New Life at the Age of 82

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!