The Year of Jubilee

As I began to look back over this year, and all the things that my husband, David, and I have had to deal with, and how God has brought us through every single thing, and my thoughts went back to my Mother and some of her last words to me that really stand out in my mind. Last year, 2010, my Mother's health had been going down for some time, and my family knew she was not doing well. We all decided to go to AL for the Thanksgiving Holidays and kind of combine Thanksgiving and Christmas together, because we all had a feeling she might not be here for Christmas, so we all went to their house. We had a wonderful time, cooking, enjoying each other, and the night before we all left, my Mother sang some of her favorite songs. Our family all love to sing, so I played the piano, my nephew played the guitar, and my brother played the guitar some, and we all sang together. The last song she sang that night was "I Hold a Clear Title" and before the song ended, she began to cry and looked at me, and said "I can't sing anymore tonight". We felt it was making her sad so we stopped and redirected our attention to other things. That night before she went to sleep, we gathered around her to pray and we prayed. I was trying to pray for God's will to be done, but I just couldn't. I wanted God to heal her because I didn't want to lose her. As we were praying, Mother began to pray louder than any of us, and her words were, "God I want you to heal me but if it's not your will to heal me on this earth, I'm ready to go!" I just laid my head on her shoulder and cried. I knew God knew I couldn't pray that way, so He allowed Mother to pray that way. The next morning, everyone was getting ready to go home, and I went in my Mother's room and laid down on the bed with her, and began telling her how I couldn't believe this year had gone by so fast. She looked at me and said, "2011 is going to be the year of Jubilee". I asked her if she really believed that? She said " Absolutely!" So when David walked into the room, I told him what Mother said and he said it sounded good to him.
In Dec., 2011, a little over a week later, we had to go back to AL, Mother had been admitted to ICU, she was very sick. Two days before we went down there, my Mother had not spoken a word, and my Dad was on the phone talking to me and all of a sudden, Mother looked at my Dad and said, "Is that Renee"? , he was amazed and said Yes, and he asked her if she wanted to talk to me and she did! She told me over and over how much she loved me and missed me and what a good time she had Thanksgiving. I was so happy! My Dad called my brother and she talked with him a long time! We felt like God was going to heal her! She never spoke another word... My Dad called back, said she had took a turn for the worse, and we headed to AL. In the hospital room, we sang to her, prayed with her, read the Bible to her, then on Dec. 6, she went to be with the Lord. The hardest thing I've ever faced in my life! I thought about what she said, about 2011 being the year of Jubilee. In Feb, 2011, as I've shared with most of you, I had a heart attack but God gave me a complete healing! This year, the Lord  has been talking to me and David about a ministry. We feel the calling on our lives, but God has not yet revealed to us what kind of ministry, or where He is going to use us, but we know He will in His time. But God has done so many things in mine and David's life already this year! We have went through so many battles, and I will share some of those in the future with you, but He has sustained us through everyone of them! He has taught us so many lessons, and still is teaching us, every day. It has been so hard at times, but when I look at where He has brought us from...to what He has brought us to...it's amazing!!! And we are so thankful for what He has shown us! I wouldn't trade anything for it! We are excited and looking forward to God leading us in the direction He wants us to go! And as I look at all these things, and how God has blessed us, answered so many prayers for us, taught us lessons we needed to learn, and brought us closer to Him, I couldn't begin to name everything He has done for us this year....then I'm reminded of my sweet Mother's words...the words God gave her that morning....and I realize....she's in the presence of the Lord, and although we miss her so bad, she's where we all are striving every day to be...God has done a work in our lives this year....Mother was right......I do believe this is the year of Jubilee ~ Thank you Jesus!