Nov. 10 is my earthly mother's birthday. It'll be 42 years since she's gone to Glory, and since she was 58 when she went to Heaven, soon she will have spent as many years in Heaven as she spent here on earth.
I'm listening to my mother's voice on DVD. My parents used to tape correspondence to their daughters away at school in the U.S., and Janice transferred the cassette recordings into DVD to be enjoyed for years to come.
On this DVD, she mentions how Daddy's cousin Seiko (in the late 1970's and still unsaved) had come to church two weeks after my letter to him. "Our Prayer Group" (3 dorm rooms) had been praying faithfully recently for his salvation; she told of how he must be struggling to get saved because Satan seems to be stirring up all sorts of problems in his life. Don't stop praying for him, she said.
I must add here it WAS a result of those problems he saw his need for salvation, and altho' Mommy had gone Home so never saw him get saved, it was my stepmother who led him to Christ.
Some think to be a missionary like Kimiko-Sensei (Teacher), you have to have a master's degree like she did and be able to teach from the Old Testament or answer questions about Bible geography/history. Well--I saw Mommy use whatever ability she had: her knowledge of botany, sure, to find wild plants on the side of the road and grow them in her own backyard greenhouse then decorate the church with them or hand out potted flowers for children to take home to their moms for Mother's Day, etc... Or use knitting, piano, cooking to somehow get other women to work with her. And the entire time, she was praying God would show her how to bridge His life and love.
But of course, mostly, I remember and thank God that she took time out to be a mother. She told me once motherhood was something, if it was God's will, it would be wonderful for me to know. I asked her what it was like. She didn't look at me but smiled and answered it was a good experience, a very good experience.
