What If?

What If?
One's birthday is a perfect time for reflection upon the strategic events that have occurred and the profound decisions that have been made which determined the course of one's life. Some of those events and decisions happened apart from one's direct involvement but they are no less influential in the course one's life has taken.

The idea of miracles is deeply imbedded in my thinking because of Mother's tale of her encounter with JESUS at the time of my birth. She did not fare well after the caesarian delivery of her baby; in fact, she was hospitalized for three months.

During that time, she had a vision of JESUS who asked, "Rose, do you want to come with ME?

Her response was, "I'd love to go with YOU, but may I stay until my baby grows up?"

JESUS agreed.

I was raised by a sweet, loving, godly mother who always put the needs of everyone else above her own. She cared little about the frills of life and was always content with what she had. Her aspirations evolved around supplying the usual day-to-day needs of her family.

At the age of 47, she was diagnosed with cancer. That transformed her thinking. At that point, she resolved that she would return to academics which she had been required to abandon at a very young age due to the financial condition of her immigrant family.

But now her circumstances were different and she wanted very much to become a doctor and to help people who found themselves suffering from the intrusion of disease into their lives.

She died when she was 48 years old. She died without the opportunity to fulfill her humanitarian goal.

My father was a cold, unloving man who never received love from his own father and consequently had no idea how to give love to anyone else. The only emotion he ever evidenced was anger. Where would I be without the influence of a godly, loving mother to guide my formative years?

My mother's beauty was renown within her small community, and as her daughter I learned that her loveliness was not merely skin deep. She possessed an inner beauty that was far more exquisite than her physical loveliness -- and that beauty was born from her trusting, loving relationship with the CHRIST who was willing to wait for her.