My mom only stood 5 feet 2 inches tall, but none of us kids and as far as that goes, anyone else ever challenged her when she had her mind fixed. You could look into those deep brown eyes and find no question as to whether she meant business or not. I have seen her fix her eyes on a person only to see them melt or retreat from their agenda once they understood hers. Yet I also saw in her more compassion for another’s plight than I have seen in any other human, all the days of my life. While I may be biased because she was my mom, it’s hard to imagine how those two characteristics were so visibly prominent and yet so diverse.

Yet, the more I think about it, the more I realize how Deity took something harsh and painful and turned it into something meaningful and beautiful through the life of a servant. I see Romans 8:28 come alive when I look at her life. She came from a single-parent family with three brothers and sisters during the great Depression. Times were hard and she had to learn to dig in, stand her ground, and find happiness when and where she could. Just when she found happiness and marriage WWII broke out and Dad was gone for well over two years before she saw him again. I cannot imagine what it must have been like having to raise a young child never knowing whether your spouse would come home alive or not. Yet, he did.

Though Dad was gone her atheism was changed into faith as she attended a small church near her apartment and where she worked. During that time God worked a miracle and renewed her mind (Romans 12:2) in a way no psychologist, psychiatrist, or “miracle” drug could. Her brothers and sisters never experienced the transforming love of God the way she did. It changed her life so radically, that she spent the remainder of her days trying to share it with her brothers who clung to the anger and hatred of a father that shaped their very being. God took the experience of emptiness, lack of direction, and more questions than answers into the reason for loving and caring for others beyond herself.

I am sure there were many lonely days while Dad was at war that she could have gone in a different direction. However, her determination and commitment to prayer and learning who God was caused a different woman to meet the ship when my dad came home than the one who kissed him goodbye. Her inner strength and determination were the basis for raising her children in God’s path and a life of commitment to nursing those who were sick and terminally ill. Compassion emerged from the pain of an empty childhood. Only God can perform that kind of miracle. My question to you is what kind of miracle will you allow Him to perform in you?

Love, Dad