A Tribute to My Mother is the short piece I will be speaking at her funeral. It’s not only one of my greatest blessings, but proves that we never know who is watching and listening. I’ll be taking a brief break from my blog due to the death of my mother. I hope to return soon.

2MefromHim

A Tribute to My Mother

My mom attended church from the time she was a young girl growing up in Reserve, New Mexico. The summer before I started at UNM, I became very involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. Our parents always encouraged us to invite our friends into our home, so we had a few meetings in our downstairs family room.

One day she came into my bedroom when I was doing homework and sat down on the bed. Even though she had been in church all her life, she didn’t know about the personal relationship with Jesus Christ that my friends and I talked about and asked me to explain it. I was overwhelmed and overjoyed.

I came to Christ through Young Life, and learned that Jesus came to provide the way to salvation for everyone. Accepting His forgiveness for my sins and gaining the assurance that I would go to heaven and could experience abundant life in Christ every single day changed my life forever. I was granted the gift of sharing Jesus with my mother.

I got out my Four Spiritual Laws and my Holy Spirit booklet. My mom was so eager and hungry, confessing that she listened to our meetings from the stairs and wanted what we had.

There in my bedroom, my mom prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior and Lord. Her life changed from that moment. Within a few years, she was a Discussion Leader in Bible Study Fellowship. Instead of just attending church, she began finding ways to serve, even with a large, busy family at home.

I don’t know how many women my mom led to the Lord, discipled, and counseled about their marriages, but her Bible was her constant companion from that moment on. If her kids or grandkids went to her for help or advice, you could be certain it would come from God’s word. She spent countless hours praying for us and I know that the power of her prayers will follow us throughout our lives.

I am so blessed to have had parents as godly as Nell and Lyle Thurston. It is hard to believe I can’t just walk into that house anymore and find them there, but I know I will see them again because I heard my mother’s prayer asking Jesus to be her Savior.

I would like to close with a passage from Psalm 116:
For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living…
What shall I return to the LORD
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, LORD;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.

Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, June 5, 2018

About the author:

Norma Gail’s debut contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams, won the 2016 Bookvana Religious Fiction Award. A women’s Bible study leader for over 21 years, her devotionals and poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the Stitches Thru Time blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, Historical Writers of America, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Norma is a former RN who lives in the mountains of New Mexico with her husband of 41 years. They have two adult children. If you’re interested in connecting with her, follow her blog, or join her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Goodreads, or Amazon.