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Sunday, February 27, 2011

To My Mom

To My Mother

With Love from Her Daughter Amy


My mother is one of the most amazing women I know.
She is selfless, brave, wise, kind, knowledgeable, incredibly smart, caring, godly, hardworking, and possesses so many other qualities which I can merely only hope and pray I obtain.

My mother gave me the greatest blessing all throughout my childhood and teen years - she gave me and my siblings of herself - she gave us her time and love. She was always there to listen, teach, and train us up in the ways of godliness. She chose to homeschool us, which was such an amazing gift from the Lord. But in our homeschooling, she didn’t just “school” us, she always showed us that the most important thing in life wasn’t being incredibly smart (good thing, cause I failed there ;-)), it wasn’t about someday getting a good career, earning lots of money, becoming famous, or even “succeeding” in life. She always taught us, and showed us with her example that THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS FOLLOWING THE LORD. It didn’t matter (much ;-)) to her that we couldn’t do math, or that we never even made it to learning Algebra. It didn’t matter to her how much “head knowledge” I had - all that mattered to her was seeing us walking in the Lord’s way. And she demonstrated this daily. Each morning we would start out right after breakfast by all sitting down in the living room (it didn’t matter if we were still in our PJ’s, or if our “start” of the day didn’t happen until almost lunch time), and she would open the Bible and begin to read - we read through the Bible several times I believe growing up. Then she would talk about it a little, and we’d sing hymns together, and pray. Yes, sometimes it would take SOOO long to get through just Bible study, and often times we’d be fighting and testing her patience in SO many ways, and sometimes we would never even get to Math, Science, and History, but in spite of all the fighting and glitches and the hard and stressful time Bible study sometimes ended up being because of what we were acting like, that was one thing SHE NEVER GAVE UP ON. Every single morning we’d gather. And I believe through her persistence to put the Lord first, and her diligence to teach us about the Lord FIRST is what has really helped me to stand strong in the Lord.

I have never been a highly intelligent person, or super smart, or anything like that, and I was a difficult student with learning disabilities, but the thing that I came away from all the years she spent diligently teaching us was that following the Lord was the most important thing, and I believe that is the lesson she wanted us MOST to get.

BUT my Mother’s wonderful giving of herself didn’t stop when I stopped being a baby, and she started homeschooling me, or when I hit highschool (and she continued to persevere with teaching me), or when I stood up on my graduation day, gave a speech, and hugged her and my Dad. She didn’t wash her hands and say, “Phew! My job with THAT one is done anyways!” Nor did it stop when I entered college - nope! My Mom is one of the only reasons I am succeeding in college right now. She’s always there to tell me I can do it, she spends countless hours editing my bad papers (only reason I’m doing good in English!), making phone calls for me, researching things on the Internet, listening to me as I sit in the kitchen stressing about an upcoming exam or project, and I know she’s always praying for me as I encounter each thing.

The other thing my Mom has always done for me is listen - My mom is an AMAZING listener, and I always felt like I could go to her with any problem or dream and she would truly listen and help me. All growing up she would encourage me in each dream - silly or serious - that I came to her with. She never tried to discourage me (she left that up to God, knowing He was the only One who could take the stupid dreams away!), but would talk to me about them and help me obtain those goals. There were times when the only person who understood and tried to help in my life was my Mom. So many times she would be the buffer between my Dad and I when we would have trouble listening to each other and discussing and sharing our own ideas. She would be the “middle” man, and I know I owe my good relationship with my Dad now partly to her help and prayers for both of us. My Mom never has given up on me in my life - and believe me! If I had a daughter like me I probably would have given up a LOOONG time ago. She stayed loving and amazing all throughout my hard times in life, and even when she couldn’t get through to me, I know she was always praying for me.

And now, some of my biggest dreams are starting to come true largely because of her - she has always been my strongest supporter. When everyone else had fears and doubts about my dream of becoming a missionary as I was growing up, my Mother instead was always the first to listen and say, “How can I help?”

Yes, neither of us are perfect. My Mom and I have had our share of hard times in our relationship. We still do (largely due to my selfishness and unkindness), but I still know that she is my biggest supporter. She’s on my team - she’s my cheerleader! Even when I push her away she still keeps coming back and encouraging me.

I love my Mom so incredibly much. When she has a bad day, I wish I could make it better (I usually end up making it worse). Above all things I want her to be happy. I want her to have the best life anyone could ever dream of. I want her to have whatever she wants. I would walk to the end of the world to make her happy. (I might not do the dishes, but God is sure working on me about stuff like that! ;-)).

A mother is one of God’s greatest and most amazing gifts and blessings. I cherish my mother! And no matter what happens in life, or where God leads me, she is, and always will be, deep deep deep and close close close in/to my heart. And I ain’t going to let her go!

God, thank you for my Mother!

Mom - I love you!

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