you with some of what I had to say at her funeral. I wish I had a copy of everything everyone said to share with you. I stand amazed at all that God has done through my mother. For My Mother For My Mother First thing’s first. I have to say that God IS Good! If He hadn’t been, we wouldn’t all be here today. Everything else I have to say will back that up. I know for certain that my mother was both loved and shared the Love of Christ as I look out upon this gathering of family and friends. I’ve talked with most of you and your hearts have touched mine. As much as it hurts me to have lost her, it hurts me to watch you having lost her too. Nevertheless, she’s gone but she’s not gone for good. She’s not home with us but she’s home with the God who cared enough about her to give her the very desires of her heart on top of giving her eternal life. Lois sang that song well on Sunday. The words said, “don’t cry for me”, speaking from the perspective of one in Heaven. We can cry because we miss her. We can cry because we’re not sure what we’ll do without her. But cry because she’s in Heaven with King Jesus, has and incorruptible body, will never again hunger or suffer pain, and can probably leap a flight of steps in a single bound, and most of you know what I’m talking about, that’s not a reason to cry. Frankly, that’s a reason to be jealous! Half of me wonders why God didn’t just come back for us all. While, the other half already knows why. We’re here for the same reason that Mom was here longer than any doctor could ever explain. We’re here to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Everywhere you look that confronts you with the image and the remembrance of my mother, you will see Jesus. Each of us knew her from a different perspective. But the wonderful thing about truth is that it’s an easy story to tell. It only comes in one version. We all knew the same truth about the same woman because we all share the same Spirit, which is the Spirit of the Living God. If you’re here today, and you don’t have God’s Spirit in you because you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I’ll do like my Momma. I’ll pray for you. My mother was not known for long speeches and, if she ever had a sermon in her pocket, she was passing that cassette on to someone who needed it. I’ll tell you what though, she always packed a two fisted prayer and knocked out sin while on her knees or lying in bed if that was as far as she could go that day. I told you before. God honored the desires of her heart. Let me show you just how her heart was orientated. Psalms 19:7-14 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Before Mom found Christ, as good as she was, she could not have made it to Heaven just because of her own goodness. We just read that, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul”. Jesus is the fulfillment of that Law and, my mother, the woman you love, was converted in her heart to Trust God and not the work of her own hands! Then, all the things we read in Psalms 19 came to pass. Now, let me show you just some of how God honored the desires of her heart. Above all, my mother had and still has one desire for her family. That is that we trust and obey God. That’s been a rough road. Wesley and Brittany were coming up in a world that would surely do it’s best to see that not happen. Dad was unsaved and even hostile toward God. I was a fool, saved, though running around apart from the Lord as though He did not exist. My mother never once thrashed any of us with the Word of God. Instead, she prayed. Moreover, she meant it. Eventually, her persistence paid off. That wasn’t the end of it though. She had a little problem. I’m sure Satan thought he’d scare the life out of her or at least make her ineffective for God. Wrong as usual Satan! She had an enlarged heart. My Momma trusted God though. The LORD was her strength and her redeemer! For the past 13 years, she has had little more than 14% heart function. That staggering figure didn’t impress God! In my mother, God has shone that He can do more with 14% than a whole world can do with 110%! God didn’t run out of grace when He gave her eternal life in exchange for her trust in Christ. He had just begun!!! By His Will, He took that frail body of hers and made it last until He determined that her race had been run. She did not die prematurely. If anything, you can ask her doctors, there’s no Earthly reason why she was here this long. Even more, God had my mother in His service and working Right Up Unto The Day HE Promoted Her!!! God is Good! Is he not?! My mother expected to go to sleep and wake serving the Lord. She got the desire of her heart and then some; pressed down, shaken together, and running over! She and we would hope the same for you. The story doesn’t end there though. A few months ago, she had announced, in church, that she was o.k. with God taking her home because she now knew that she was ready. She said that she knew that her children had people that loved them as much as she in the Church Body. I know that was not just because of the people in the church. That was completely because of the Christ in the people in the Church. She knew that all that she had done, she had done for God and that she had done all that God had given her. She gave her thanks to God because He made her to live and to thrive in His service. She gave her thanks even more because God gave her that time to raise her children to come to trust the Lord of their own free will and to be well established in Christ! She got to see her husband redeemed, her eldest restored, her mother stead fast, and her siblings growing. Now, she’s home with Jesus and our loved ones that have gone on before us. I am eager for my day to see her again and I also look forward to seeing you there. Please, take as many with you as you can. I thank each and every one of you for showing us love. My Church Family, you know that mom is proud of you. You know that mom trusts you. I offer you my best gift of thanks: Dear Father, These souls that gather before you are in morning. Love them and bring them peace. You are a kind, loving, and gentle God in all your mighty power. I ask that you extend the same grace that you have shown my mother in that you honor the righteous prayers and the desires of the hearts of these, your children in Christ. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and in Peace and in Glory You perfect us. Perfect Your Will in us Lord. Make us to think your thoughts after you and to want only what You want so that You may bless us all with the desires of our hearts. There are those here that have not yet trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior. They do not yet know the peace and assurance of Heaven; the same peace that my mother knew and Lives today. Dear God, be patient with them, yet, I ask that you cause their hearts to be unsettled until they willingly come to you for peace! (Do you hear that friend?! Don’t leave this place today without handing you life over to Christ! As He has been good to my mother, He Will be good to you!) They have a greater issue to settle LORD. Christ, they need You! We Love and Cherish You Christ Our Lord! AMEN!!! ~[END]~ He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. -- Micah 6:8, NIV ISDAMan
She walked and talked with God everyday. Everyday, they would walk and walk and talk and talk for hours on end. Everyday, she invited Him into her home because she loved Him and He loved her. Then, one day, God said, "You know, we have walked together and talked together as usual today but, I see that on this day, we have ended up much closer to my home than yours. Since we are so close, why don't you come home with Me today?" And so she did. Amen and God bless ISDAMan.
ISDAman, I am sorry to hear of your loss, I hope and pray that the pain of seperation will be comforted in the knowledge that you will see her again one day. May the Lord bless you and the steadfast work you do. Allcare Tony H2o
