What Kind of Mother Would Do This?

THE PRICE TO BE PAID

As her seven children grew up, they did not have their grandparents to cheer them up and encourage them! Those seven children did not have grandparents to see them at school events, at plays or at a sports event. There was no hint of grandparents during the graduation ceremonies of elementary school or middle school. There was never a greeting card in the mail of encouragement wishing you a happy birthday or even a dollar bill as a gift, nothing!

What would cause my grandparents to act like this toward us their grandchildren? Was it the distance? No, they lived five houses down from ours. It was not the distance. The reason was that my mother got baptized for the forgiveness of her sins. My mother used to be a typical catholic in the Yucatan in Mexico. Being a typical Catholic in the Yucatan meant that you go to church once a year, you pretty much do all you want. My uncles called themselves Catholics and they drank until they passed out every weekend. That’s the culture where we grew up.

When my mother started reading the bible, she told her parents about it. They right away told her “If you become a Christian and abandon the Catholic religion, forget you have parents.” My mother continued to read the Bible and she was getting more and more excited about becoming a Christian. Finally, she decided to be baptized for the forgiveness of her sins. When my mother went to tell my grandparents about it, they were waiting for her. They told her right away that she needed to forget about them and therefore the grandchildren should stop coming to their house.

MY MOTHER IS MY HERO

I was too young to understand all that my mother endured by her parents not talking to her and rejecting her children. I cannot imagine how many times she cried and prayed for wisdom and patience to endure was she what going through. The price she was paying for obeying the gospel was nothing compared to what his Savior Jesus Christ has done for her. She knew that if she gave up and renounce her faith and stop being a Christian; she would lose her salvation and her children most likely never will grow up knowing about Jesus and what he has done for them.

That is what motivated my mother to continue in her faith, knowing that her children one day will have a chance to know her savior the way she did. That’s exactly what happened, God bless her with a strong Christian family. My father was baptized next. My older sisters got baptized then the rest of the children. Each one of her children married Christians. Her eighteen grandchildren, her ten great-grandchildren are all faithful. Every Sunday the gospel is being preached in at least eleven different locations by her children, son in laws and grandchildren in the United States and Mexico.

My question was at the beginning “what kind of mother would do this?” A mother who loves the soul of her children to go to heaven. Nothing is more important than that! I admire my mother for what she did, and I am thankful to God for putting the right people to teach her the gospel many years ago. I still remember her say in the last days of her life that the best gift she was ever given was that all her children and grandchildren are believers and faithful to God.

MOMS, DADS DO NOT GIVE UP

Every year when I go to lads to leaders or when I go to the baseball fields, I love seeing parents and grandparents cheering for their children and grandchildren. I am so happy to see the unity and bond they have. But the most amazing thing that gives me joy is on Sunday mornings when I see parents and grandparents coming to church together with their children. You have no idea the legacy you are leaving behind with your children and grandchildren. There is nothing more important than the salvation of their souls. Moms and dads keep on fighting for the salvation of your children’s souls.

Proverbs 31:28-29 “Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”