{"id":34058,"date":"2025-11-03T21:16:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=34058"},"modified":"2025-11-03T21:17:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:17:17","slug":"34058","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=34058","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Moment – Finishing Strong – On the 23rd Anniversary of Mom’s Glorious Homegoing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mom and me, Tennessee Christmas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Adapted from the Archives<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.<\/em> – 2 Corinthians 4:7-10<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Mom was a young 72 when she was diagnosed with cancer. We were overseas at the time, and I wanted so to be home with her. She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma \u2013 at the time, supposedly \u201cthe best kind of cancer you can have\u201d. Highly treatable. Long remissions. Often cured.\u00a0Mom would die after 3 years of intensive, and sometimes experimental, chemotherapy. She never caught a break. Yet, she didn\u2019t look at it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her journey with God in those days was other-worldly. The Mom I knew loved to serve people, and cancer would not stop that. She had grown up poor and with a dad who could be mean when he drank. She dreamed of college but it was never meant to be. Instead she became a student of life, and she never tired of that. She was a beautiful blend of Mary and Martha<\/u><\/a> \u2013 wholly satisfied whether \u201csitting at the feet of Jesus\u201d or serving the needs of those around her. I love that she was my Mom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She taught me how to live\u2026and she taught me how to die. We were home in the States when Mom\u2019s cancer finished its course in her. She stubbornly guarded her time at home and had the will and the support (of my Dad, family and friends) to\u00a0endure from home\u2026and there was God, holding her tight against the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fuji002<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mom never prayed for healing, but we did. Mom prayed that this cancer, the illness and all that was part of it (including a devastating Shingles-related neuralgia), would bring glory to God. Her prayer was answered, and ours, ultimately, in Heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her dying took three days. If you had known my Mom, you knew a person that was all about life \u2013 helping and encouraging others, pointing them to God, determined, in faith, to make sense of what seemed utter nonsense. She continued to be about that until she went into a coma the last day. While she was awake that final weekend, I asked her (over and again) how she was. One time, I remember, she nodded a bit, and whispered, \u201cI\u2019m O.K.\u201d It was her face that spoke volumes. Forehead lifted, blue eyes bright, an almost sunny expression. That \u201cI\u2019m O.K.\u201d was accompanied by an almost delighted look of marvel\u2026of wonder. Like, \u201cWow! I really am O.K.!\u201d God was meeting her at the point of her greatest need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom and I have always had amazing talks about the deep things of God and life. She told me one time that she envied us our certainty of His call to a life overseas. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever heard God speak so clearly to me,\u201d she lamented. In the last days of her life, it came to me to ask her if she heard God speak to her lately. She answered right away, with that same look of wonder, \u201cAll the time!\u201d If cancer had to be the instrument of such grace, then it became a gift to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom entered Eternity during the reading of 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (see above). Her young pastor and his wife came unexpectedly that evening, rushing in, wide-eyed, as if on a mission. We brought them back to her room, and they sat with us, around her bed. She had been unresponsive all day. Her pastor opened his Bible and began reading. Mom had this sweet habit of knitting her forehead and shaking her head, in response to something that touched her heart. As he read, after being quiet and still all day, she knit her forehead and breathed her last. We all felt transfigured in that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow marks 23 years since Mom went to be with the Lord, and I miss her today and every day. She was so spent when she left us, yet gloriously whole at the same time. A bit of prose from Henry Van Dyke always comes to mind in thinking of her Homegoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gone From My Sight<\/u><\/em><\/a> by Henry Van Dyke<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photo Credit: Curt Ellis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side, spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, someone at my side says, \u201cThere, she is gone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gone where?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,<\/em>
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.<\/em>
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her diminished size is in me \u2014 not in her.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, just at the moment when someone says, \u201cThere, she is gone,\u201d<\/em>
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices<\/em>
ready to take up the glad shout, \u201cHere she comes!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom taught us how to live\u2026and she taught us how to die. She \u201cfought the good fight\u2026finished the race\u2026and kept the faith<\/em>.\u201d<\/strong> (2 Timothy 4:7<\/a>). For us, there is still a race to be run.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks, Mom, for showing us how it\u2019s done. See you at the Finish Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mom<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it\u2019s all been said and done<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
There is just one thing that matters:
Did I do my best to live for truth, did I live my life for You?
When it\u2019s all been said and done
All my treasures will mean nothing
Only what I\u2019ve done for love\u2019s reward
Will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord, Your mercy is so great
That You look beyond our weakness
And find purest gold in miry clay
Making sinners into saints<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will always sing Your praise
Here on earth and ever after
For You\u2019ve shown me Heaven\u2019s my true home
When it\u2019s all been said and done<\/strong>
You\u2019re my life when life is gone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord I\u2019ll live my life for You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Lyrics<\/u><\/a> & Music by Jim Cowan \u00a9 1999 Integrity\u2019s Hosanna! Music<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mom\u2019s Irises<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube Video \u2013 When It\u2019s All Been Said and Done<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday Morning Moment \u2013 Mom \u2013 a Lifetime Full of Love Notes \u2013 Her Birthday Just Ahead of Valentine\u2019s Day – Deb Mills<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother\u2019s Day \u2013 On Mothering and Grandmothering \u2013 a Life of Love, Launching, and Lifting to God<\/em> – Deb Mills<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Children Arise and Call Her Blessed<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Charles Spurgeon\u2019s reflections on a Godly mother<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mom and me, Tennessee Christmas [Adapted from the Archives] We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed … Continue reading Monday Morning Moment – Finishing Strong – On the 23rd Anniversary of Mom’s Glorious Homegoing<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[810,1070,1628,2126,1705,2307,794,3208,1277,903,2556,1267,599,33,18,317,1103,263,795,2611,1301,1450,353,1437,432,433,3752,789,887,1456,610,32],"tags":[264,863,2291,744,2294,2292,2290,2293,746,1595,2288,7485,2,1060],"class_list":["post-34058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-good-gifts","category-cancer","category-character","category-community","category-conversations","category-emotions","category-faithfulness","category-finishing-strong","category-glory-of-god","category-grace","category-grief-and-loss","category-healing","category-heaven","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-lessons-learned","category-lifelong-learning","category-lives-full-of-god","category-love-2","category-love-your-neighbor","category-mom","category-monday-morning","category-monday-morning-moment","category-mothers","category-music","category-pray","category-purpose-in-life","category-relationships","category-remembering","category-steadfast-love","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-walk-with-god","tag-cancer","tag-charles-spurgeon","tag-earthen-vessels","tag-finishing-strong","tag-godly-mother","tag-gone-from-my-sight","tag-hard-pressed","tag-henry-van-dyke","tag-homegoing","tag-life-of-jesus","tag-mary-and-martha","tag-mildred-byrd-mcadams","tag-mom","tag-treasure"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sauPAB-34058","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34058"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34069,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34058\/revisions\/34069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}