BELL GORMAN
(As told by her son, Steven)
“…There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents,
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Luke 15:7
No
one would believe that my sweet, sensitive, and compassionate
mother would have any hostility in her, but she did. However,
her hostility was only toward one thing– the Gospel. My family
is Jewish and Jews do not believe in Jesus, or do they?
Ever
since my wife and I came to salvation in 1985, we have been
praying for the rest of our family to come to a saving faith in
Messiah Jesus, including my mother.
About four years ago when my mother was 88, she developed
pneumonia and was put on a respirator. She was not expected to
survive, but God mercifully restored her to a measure of
health. Again, one year later, she was placed on a respirator
and not expected to live, but God mercifully healed her a second
time.
 Throughout
her health problems, we continued witnessing to my mother and
sharing the Scripture with her, but her heart was still hard
toward God. We explained to her that God had been incredibly
merciful to her in allowing her to survive her illnesses. Why
would God have healed her twice when she could have died and
entered into eternity? Could it be that He loved her and
desired for her to receive His free gift of salvation?
As time went on, my mother’s heart did begin to soften
toward God, and she began reading the Bible and asking
questions about it. She now understood that Jesus is the
promised Messiah, that He came to earth to die on the cross
for everyone’s sins, and that He rose again the third day as
the Scriptures say. Yet, my mother was not quite ready to
accept Jesus as her Savior. With the mercy that God had
shown her and the truth that she now understood, what was
stopping her from coming to a saving faith? She had two
hurdles to overcome before she would accept Jesus as her
personal Savior. First, she wanted to see her parents when
she died. We shared with her that only God knows where her
parents are and there is the hope that they came to a saving
faith before they died. Second, my mom was counting the
cost of becoming a Christian because she did not want to
receive the persecution that she expected from her unsaved
family and friends. When she overcame these two obstacles,
the Lord spoke to her heart. In fact, on May 20, 2006, she
awoke to a voice-like recording in her head: “accept Jesus
as your Savior.” This kept continually repeating until she
finally prayed and asked Jesus to be her Savior.
Immediately, the recording stopped and a peace came over her
heart because she finally had true peace with God.
At the age of 92, my mother became a born-again Christian.
God once again showed His everlasting mercy and grace in
bringing salvation to my mom’s willing heart, even at her
age. To God, age and circumstance do not matter, for He
desires for everyone to accept His entirely free gift of
salvation.
To God, age and circumstances do
not matter, for He desires for everyone to accept His
entirely free gift of salvation. |
