SAMUEL G. TOOMA, AUTHOR
Sam's Blog |
MIRACLES (CONTINUED)12/24/2020 I'm continuing to post the miracles that I have been blessed with throughout my life. Of all the stories in my memoirs, this is, perhaps, my favorite. I have titled this event "My Mother's Rebirth". This miracle of my mother coming to the Lord Jesus when she was over 90 years old is truly a miracle. In fact, this story is made up of 4 separate miracles. Whenever I think of this event in my life, I still shake my head in amazement.
MY MOTHER’S REBIRTH (2008). This next story seems out of place. All the stories in this chapter involve episodes in my professional career. This story could also be included in the next chapter where I relate stories that are in my full faith-walk testimony. However, the story of my mother coming to the Lord Jesus has to be included in this chapter of miracles. My mother and father moved from Rhode Island to be with us on Hilton Head in 2003. They moved in to a 2-bedroom condominium. Soon thereafter, their health began to fail, and my dad passed away in January 2005, one week short of his 90th birthday. Soon thereafter, my Mother had to have her gallbladder removed, and her health began to worsen. Before long, she was in a full-care nursing home. Her ideas of God and faith had deteriorated over the years, and I began to fret over her eternal future. I began witnessing her in earnest. I tried to talk to her about the beauty of the Christian faith and that eternal salvation was available to her if she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and gave her life over to Him. I went over our weekly Community Bible Study (CBS) questions and commentaries, I took her to church, and read daily devotionals to her. All to no avail. This went on for several years, and as I saw her health continuing to fail, I started to panic. Then, the first of several miracles happened. I did what I should have done in the beginning; I prayed for help. Soon, one night I was lying in bed thinking about what I could do. Then I heard the Holy Spirit in a very clear and concise voice. [This was not the first time that this had happened. See my chapter on Testimony Stories]. He said, “Ask your mother questions about our faith and see what is troubling her.” I immediately got up, went to my desk in the bedroom, and began writing down questions fundamental to our faith. This was a strange occurrence to me because it seemed like an out-of-body experience. I actually saw myself from behind writing at my desk. When I awoke the next morning, I rushed to the desk to see if I had been dreaming. There, on the desk, were two pages of questions written in pencil in my handwriting. The first question was very basic, “Do you believe in God”?, and they got progressively more specific about our faith. I shook my head. It had not been a dream at all. The next day, I visited my Mother and got her out of her bed and into her recliner. I then told her that I would ask her a series of questions about the Christian faith, and I wanted her to give me a truthful answer; not one she felt that I wanted to hear. She agreed to do this. I started with the belief in God question and worked my way through the others. Her answers were very encouraging to me. Her answers were what I had hoped to hear, but she did have some caveats. But as I progressed through the questions, I got to the one on the virgin birth. Her answer was a very definitive “Absolutely not!” This took me by surprise since she had done so well to this point. I asked her why, and she said it was impossible for a virgin to get pregnant. I used all the standard arguments like, if God can create the universe, then getting a virgin pregnant should be a piece of cake. All to no avail. She was immovable on this issue. Then, the second miracle took place. At this time, at St. Luke’s Church, I was responsible for calling people who were new to Hilton Head and had attended the church Sunday service. I would welcome them, tell them what the church was all about, and answer any questions they may have. I called a lady who had filled out a visitor’s card. I remember her name. It was Mary Pryor. I don’t know if Mary had ever attended St. Luke’s more than once. In fact, I never met her. Then, weeks later after our phone conversation and about 2 days after I asked my mother the questions, I received an email from Mary Pryor. The subject of the email was “The Virgin Birth.” Well, this caught my immediate attention, and I read her email. It was a daily devotional on how important the virgin birth is to our faith. It talked about how Luke, a physician, had probably talked to Mary, the mother of Jesus, about her experience. And if anyone understood the process of conception, it certainly would be Luke. If he bought into the idea, it had to be true. I could not believe what was happening. This little devotional seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. That day, I rushed to see my mother with a copy of the devotional along with a version of the sinner’s prayer. I read it to her and gave her more information on Luke; the writer of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, a highly intelligent Greek, a thorough, careful historian, and a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. I asked her to read the documents several times and think about them. Two days later, I visited my mother again, and I asked her if she had studied the devotional. She said that she had. I then asked her if she had a love for Jesus. She said that she did, and it was growing every day. I had to pick myself up off the floor. I could not believe what I had just heard. She had also prayed the sinner’s prayer and had committed herself to Jesus. Now it is time for miracle 3, the clincher. About a month or so later, Sylvia and I were eating dinner. I was just about to put some food in my mouth when Sylvia asked me. “Sam, have you noticed how much your mother has changed lately?” The food never reached my mouth. I put the fork down and said, “Yes I have.” I could not believe what I had just heard. Before, my mother would constantly complain about her roommate; how she bothered her all the time and complained about everything. My mother hated the nursing care staff and said how they were always making fun of her behind her back and laughing at her; how the food was bad and she hated it; how she could not sleep at night. She complained about everything. Now, after she came to the Lord, I asked her about her roommate, and she said how her roommate had no family, was lonely, and that she (my mother) was all that she had. One day she asked me if I could buy a blouse or something for one of the nursing staff. She said how much the nurse had been tending to her needs. She also said how much fun they were by cracking jokes all the time. I asked how the food was lately. She said that it was still bad, but she added how difficult it was to prepare food for so many people at once. She also told me that she was sleeping better. Once, not long before this happened, I had told my mother about the Holy Spirit; that once you accept Jesus into your life, you are given this wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, and how the Holy Spirit can change your life. I remember what she told me, “How can I change? I’m over 90 years old and living in a nursing home”. Reread the paragraph above, and you can see what the Holy Spirit can do. There is one other aside which I feel is important to this story. I call it miracle number 4. I mentioned that I had never met Mary Pryor. After this miracle of my mother’s conversion, I called Mary, and I asked her why she had sent me the virgin birth devotional. I had never told her about my mother’s hang-up. She said, “I don’t know why. I just thought that you might find it interesting”. Isn’t that interesting?
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AuthorMy life's experiences. Archives
May 2021
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