Miracle Monday....scroll down for Gathering at the Well..

For the past couple of times of Miracle Monday, I wrote about my mom and the miracles of her life. She is a hero to me! I thought you might like to read more about her. She truly is a "miracle." Despite all of her trials in life, she has continued to turn to God. Her faith has overcome the most terrible of circumstances. It is really about trusting God when it hurts.

My prayer is that she encourages you!

My mother’s faith is so remarkable, considering all the trials she has had in her life. She had polio as a young child. The doctors told my grandma that my mom would never walk without braces. When they came to fit her for them, she was riding her bicycle in the driveway.

She quit school after 8th grade to work and help her family.

She met and married my father, the love of her life. As a young mother, she lost a 3 -day old baby daughter.

Several years later, when I was 6 months old, my father and my 13- yr. old brother were killed in a boating accident.

As you can imagine, my mother was devastated, feeling as if her world had fallen apart. She was left as a young mother with a 9 year old daughter and a 6 month old baby to raise on her own. In less than a year she remarried and began a new life.

Bob was a creative man who painted beautiful pictures of forests and wildlife, especially owls. He played the guitar and had a soulful voice. I remember him singing “The Green, Green Grass of Home.”

Four years later tragedy hit again in my mom’s life. One stormy night Bob was out on his motorcycle. It was slippery, and Bob was hit by a car.

Bob lost his arm and almost lost a leg in that accident. My mom nursed him through the next 9 months and took care of him while he was in a full body cast for 9 MONTHS. Bob lost more than his arm in that accident- he lost his livelihood and his love of life. He received a large settlement from the accident and didn’t need to work. So Bob began spending his free time and his money wallowing in his pain every day at several bars in our small town. It was common for him to be there by early afternoon every day. He was a bitter, angry man and a mean drunk. My most vivid childhood memories are the fights my mom and stepfather would have after a late night of drinking.

With each passing year, the fighting kept getting worse and he began beating my mom. I can remember the fear I had and the feeling of helplessness. Friday nights were the worst because the drinking that had begun in the day always continued into the late night hours. I remember lying in my bed awake dreading the sound of a car in the driveway because I knew the fighting would begin soon after that.

My mom survived that night and many more beatings, cuts, bruises, and a broken jaw. It wasn’t until Bob molested me that my left him. Because she wanted to protect me, she and Bob divorced immediately. There was no visitation allowed. All ties to Bob were cut completely.

But, through all of this, she has never turned from God and given up on Him. I have never heard her accuse God of not answering her prayers. She has kept the creed that everything happens for a reason and we need to trust in God’s plan. She surrendered her life to the Lord and taught me as a young child to completely put my trust in God. All through her life, she went to God in prayer. Again, it is important to remember that God’s ways are not our ways and that His timing is not our timing.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

Our trials should never surprise us. We live in a fallen world. Because of sin, because of the presence of evil, life will never be perfect. It’s not that Peter is saying rejoice about this bad thing that is happening to you. No, he is saying rejoice, praise God, worship the Lord during this trial.

My mom instilled in me the belief that “everything happens for a reason.” Many times WE don’t know why, but we have to trust God, and know that HE knows why.” She repeated that saying constantly through my life and she has truly lived her whole life believing it with her heart.

Has she ever cried out in pain and grief, wondering “why?”

I’m sure she has.

Has her faith ever been shaken?

I’m sure it has.

But, it has been this belief and trust in a GOOD God who is faithful that has gotten her through these painful trials. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” It doesn’t say in all good things, in only pleasant things, or in happy times, but in “ALL things, God works for the good.” And, again, it may not be the “good” that we would choose, but how God chooses.

So many times we pray that we “want to be like Jesus.” What did Jesus come to earth to do? He came to suffer, to die to His flesh, to sacrifice Himself. When we “offer our bodies as living sacrifices,” when we are obedient to God, and when we rejoice in the midst of trials, we are becoming more like Jesus.

Please visit Beth for more Miracle Monday!