Everlasting Place
  • Home
  • One way
    • Proof
  • Sadie Sparrow
    • Sadie Sparrow Excerpt
    • Author Chat
    • Articles
    • Book Reviews
  • Memoir
    • Memoir Excerpts
    • Reviews, interviews & endorsements
  • Blogs
    • Eternal eyes: a blog about forever
    • Golden years: a blog about the elderly
  • Old folks
    • Planting tips for Christians
  • Messages from Chris Carrillo
  • Library
  • Bookstore
  • Contact

Losing your mom

5/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sooner or later, most of us will go through the horrible process of losing, and mourning, our mothers. But I've just been reminded that there is a way through and past this uniquely devastating form of grief. 

The reminder came via my friend Kathy, who lost her beloved mom two years ago. She sent me an article from CareNotes, a publication of One Caring Place.  In this piece, author Peggy Heinzmann Ekerdt provides some wonderful insights into what can make this event so personally catastrophic. 

For instance, as Ekerdt points out, losing your mom can mean losing: 

  • Your sole source of unconditional love. A mother’s love “is often tested, but rarely fails. So when a mother dies, the loss of unconditional love is often a loss that no one else can understand, much less fill.”
  • Your identity. “It is as though a fundamental part of me has existence only in my mother’s memory,” writes Ekerdt, quoting Roberta Bondi in Memories of God, “and when my mother dies this part of me will die, too.”
  • Your family connector. “When a mother dies, some … wonder why they feel as if they have lost touch with siblings.” As my own sister said in the wake of our mother’s death, “Mom was the glue that held us together.”
  • Protection. “There is a sense of security that accompanies the knowledge that even into adulthood, mothers look out for their children, and God help anyone who attempts harm. That shield of protection, both physical and emotional, is lost when a mother dies.”

In this article, Ekerdt has taken a secular approach to the subject – no doubt because it’s the only way to avoid offending some people in this perennially offended culture we live in today.

But as I read it, I was reminded that there is a source of unconditional love, identity, family connection, and protection that transcends what even the most wonderful mother could ever provide: and that’s our Creator, the God who reveals Himself to us in the Bible.

After all, God is love, as the apostle John tells us in 1 John 4. He loves us so much that He died to pay the penalty for our sins. And He forgives those who repent and trust in Him, so completely that He separates us from our transgressions as far as east is from west (see Psalm 103). 

What’s more, that fundamental part of me that existed in my mom’s memory also exists in the Lord’s – and it does so perfectly, without the affectionate “re-interpretation” a mother may give it. That may not seem like such a good thing, having our Creator know everything about us, warts and all. But see above; He forgives!

And how about that family connector? When we become His children through repentance and trust, we also become members of the most astonishing family of all – His church. Even if this life were all there is to our existence, it would be a tragedy to miss membership in this family; I doubt that there’s any greater love among human beings than what can be experienced in a fellowship of born-again believers in Jesus Christ. 

And protection? There’s none like the Lord Himself. He is in sovereign control of all our circumstances, and He makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (see Romans 8). That’s true even if a particular circumstance feels for the moment like the opposite of protection; sooner or later, if we are paying attention, we will see that He allowed it for our good.   

Best of all, He has promised never to leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He will always be His children’s unfailing source of unconditional love, identity, connection, and protection. 

It’s been almost 17 years since I lost my mom. I still miss her terribly, and can’t wait to see her again in heaven. But what a comfort it is to know that the Lord God Himself provides all that a mother can provide and infinitely more – and not only in this life, but for all eternity. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Kitty
    Foth-Regner

    I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, a freelance copywriter, a nursing-home volunteer, and the author of books both in-process and published -- including Heaven Without Her. 

    Archives

    December 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Care to subscribe?

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from tracie7779, Luci Correia, Maxwell Hamilton, giardinaggio, Doug1021, Angel Xavier Viera, Damian Gadal, Reboots, leoncillo sabino, mRio, HikingArtist.com, guymoll, csath07, Guudmorning!, fred_v, homegets.com, ishaip, jinxmcc, freeparking :-|, CallMeWhatEver, BryonLippincott, simpleinsomnia, csread, nicephore, Doug Beckers, mandydale, berniedup, tontantravel, h.koppdelaney, Jill Clardy, anieto2k, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, QuidoX, Ryo | [ addme. ], ShebleyCL, TinyTall, proggy-yahoo, Infiniteyes, Genista, kippster, Speculum Mundi, HerPhotographer, Tauralbus, megallypuff, harshxpatel, Waiting For The Word, CoreBurn, Gordon Chirgwin, {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}, John McLinden, Patrick Feller, jikatu, Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors, byzantiumbooks, bizmac, H o l l y., Peter Blanchard, sheriffmitchell, Tony Webster, hectorir, City of Overland Park, luis_cunha, Sam Howzit, bertknot, QuotesEverlasting, iturde, ejmc, VARNISHdesign, Cimm, Good Book Reader, Renaud Camus, banjipark, romana klee, 00alexx, erix!, branestawm2002, amsfrank, m01229, cbcmemberphotos2477, rhode.nel, Veronique Debord, joshjanssen, zenjazzygeek, h.koppdelaney, Laurel Mill Players, quinn.anya, *ErinBrierley*, Ben Pugh, Photographing Travis, BarnImages.com, anees.waqas, swambo, Alan Miles NYC, glenngould, Patrick Feller, davecito, wade in da water, Endre Majoros, France1978, dainamara, theseanster93, insightpest, eliduke, volker-kannacher, cogdogblog, Editor B, poshdee, brewbooks, J D Mack, ThomasKohler, mayeesherr. (in West Bengal!), TEDxHouston, Ms. Phoenix, PBoGS, Eselsmann™, Inside Guide To London, ShironekoEuro, Tom Anderson, flequi, cogdogblog, njaminjami, Search Engine People Blog, ShanMcG213, Julie Edgley, randihausken, pescatello, Waiting For The Word, moriza, Iain Farrell, Arizona Parrot, digitalmindphotography, enjosmith, www.WeisserPhotography.com, STC4blues, Holidayextras, Randy Roe, goprogresswent, BenDibble, kstoyer, Rennett Stowe, williac, ImNotQuiteJack, Life Mental Health, Jose Antonio Cotallo Lopez, gruntzooki, electricinca, adactio, miheco, Zemlinki!, bnilsen, chispita_666