God is Always With Us ~ by Teresa

God is Always With Us ~ by Teresa

Hello everyone!  I am honored to be writing this blog!  My name is Teresa Smith.  I live in northern Illinois and work for a plumbing & heating company.  I am married, I have 3 children, 1 stepson, and 2 grandchildren, and one on the way!!

I grew up in church, had great parents, and a wonderful childhood.  I loved my dad (wanted to marry him when I was little!) and was by my mom all the time.  She was so smart!  As the years passed we remained very close, and as we became older, best friends.  I could talk to her about anything!

As my kids grew older and moved out one their own, I became an “empty nester” and hated it!  My mom and I became great craft buddies!! (We had always crafted, but life got busy with 3 kids and a full time job.) We made soap and chap stick, we used beads to make crosses to hang on the rear view mirror, or wherever, we scrap-booked, made homemade cards, we even opened an Etsy store and tried selling cards!  We had soooo much fun!

After six months of a constant cough, my mom was told by the doctor that what had started as colon cancer, had metastasized to her lungs.  The doctor said she had one, maybe two years, if she was lucky.  This was unreal to us kids, and to her too…until the chemo started.

There were ups and downs, and many tears.  But through it all, my mom was so positive!  You see, she had already beat breast and uterine cancer.  She talked about “next Christmas” and years to come.  She told us that we had to keep the faith, even for when she died.  A lot of the time it seemed SHE was the strong one through this devastating time.  We watched her die for two years exactly.

When I left her that Tuesday night at the hospital, I NEVER would have imagined a 2:00 a.m. phone call.  We went to the hospital and she was completely unresponsive.  We sat with her and talked to her about seeing Jesus. She had told us that if she was incoherent to “talk loud so I don’t miss anything!”  About 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m., I was pulling up her socks saying, “she likes her socks tight on her toes”,  she started wiggling them! We had a beautiful gift from God!  She opened her eyes and looked at each of us three kids and told us she loved us one by one.  Then she went back to unconsciousness.  She passed away that night at midnight.  I know my mom is dancing with Jesus and her family!  Her faith was a quiet, but strong faith.  Since her death, and going through her things, I have found so many places where she would write a scripture down.  Or just write positive things to do.  My mom was a woman of faith.  She loved the Lord with everything she had.  And while I have had a lot of trouble with this grieving process, I know she is in Heaven, and that I will see her again!

Something that I have learned from my mom, and her death, is that we should always have hope!

Jesus is there for us always…He never changes!  He wants us to cling to Him in hard times and in good times.  In this scary world today, keep your eyes toward heaven.  Read your Bible, listen to worship music, come to God in prayer.  Keep Him at the forefront of your life-always-He will not let you down!!

“Circumstances and situations are changing faster than we can keep up.  Yet, this is not the time to give in to fear, worry, or anxiety.  We are certain of the hope we have in Jesus because He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

3 Replies to “God is Always With Us ~ by Teresa”

  1. Teresa, Thank you for reminding us of the hope that is there and to cherish the moments we have. I love this!

  2. Teresa I thank you for your posts our mothers were a lot alike as Godly women. Cherish every memory. I miss my mom everyday but would never want her to be in pain again. Love you

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