happens to be my mom. She was and will always be a wonderful role model to me. When I think of Jesus, I think of my mom, a woman who loved God, but also a woman who loved others as Jesus would. She accepted every single person she met and everyone considered themselves her best friend. She looked for the best in others, not the weaknesses. She truly loved her family and friends. She smiled all of the time; her smile was contagious and beautiful. It made everyone around her feel so accepted and loved. I'm sure you may think, how can that be? But it really is the truth. Yes, she was bothered at times by some, got frustrated with others, as I'm sure she did with me, but she still loved with all of her heart.
I know how difficult it is to comprehend how God sent his son, Jesus, into the world, and that He really did die on the cross for us. To know what that love is, that someone would lay down their life for us, is at times unbelievable. We are all imperfect and we cannot possibly give that kind of love so how can we receive that kind of love?
I realized soon after my mom passed away, that I was blessed by having that example of Jesus here on earth. My mom showed me who Jesus was by living like He did. She loved me with all of her heart and accepted all of me, even the bad. That Is how Jesus loves us; he accepts all of us and loves us anyway.
Unfortunately my mom passed away in 2009. She battled cancer from 1995 to 2009. It started as breast cancer and so she did what everyone else does when diagnosed with cancer, she took chemo. She went into remission for almost 5 years and then sadly it came back. It went into her lungs and eventually into her bones and throughout the rest of her body. She fought cancer for 14 years and tried not to let it win over her spirit. What amazed me the most was the fight that she had in her body to win over the cancer and live. Nothing seemed to get her down. None of us in her family considered her a strong woman, though. She didn't really like to exercise and she wasn't ever in top notch shape. But even when she received the doctor's reports that were not the most uplifting, she decided to not let them get the best of her and so she lived her life to the fullest.
11 years after her first diagnosis, she finally decided to try holistic medicine because the chemo was killing her body. Every day she would wake up and say "I'm feeling better today", when all of us saw the excruciating pain she was experiencing. Some may say she was in denial, but I know it was mind over matter. She wanted to fight to live and not give up. And she never gave up. She didn't understand why this was happening to her and tried not to blame herself for her cancer. I didn't understand it either. I questioned why it had to happen to my mom when there were so many who had fought cancer and won. And especially because she believed in God and lived her life to honor him.
The night before my mom died I began to understand. Our permanent home is not here on this earth. We have a much better place to go, thank goodness. And the hope that we have for our future far outweighs all of the pain that we will experience here on this earth. I realized that God did not want my mom to suffer either. He wanted to take her home, but she kept fighting to stay here on this earth a little while longer to serve her God and family. She thought she had so much more to do and she wanted to finish what she had left. But God had other plans and His timing is perfect. My mom fought her hardest to win against the cancer. She knew that heaven was her last stop but she wanted to stay here and be with all of us. In a letter she wrote when she was young, she said she wanted to "sign up" to serve Jesus. Before she passed away, I asked my mom where her favorite place to pray was, and she said "everywhere". I had no idea. She never talked much about her faith, she just lived it. And she had amazing faith.
I can not understand how a person can go through pain on this earth without having something to look forward to in the end. If all we had was this life and the excruciating pain that comes with it, it would be a pretty miserable existence. But to know that there will be a better place for us, even when we experience pain that was not because of something we did, makes life that much sweeter. To know that we will one day be in paradise because someone loved us enough to forgive us and die for us is amazing. My mom believed in God and heaven and unconditional love and through her example, I learned that heaven is where I want to go too. I can't wait to meet her there and know that even though she is not here on this earth any longer, I will still get to see her again and spend eternity with her and God.
I know how difficult it is to comprehend how God sent his son, Jesus, into the world, and that He really did die on the cross for us. To know what that love is, that someone would lay down their life for us, is at times unbelievable. We are all imperfect and we cannot possibly give that kind of love so how can we receive that kind of love?
I realized soon after my mom passed away, that I was blessed by having that example of Jesus here on earth. My mom showed me who Jesus was by living like He did. She loved me with all of her heart and accepted all of me, even the bad. That Is how Jesus loves us; he accepts all of us and loves us anyway.
Unfortunately my mom passed away in 2009. She battled cancer from 1995 to 2009. It started as breast cancer and so she did what everyone else does when diagnosed with cancer, she took chemo. She went into remission for almost 5 years and then sadly it came back. It went into her lungs and eventually into her bones and throughout the rest of her body. She fought cancer for 14 years and tried not to let it win over her spirit. What amazed me the most was the fight that she had in her body to win over the cancer and live. Nothing seemed to get her down. None of us in her family considered her a strong woman, though. She didn't really like to exercise and she wasn't ever in top notch shape. But even when she received the doctor's reports that were not the most uplifting, she decided to not let them get the best of her and so she lived her life to the fullest.
11 years after her first diagnosis, she finally decided to try holistic medicine because the chemo was killing her body. Every day she would wake up and say "I'm feeling better today", when all of us saw the excruciating pain she was experiencing. Some may say she was in denial, but I know it was mind over matter. She wanted to fight to live and not give up. And she never gave up. She didn't understand why this was happening to her and tried not to blame herself for her cancer. I didn't understand it either. I questioned why it had to happen to my mom when there were so many who had fought cancer and won. And especially because she believed in God and lived her life to honor him.
The night before my mom died I began to understand. Our permanent home is not here on this earth. We have a much better place to go, thank goodness. And the hope that we have for our future far outweighs all of the pain that we will experience here on this earth. I realized that God did not want my mom to suffer either. He wanted to take her home, but she kept fighting to stay here on this earth a little while longer to serve her God and family. She thought she had so much more to do and she wanted to finish what she had left. But God had other plans and His timing is perfect. My mom fought her hardest to win against the cancer. She knew that heaven was her last stop but she wanted to stay here and be with all of us. In a letter she wrote when she was young, she said she wanted to "sign up" to serve Jesus. Before she passed away, I asked my mom where her favorite place to pray was, and she said "everywhere". I had no idea. She never talked much about her faith, she just lived it. And she had amazing faith.
I can not understand how a person can go through pain on this earth without having something to look forward to in the end. If all we had was this life and the excruciating pain that comes with it, it would be a pretty miserable existence. But to know that there will be a better place for us, even when we experience pain that was not because of something we did, makes life that much sweeter. To know that we will one day be in paradise because someone loved us enough to forgive us and die for us is amazing. My mom believed in God and heaven and unconditional love and through her example, I learned that heaven is where I want to go too. I can't wait to meet her there and know that even though she is not here on this earth any longer, I will still get to see her again and spend eternity with her and God.