My mom had
been recently widowed after 62 years of marriage and I was getting ready to
make another trip to MD to help with maintenance on her home. Just before
leaving, God prompted me to take a tract (brochure) that I had had for years on
the trip. The term “tract” is such a “Christianese” term, “Tract?... where’s
the land?”
On my last
evening in MD, I gave the brochure to my mom, along with these words which I
had not planned, “Mom, I have already lost dad; I don’t want to lose you too. I
would like you to read this brochure.” The cover read, “Are you Good Enough to
go to Heaven?”. Inside it read, “This is the most important question you will
ever ask yourself. Most people respond, Well, I am not that bad, I have never
murdered anyone.” Then the brochure said, “Let’s see how you stack up against
God’s 10 commandments. First commandment, “You shall have no other gods before
me.” It gave an example of a Father who bought a TV for his family. He came home
from work the next day and said, “Hi kids, I’m home.” The kids paid no
attention to their father because they were glued to the TV. The children were worshiping
the gift rather than the giver of the gift. The brochure asked, “Do we do the
same thing with God? Do we worship the gifts God has given us (our jobs, our
family, our talents) to the point where we start to worship the gifts more than
the Giver?” The gifts become our gods.
The following
morning, my mom initiated a conversation about the brochure. The evening before,
was the last debate between Clinton & Trump. (Just goes to show that God
can redeem anything!) My mom told me she only had time to read the
first commandment in the brochure before the debates started. She said, “Instead
of continuing to read about God, I chose to cast him aside to watch the TV
debates. I already sinned.” Because of the TV example used in the brochure and
God’s perfect timing, it was the first time I had ever heard my mom say, “I
sinned,” or seen her have any conviction of sin! Just to be clear, I am not
saying that watching TV is a sin. But, isn’t it awesome to see how God’s timing
worked? I told my mom to read the rest of the brochure and let me know what she
thought.
A few days
later, my mom called and brought up the brochure! She said, “I read all the commandments, and I
wondered how anyone could be good enough to go to heaven.” My spirit soared as
I saw her understanding! She said she was so relieved to see that the
propitiation of the blood of Jesus covers our sins! Did she just use the word “propitiation”…
a seminary word?! I had shared the gospel with my mom about 100 times before
that moment and for the first time, her heart was really hearing it, like she
had never heard it before. I wondered whether or not my mom thought that Jesus’
blood covered everyone on earth and
we are all forgiven? So, I said, “That’s
right mom, for those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. To receive
Jesus as Lord means to follow Jesus as he becomes your boss, your leader, your guide.
Is that what you would like to do mom?” “I believe so”, was her response. l
said, “We can do that in one of two ways. You can just talk to God yourself or
I can help you with what to pray to God.
But, that will only work if you truly believe what is prayed to God. She
said, “Well, I am new at this. I believe I will need some help. I would like to
write down my own thoughts so maybe we could do a combination of the two ways.”
I thought to myself… perfect!
After two
weeks of playing phone tag and various other distractions we finally connected.
She told me that she had written out her prayer a week ago! My mom prayed the
sweetest grace-based, Jesus-following salvation prayer.
My mom is now
eagerly reading the study bible I sent her as she daily spends time with Jesus.
I have spoken at many
Christian events that mothers and daughters attended together. I thought that was
something I would never experience. Now, my mom and I will have an eternity
together at the biggest Christian event ever – Heaven!
