3 - Mom After Jesus - Her Second Beginning

Previous: The First Beginning - My Mom Before Jesus

For those of you reading this who knew my mom after the second beginning but not before, you may be having difficulty picturing the woman I described earlier. My comments and recollections were not borne out of judgment, merely observation.  My mom’s life, before Jesus, was characterized by behavior characteristic of those who are NOT born again by the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus.  

Galatians 5:19-21 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

But after Jesus, there was a remarkable change in her life.  This is what the Word says is characteristic of those who have been born again, walking in obedience to the Word of God and yielded to the leading of the Spirit of God.

Galatians 5:22-23 “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control.”

Before Jesus, my mom was merely living in a way that was consistent with her nature.  Just like the rest of us. Our lives all play the same song.  The tune is the same just with slightly different lyrics. That can be said both before and after we meet Jesus.  

As a child, my parents exposed me to a plethora of religious beliefs and practices.  Before he remarried, my dad had me baptized in an Episcopal church when I was 5 or 6 during one of the visitation weekends that we four children would spend with him.  When he remarried – his wife attended a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall … and so we switched from an Episcopal church to a Kingdom Hall.  Later they transitioned to a Spiritualist church. During the service, mediums would communicate with the dead and relay messages to members in attendance.  I can distinctly remember  the congregation singing  “God I believe, God I believe, All things are possible, God I believe.”  They had to if they really thought they were actually talking with dearly departed uncle Harry.  When my mom found out she told us we could not attend that church any more.  For most, if not all, of her married life, she was what is known as a non-practicing Catholic.  My Baptist brothers would call her a backslider!  So as an alternative to having conversations with dead people, she had me attend my step-dad’s church, the First Church of Christ Science (Christian Scientist).   Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

After high school I joined the Army.  While I was serving in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 as a radio operator, I would write letters home. They call that snail mail today.  I don’t remember when the change in the letters from home happened exactly, but I started receiving letters from my mom that referred to Jesus.  I remember thinking that she had become a Jesus freak.  That is a term used during the Jesus movement of the 60’s and 70’s.  When I returned home, I returned to a place that was unknown to me.  My mom was not the same woman and my step dad was not the same man I had left.  In fact, the three younger children were also changed.  But I still remembered what my mom was like before I left.  I remembered that my step dad would drink long-necks on Friday night while he watched the Friday night fights.  I remembered that my mom had stashed a bottle of Sloe Gin above the stove along with her Kent cigarettes.  I knew that it was only a matter of time before the “old mom” would be exposed.  Was I surprised when she threw my six pack of beer in the trash and broke my albums in half because they used the Lord’s name in vain.  Then one day, my bags were on the porch.  No yelling … no anger … just “Go find another place to live.”  By the way, I knew I deserved it.  I was trying to provoke her.  Didn’t work out the way I thought.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says the old has passed and the new has come.  But I didn’t understand it, I thought it they were acting.  That was because I was spiritually blind.  (1 Corinthians 2:14) “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” The change in my family made me feel even more distant and disconnected than I had before.  

Years later my mom shared her conversion story with me.  It seems that she had started reading the Bible while she laid out in the back yard to get a tan.  She was reading the book of John chapter 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”  She said that she suddenly understood for the first time that Jesus – the Word – was and is God.  The Holy Spirit was at work in her, bringing conviction of the truth.  She prayed by faith to receive eternal life through Jesus and her life was changed forever.  

That was her second beginning.  What was cool is that not long after, my step dad also prayed the prayer of faith followed by my two brothers and my baby sister.  

By this time all four of the older children had already left home.  Understandably the four of us were skeptical and doubted the reality of her conversion. We were waiting confidently that the old-mom would soon show herself.  She couldn’t keep this charade up forever.  But, the old mom never showed her face again because what we did not understand was the old-mom had been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).

Mom told me that she prayed that all of her children would put their faith in Jesus.  And now, today – all seven of us are saved.  She also shared her faith with her brothers and sisters.  She was so concerned that they were trusting religion and not Jesus for redemption and eternal life.  And they were.  She wanted them to know Jesus like she knew Jesus.  While not all of them accepted Jesus,  many did.  She had an incredible, eternal impact on the future generations of our family.  

Mom and Me

She was a student of the Word.  She memorized the first chapter of John.  She studied it.  She taught it.  She served others. She discipled younger Christians.  She had godly wisdom. And she expressed her love for me, to me.  When you meet Jesus your life is changed.

This part of the story will not be complete if I don’t share about my step-dad’s second beginning.  That he would one day be my spiritual father. Greater than the natural one.  You see a natural father can give you 80 or 90 years of life on this planet.  Your spiritual father will lead you to Jesus and show you how to live for eternity with your heavenly Father. I will share how that happened in another post.

Next:  My Spiritual Dad's Second Beginning …