Nana's hope of heaven - gone to be with the Lord

 April 2009 

On April 5th, my mother, Nana, passed away at the age of 92. Nana was a profound influence on her 9 children and especially on our family. The ministry of "Families Walking With God" that, we believe, the Lord has given us has much of its roots in Nana because of the life she lived and her faith in God.

From a very young age she taught each of her children to pray and she talked a lot about heaven. I grew up believing the Lord was real and that when I died I would go to be with Him.

She lived a selfless life and poured herself out for her children. It was her love for the Lord and each of her children that had such an impact on our lives. She had very high moral standards and none of us wanted to do anything wrong because of the hurt it would cause in her life.

Nearly 15 years ago, my father died and Nana asked if we could live with her in their large house. It was the beginning of 15 wonderful years for us. Nana was 77 at the time and some of us wondered whether she would make it to 80 as her health was failing. Well, she poured herself into looking after our family and she seemed to get a new lease of life.

She was a great blessing to our family in the way she served us. About 5 years ago her health deteriorated and she gradually became increasingly disabled. She had a stroke about 18 months ago which left her totally bedridden and she was not able to even feed herself. We could not have looked after her without the help of caregivers looking after her for 3 1/2 hours a day as well as members of Colin's family also helping out.

In some ways she was more of a blessing to our family when she became bedridden. This was because each of our children had the opportunity to care for her and develop a lifestyle of compassionate serving and caring.

It was mainly during the past 15 years that the ministry of "Families Walking With God" has developed. It is our belief that this ministry would not have happened if the Lord had not given me such a godly Mother.

It was a very special funeral with each of her 9 children, some of her grandchildren & Kathy, her daughter-in-law, taking part. Most of them paid tribute to the influence she had been in their lives. My brother Derek, who is a Baptist minister, took the service and I preached a message. For a slightly edited version of "Nana's Hope of Heaven" please click here.

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