Hold Me: God's Love in Action

Being an only child and losing my father at a young age, I was very close to my mother.

In November 2001, I received a call from her telling me that she had recently had a biopsy taken of some nodules on the back of her neck. She continued that she had just received a call from her doctor saying she had breast cancer. I can’t even begin to tell you what I felt at that moment, except fear.

I went with my mother to the hospital, where they did a bone scan and other tests. A day or two later, the doctor called and said the cancer had metastasized to the bone. It’s times like these when faith is put to the test; and I was drawing on every ounce of faith I had that God would see us through this.

Her oncologist began treatment with some medicine that seemed promising. About a month after her diagnosis, my husband and I ran into some friends, Doyle and Linda, whom we hadn’t seen in years. I told them about my mother and asked them to pray for her as I knew they were people of faith.

They told us about a small group from their church that met on Friday evenings at the home of some mutual friends, Ken and Karen. So I called Karen and asked if we could attend their small group even though we weren’t members of their church and she readily consented. This was truly an answer to prayer and God’s intervention in our lives.

What a blessing these people were to us in the days and months ahead! Their church stood with us with prayer and fasting; and even though we were not members of their local church body, they reached out beyond the “four walls” of their congregation to help meet our needs.

Over the next couple of years, Friday nights became a time of refreshment for us as we gathered for praise, worship, prayer, and Bible study. We looked forward to it all week and it became “life” to us.

As time progressed, the medicine my mother was taking was no longer effective, so she began chemotherapy. These were difficult days for all of us, but God had another body of believers standing with us during this time, and that was our own congregation. These people were amazing as well! They prayed with us, often drove my mother to the hospital and helped us in every way possible.

As time went on and she grew worse, my mother moved into our home. It was sometime around then that I mentioned to a friend at our church that I could not imagine living on this earth without my mother; that when I thought about her dying, I felt so lonely.  In response, my friend said something I will never forget: “Sharon, God doesn’t give you His grace until you need it.”

Around February we had to call Hospice. A friend of my mother’s announced at church that we needed help. The ladies signed up to come to our home and bring food and stay with my mother during the day while Paul and I were at work. One lady came in the morning, and another lady came in the afternoon and stayed until my husband or I got home. There were approximately 15 ladies who came on a rotation basis to stay with mother during this three month period.

This truly was God’s love in action for us.

When I felt the time had come that I needed to be home more with mother, they continued staying with her part-time when additional help was needed. Because I was so close to my mother, it hurt so much to see her in that condition. If these ladies hadn’t been there to relieve me some of the time, I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through it.

Mother had been standing on one scripture in particular—Psalm 71: “Oh God, You have taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works. Yes, even when I am old and gray headed, O God, forsake me not (but keep me alive) until I have declared Your mighty strength to this generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come.”

Well, God answered that prayer, and I believe my mother left this world with that scripture fulfilled in her life. She went home to be with the Lord on June 3, 2004, at the age of 82, leaving her imprint on the lives of those she touched.

Psalm 91:16 says: “With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” My mother had lived such a life in service to the Lord, was satisfied, and was ready to go home when God called her. Hallelujah!

I then remembered what my friend at church had said to me months earlier: “Sharon, God doesn’t give you His grace until you need it.” I can now testify those words are so true. When God took my mother home, His sweet grace was poured out upon me, carrying me through this transition in my life. His grace still amazes me!