I Peter 5:5
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Although she has bee gone from this world since 2005, she passed along her testimony of faith and hope in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior to all she encountered.
Mom had a precious, gentle and quiet spirit. She was soft-spoken but a strong, courageous woman of God.
I was a young girl in the 70’s, so that was a time when the “hippie” mentality was still a fresh, lingering social ill.
Raised to say “yes ma’am” or “no sir”, anything short of that would have gotten me a swat on the bottom along with a lecture on respect
My mom had a friend whose daughter is my age. She would call my mom “Kay” just like her mother did. Although it irritated her, she never corrected the friend, nor her daughter. I gasped every time I heard Donna say it, fully expecting my mom to put an end to that foolishness but she never did.
When I asked her, Mom said that it was HER responsibility to see that I was respectful. Although I was uncomfortable with the girl calling Mom by her first name,I remembered what she said, her duty was to instruct me, not concern herself with the behavior of others.
Unlike Mom, when my children were young (even now), I strike issue with being called by anything less than “Mrs. Carter”, “Mrs. Beth” or “teacher”, whatever the situation dictates at the time.
Mom seemed to never get the respect I thought she was due. To keep busy after Daddy died, she worked as a teacher’s aide in daycare or volunteered at various places, always appearing to be looked over or through as though she wasn’t there.
I saw that from the other side when I was a nanny. The mother of my charges instructed us not to even LOOK at those who were doing maintenance or collecting money for Salvation Army, for instance. “Don’t make eye contact or speak to ‘those people’ because they are not the ‘same’ as us,” she would say in all sincerity, unfortunately. They, she let us know, existed to serve us (no mistype), not for us to associate with personally. She, needless to say, would have been the type to ignore my mom ( and oh, of course, Jesus, being that He came to SERVE), as she darted from place to place in her self-absorbed world, teaching her children the importance of separating and elevating themselves above others. We need to pray for those who earnestly hold fast to such tragic ideas.
God sees and He knows. Those are two of many lessons mom taught me. She was less concerned about getting acknowledged than giving God the glory! What can I say, some kind of special! I was blessed beyond measure to have been raised by such a tremendous, godly woman!
PRAYER
Thank You, Father
For those of us who were raised
In loving, stable homes
It is so difficult for us to imagine another way of life
Although we realize that some children are raised
In horrible situations
Under the most dreadful circumstances
Please speak into the lives of those children this day
Please offer them peace only You can
That one day it won’t be like that any longer
That they can find strength and safety in You
Regardless of their living situation
We give You praise for loving, godly parents
For safe and secure homes
Please let us pass that along from generation to generation
Please let those who do not have it now
Be able to rise and be possibly the first in many generations to follow
Your will and ways
Walking steadfastly in obedience to You
Proving that where we are is not where we must stay!
In the Name of Jesus
Who breaks bonds
Who sets captives free
We pray
Amen!
songs
(I can still hear Mom’s sweet little voice singing these songs and so many more, lifting up her precious heart and hands up to the Father as she sang praises to Him. I cannot imagine the pure Paradise she is in now, not only in the presence of her King, but giving Him glory bowed before His Throne!)
Spirit of the Living God
Let the Weak Say I Am Strong
To God Be The Glory
credits: FATHER GOD, JESUS ,HOLY SPIRIT, SCRIPTURE
Encouraging words from family and friends
Opportunity and ability to share the Word of God
The Lord God Almighty for knitting me in the womb and giving my mom the desire to have a baby at 42 years old.
The incredible blessing of having such a godly mom who prayed with and for me.
