{"id":1892,"date":"2015-05-12T10:08:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T10:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1892"},"modified":"2015-05-12T10:08:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T10:08:20","slug":"remembering-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2015\/05\/12\/remembering-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Mom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Catherine Gilliard is co-senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary and is a DMin candidate of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS) with an expected graduation date of May 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2015\/05\/top-1.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[1892]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1893\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2015\/05\/top-1-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"top (1)\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2015\/05\/top-1-300x155.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2015\/05\/top-1.jpg 603w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>I remember how hard it was for me the first year that I didn&#8217;t find myself in the store in\u00a0front of the Hallmark cards display reading through the poetic verses written on\u00a0Mother\u2019s Day cards. I remember reading card after card until I found the one that\u00a0expressed my thanks to my mother for the sacrifices she made for me. I could never\u00a0have imagined the depth of these feelings the first time I stood, in this aisle, before\u00a0these cards, knowing that I would never need to buy another one, ever. That was in\u00a02008. If I had known the card I purchased in May of that year would be my last, I would have wanted it to be about the ways my Mom\u2019s faith has influenced mine.<\/p>\n<p>This year, I have walked with many of my friends and colleagues who have joined me in this circle of remembering our Mom. I started once again to think about how God used my Mom to strengthen my faith as a guide and model for me of how to be a witness and a vessel of God\u2019s mercy and grace.<\/p>\n<p>I thank my Mom for the ways in which she modeled her dependence upon the Holy Spirit. As a young child, I never knew the details of the problems she faced but I always knew Mom was going through something when I heard her singing \u201cHis Eye Is On The Sparrow\u201d from the kitchen. And now in my times of personal crisis I find myself\u00a0singing these words in the kitchen and finding new hope in God\u2019s promises.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As a teenager, I remember times when the choir would sing, \u201cHow Great Thou Art\u201d and Mom would cry, almost weep sometimes as she sang along. I never understood why this song brought people to tears. Now, when I sing this song during worship I have a much deeper understanding of what their tears were actually about and I find that I too\u00a0can no longer sing this song without tears flowing.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever I watched my Mom pray, she came before the Lord, transparent in her conversation and confident that once she left her concerns there, they were being handled. She had faith that God would take care of it. As I kneel in prayer, or walk out a prayer, or lay on the floor crying out to God, I am reminded of the faith of my Mom\u00a0and also the faithfulness of God. I too rise up from years of answered prayer with a confidence that God is able to take care of everything that I bring, every confession I make and every crisis I face.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t remember a Saturday morning when Mom wasn\u2019t at the food pantry, or tutoring students, leading Girl Scout cookie sells or being a Boy Scout troop leader. I can\u2019t remember a Spring Break when she wasn&#8217;t on a bus taking students on college tours and developing relationships with admission and financial directors at colleges across\u00a0the country. She was investing in the dreams of the next generation. As a child I often didn&#8217;t understand why I had to share my Mom with so many other people. And yet I can\u2019t remember a time when my Mom wasn&#8217;t there for the important things in my life. She was not there for everything, but for the \u2018firsts\u2019 and the meaningful events, she\u00a0was always there. At her home-going service, I remember the testimonies of hundreds of people who gave thanks to God for the ways in which she altered their family\u2019s future and I was so thankful for her commitment to her call.<\/p>\n<p>As a parent and pastor, who often needed to be away from my children when they were younger because of ministry and call, I am now blessed by their testimonies now that they are all adults. They often talk about the ways they&#8217;ve had to share me with others and now they understand why. I learned the art of living a sacrificial life through the\u00a0model and witness of my Mom. As we celebrate Mother\u2019s Day this year, is there a memory that you can share about how your Mom has strengthened your faith and witness in surprising ways? Join me in remembering the faith lessons of their lives and celebrating the ways their example have influenced you.<\/p>\n<p>These women were gifts to us from our loving Father in heaven. even though the time was much shorter than I ever expected I am so thankful for the years we had together. Their legacy lives on in each one of us who juggles family and call. The years go by much too quickly and your children will soon rise up and call you blessed. Happy\u00a0Mother\u2019s Day!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=1892&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Catherine Gilliard is co-senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary and is a DMin candidate of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS) with an expected graduation date of May 2015. I remember how hard it was for me the first year that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Remembering Mom - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2015\/05\/12\/remembering-mom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering Mom - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Catherine Gilliard is co-senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Atlanta, Georgia. 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