6 Years in Paradise

Six years ago today my mom went to Heaven after a short battle with cancer. She died six weeks before my wedding and one week after her first grandchild was born. Many who knew my mom only remember her for her "wild" side. She certainly had her share of mistakes in life and I know had many regrets. But what many people do not know (unless they listened carefully to Pastor Saunders at her funeral) is that shortly before she died she became a Christian! My siblings and I spent several years sharing our faith with our mom. The Lord even had a young Christian man move in right next door to her who regularly talked to my mom about Jesus Christ and His love for her. She listened to that young man, and would often call me after their discussions with questions of her own. For years I prayed that God would do anything to draw her to Himself. I remember praying as a teenager that God would even do something drastic if need be, such as take my own life, in order to get her attention. She went through several major trials in life. Once she called me crying and upset because she had witnessed a woman die in a car accident. She started becoming interested in spiritual things after that but soon lost interest. Then she found out her husband was cheating on her. Again, she began searching for answers. As much as I hate cancer, God did use it in my mom's life in order to bring her to a point of repentance. I recall the morning she died, June 8, 2003. I was in my grandma's living room with my brother watching my mom's limp body being zipped up into a body bag. I was crying uncontrollably. My brother held me and at the young age of 19 he spoke with such maturity. He reminded me that what we were witnessing was an answer to prayer. He said that he would rather my mom live a short life of 46 years and spend eternity with Christ then to live a long life and die without ever knowing the Lord. Korey was right. And I can honestly say I am thankful. I miss my mom very much, but I am confident that she has spent the last six years in the presence of God, and what could be better than that?
How can anyone know they are going to spend eternity with God rather than be separated from Him? The same way my mom knew. She came to the point in her life where she recognized that she was a sinner, like every one of us. The Bible says that we are all sinners, not one is righteous. We seek our own way and do not seek God (Romans 3:10-12). From our very core we are wicked with selfish desires and ambitious. We seek our own glory rather than the glory of God. Because of our sin we are separated from God both now and for eternity (Romans 5:8). But God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for our sin. He took our sin upon Himself and died on the cross to redeem us. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man! It is only through Christ that one can be redeemed. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that in and of myself I cannot earn my way to Heaven. I am not good enough. It is only by God's grace that I am saved. Salvation is a gift of God. We are totally powerless to fix our spiritual condition. We are a fallen creature. It is only through Christ that we can be saved. And once we recognize that salvation comes only through Christ, we are free from sin (Romans 6:18). My mom confessed with her mouth that Jesus is Lord! She followed Romans 10:9-13,

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

After she accepted Jesus as her Savior, my mom made things right with many people. She went back and asked forgiveness from many of the people she had hurt over the years. She wanted Christians to come visit her as often as they could. She even asked Pastor Saunders, a man she really did not like before she became a believer, to do her funeral. Shortly before she died she told me that she wanted to share the gospel with her family. She wanted them to know that she had become a Christian, but she was afraid of what they would think. She was afraid she wouldn't know how to explain it. So she wanted to make sure that the gospel was preached at her funeral. And it was. And God was glorified. And I am thankful.