Post by Leeza on Mar 27, 2015 3:53:05 GMT
I have already shared this with a few of you here, and so I ran it past Benjamin if I could post this on here, and he gave me the green light.
I would like to share this story of my mother's salvation with those of you who have unsaved family and loved ones, to encourage you to never give up.
A little background about my life with my mother. She had such a sad life, especially since she was ostracized by her family for getting pregnant with me and leaving her home to live with my father without being married. That was back in the fifties, and those things were really frowned upon back them. I always felt so responsible for her, trying to raise me by herself with no help from family, and no friends to care about her. She drank a lot to dull her pain. I tried so hard to make it up to her by being a good daughter. I struggled so much to make her happy, and I would keep my problems from her so not to burden her. When I got older and after I was saved, I would take her to church and talk with her about the Lord, but her eyes would just glaze over. She had no interest in spiritual matters. I prayed for her salvation for 20 years, and in the natural, it didn't look like she was ever going to be saved.
Until one Sunday morning when the Lord interceded and answered my prayer.
I was sitting in church one Sunday morning, worried about my mother and feeling very much alone. The worship service was over, and I sat there waiting for the pastor to come up and give the weekly sermon. I opened my Bible at random, and placed it on my lap. I just happened to look down, and I noticed that I opened to Mark 10 where the blind man was wanted Jesus to restore his sight. Then all of a sudden, Mark 10:51 was highlighted where Jesus replied, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Seriously, it looked like someone was standing behind me with a pin light, highlighting that particular verse. I looked up, thinking it was a light from the rafters shining down on my Bible. No light, no stained glass windows on the ceiling, no sun shining through the roof. I looked down again, and that verse was still lit up. I moved the Bible back and forth, and up and down, but that verse remained highlighted, no matter what I did.
All of a sudden it dawned on me that the Lord was trying to tell me something. Somehow, I knew at that very moment, that the Lord would grant me anything that that I asked for. It was a pivotal moment for me. I could have asked for so many things, but the only thing that came into my mind and heart was, "Lord, please save my mother." As soon as I prayed that, the light was taken off the Bible. At that very moment, I looked up at the pastor, and realized that he was in the middle of his sermon. All I heard him say, "And Jesus answered him saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?" I was in total shock! That's what his sermon was about, and he was saying that exact same scripture at the very moment that the Lord gave me as a confirmation!
Fast forward 10 years. I picked up my mom for Easter Sunday, and brought her to my apartment. I turned on the "Greatest Story Ever Told" while I was in the kitchen making us lunch. My mom frantically called out to me, "Eileen, come here!" Concerned that she was sick, I ran into the living room, and my mom was pointing to the TV at the scene when Jesus was dying on the cross. She looked at me in amazement, and asked me, "Did Jesus do that for us?" I told her, "Yes, Mom, He died for our sins so we could go to heaven." Joy just filled my heart because I could see that the Lord opened her spiritual eyes at last, and I told her, "Would you like to ask Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior?" Happily she said, "Oh, yes, I would!" I knelt down beside her, and asked her to repeat the sinner's prayer after me. She did, and then I took her into the kitchen to sprinkle her head with water and I baptized her in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Three months later, after her 87th birthday, she passed away. She is now with the Lord.
Never give up.
I would like to share this story of my mother's salvation with those of you who have unsaved family and loved ones, to encourage you to never give up.
A little background about my life with my mother. She had such a sad life, especially since she was ostracized by her family for getting pregnant with me and leaving her home to live with my father without being married. That was back in the fifties, and those things were really frowned upon back them. I always felt so responsible for her, trying to raise me by herself with no help from family, and no friends to care about her. She drank a lot to dull her pain. I tried so hard to make it up to her by being a good daughter. I struggled so much to make her happy, and I would keep my problems from her so not to burden her. When I got older and after I was saved, I would take her to church and talk with her about the Lord, but her eyes would just glaze over. She had no interest in spiritual matters. I prayed for her salvation for 20 years, and in the natural, it didn't look like she was ever going to be saved.
Until one Sunday morning when the Lord interceded and answered my prayer.
I was sitting in church one Sunday morning, worried about my mother and feeling very much alone. The worship service was over, and I sat there waiting for the pastor to come up and give the weekly sermon. I opened my Bible at random, and placed it on my lap. I just happened to look down, and I noticed that I opened to Mark 10 where the blind man was wanted Jesus to restore his sight. Then all of a sudden, Mark 10:51 was highlighted where Jesus replied, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Seriously, it looked like someone was standing behind me with a pin light, highlighting that particular verse. I looked up, thinking it was a light from the rafters shining down on my Bible. No light, no stained glass windows on the ceiling, no sun shining through the roof. I looked down again, and that verse was still lit up. I moved the Bible back and forth, and up and down, but that verse remained highlighted, no matter what I did.
All of a sudden it dawned on me that the Lord was trying to tell me something. Somehow, I knew at that very moment, that the Lord would grant me anything that that I asked for. It was a pivotal moment for me. I could have asked for so many things, but the only thing that came into my mind and heart was, "Lord, please save my mother." As soon as I prayed that, the light was taken off the Bible. At that very moment, I looked up at the pastor, and realized that he was in the middle of his sermon. All I heard him say, "And Jesus answered him saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?" I was in total shock! That's what his sermon was about, and he was saying that exact same scripture at the very moment that the Lord gave me as a confirmation!
Fast forward 10 years. I picked up my mom for Easter Sunday, and brought her to my apartment. I turned on the "Greatest Story Ever Told" while I was in the kitchen making us lunch. My mom frantically called out to me, "Eileen, come here!" Concerned that she was sick, I ran into the living room, and my mom was pointing to the TV at the scene when Jesus was dying on the cross. She looked at me in amazement, and asked me, "Did Jesus do that for us?" I told her, "Yes, Mom, He died for our sins so we could go to heaven." Joy just filled my heart because I could see that the Lord opened her spiritual eyes at last, and I told her, "Would you like to ask Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior?" Happily she said, "Oh, yes, I would!" I knelt down beside her, and asked her to repeat the sinner's prayer after me. She did, and then I took her into the kitchen to sprinkle her head with water and I baptized her in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Three months later, after her 87th birthday, she passed away. She is now with the Lord.
Never give up.