Mother left a legacy of faith

My sweet mother is in heaven with her Savior, my daddy, our John Scott and my mother’s mother who died when my mother was just 6 years old. She is also with countless family members, friends and the multitude of believers.

On this Mother’s Day, it is hard to be objective when it comes to my mother, but I would suggest that she was a powerful example of trusting God with vibrant, powerful, dynamic, believing, and focused faith.

When I think of my mother I think of what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. He wrote: “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)

That word — trustworthy — sums up my mother. She was a trustworthy steward of the Lord in every area of her life, living out the gospel from day to day. Mother always took Susie and me along when she reached out to people in need: the woman on skid row in Kansas City, the migrant farm workers in the 1960s and the countless families that she fed, not because she had to but because she was an ambassador of the king.

She ministered to prisoners in prisons all over the nation and even those on death row in many states. She wrote letters to prisoners, encouraging them and writing things of the Lord to them, urging them to hold on to Jesus. She taught the illiterate to read and told them about Jesus as she taught. She cleaned houses for those who were sick, took clothes to those who were needy, sat in the hospital room with those who were dying, taught the handicapped in school and gave of her attention to those who were overlooked by society. Her actions revealed to all of them that they had value and that Jesus loved them.

I dare not think that I can be totally like my mother, but I can model my actions in this life after the Savior that she served. Mother modeled a Christ-like walk for me, and I use her example to draw closer to the Savior she loved so. I can pray that God will give me more spiritual insight to go where He wants me to go and do what He wants me to do, just like my mother did. Mother’s example sustains me, comforts me and spurs me on to deep water, trusting and powerful faith.

The writer of Hebrews wrote: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1) I know that if Mother were here, she would be cheering me on to victory in this life, like she did my entire life. She would pray with me, quote scripture to me and then encourage me to go out among the fields white with harvest to minister to those who need him.

About a month before my mother went to heaven, we had a talk that will forever be in my heart and mind. I will never forget the close communion we shared, mother and daughter and sisters in Christ. I think Mother knew her time here on earth was short and God would soon take her home to heaven. It was during that sweet conversation that I thanked Mother for teaching me about the Lord. I thanked her for the life she lived, and the example of deep water faith she set for me and my sister Susie. I thanked her for the trusting, focused, vibrant, dynamic, luminous faith she modeled for us.

Some mothers may leave their notoriety, wealth, and privilege to their children and that is wonderful. But Mother left not one of those things to me and my sister Susie. Instead we have seen firsthand a living faith that she introduced to us when we were just little girls. She left a chronicle of her life that reveals how the Lord led, guided and directed her, and the heart knowledge that this life for the Christian is not all there is.

What more could I ask for in a mother?

Judy Brandon is a Clovis resident. Contact her at:

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