our hearts.” 7
Such was the case with my mother. I don’t know how it would have been possible to love another mother more than I loved her. How I treasure the incredibly precious times I shared with Mom during the last year of her life. One Sunday evening holds an especially tender place in my heart.
Ravaged by cancer, for the entire weekend Mother had no sleep—not even an hour—and she had become uncharacteristically restless, frequently trying to get out of bed, yet still hooked up to an IV tube. Meanwhile her hospice nurse was unable to comfort her.
I arrived at midnight, hoping to help. When I began singing softly to her, the music calmed her. So I slipped into bed beside her and just put my arm around her. Then she gently placed her head on my shoulder. For the first time in seventy-two hours, she was calm as I sang hymns of faith to her, along with all of her fun favorites, for six hours straight. We would often sing together, “You’ve Got to Accen-tuate the Positive.”
Never will I forget the love in her eyes throughout the early morning hours, Mother gazing up at me doe-like during this musical marathon. Around 5:00 a.m. she finally drifted into a peaceful slumber.
Though I knew our time together was short, God graciously anchored my soul—my mind, will, and emotions—in the painful, yet comforting truth that one day it would be far better for Mother to be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). To all who knew her, it was evident that God’s peace, favor, and comfort rested upon my mother, whose hope remained steadfastly in Him until the moment she took her last breath on earth and entered into the Savior’s waiting arms.
After my mother’s death, Eleanor, one of my dearest friends, confided that by watching Christ anchor me during this painful time of loss, she had rock-solid hope during her own beloved mother’s homegoing that she too would be anchored by Christ.
#4: THE CLAW ANCHOR
Originally designed for offshore gas and oil rigs, claw anchors are most effective on rocky, gravel, and coral bottoms. 8
Jesus is our anchor.
Like the claw anchor, Jesus stabilizes us when we are victimized . . . when verbal abuse, violence, or sexual abuse claws the heart and batters the body, leaving us emotionally and spiritually scarred. For the times when we feel powerless and preyed upon, Jesus is our powerful anchor, holding us strong and secure.
Biblical example
: Jesus one day told His disciples that they would all go across to the other side of the lake. Once on the water, Jesus fell into a deep sleep and was not awakened by a powerful storm that swamped the boat. The experienced crew believed they would surely drown! In desperation they cried out to Jesus. With only a few words He calmed the storm.
The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:24–25)
Jesus has proven Himself to be my personal “claw” anchor
during one of the darkest times of my life—a time when a traitorous “friend” stealthily sought to sabotage our ministry . . . and me.
“Julie” came to Hope For The Heart from another highly regarded ministry. In fact, I didn’t recruit her—she recruited me. “God told me I need to come help you,” she announced confidently during our first conversation. I was humbled and overjoyed that our little ministry, only a few years old at the time, could attract such an experienced pro with what sounded like a stellar record of achievements. What’s more, the head of our ministry had moved to Canada to follow her husband’s career reassignment.
God sent Julie to me just in time
, I thought.
But six months after her arrival, odd, inexplicable
Such was the case with my mother. I don’t know how it would have been possible to love another mother more than I loved her. How I treasure the incredibly precious times I shared with Mom during the last year of her life. One Sunday evening holds an especially tender place in my heart.
Ravaged by cancer, for the entire weekend Mother had no sleep—not even an hour—and she had become uncharacteristically restless, frequently trying to get out of bed, yet still hooked up to an IV tube. Meanwhile her hospice nurse was unable to comfort her.
I arrived at midnight, hoping to help. When I began singing softly to her, the music calmed her. So I slipped into bed beside her and just put my arm around her. Then she gently placed her head on my shoulder. For the first time in seventy-two hours, she was calm as I sang hymns of faith to her, along with all of her fun favorites, for six hours straight. We would often sing together, “You’ve Got to Accen-tuate the Positive.”
Never will I forget the love in her eyes throughout the early morning hours, Mother gazing up at me doe-like during this musical marathon. Around 5:00 a.m. she finally drifted into a peaceful slumber.
Though I knew our time together was short, God graciously anchored my soul—my mind, will, and emotions—in the painful, yet comforting truth that one day it would be far better for Mother to be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). To all who knew her, it was evident that God’s peace, favor, and comfort rested upon my mother, whose hope remained steadfastly in Him until the moment she took her last breath on earth and entered into the Savior’s waiting arms.
After my mother’s death, Eleanor, one of my dearest friends, confided that by watching Christ anchor me during this painful time of loss, she had rock-solid hope during her own beloved mother’s homegoing that she too would be anchored by Christ.
#4: THE CLAW ANCHOR
Originally designed for offshore gas and oil rigs, claw anchors are most effective on rocky, gravel, and coral bottoms. 8
Jesus is our anchor.
Like the claw anchor, Jesus stabilizes us when we are victimized . . . when verbal abuse, violence, or sexual abuse claws the heart and batters the body, leaving us emotionally and spiritually scarred. For the times when we feel powerless and preyed upon, Jesus is our powerful anchor, holding us strong and secure.
Biblical example
: Jesus one day told His disciples that they would all go across to the other side of the lake. Once on the water, Jesus fell into a deep sleep and was not awakened by a powerful storm that swamped the boat. The experienced crew believed they would surely drown! In desperation they cried out to Jesus. With only a few words He calmed the storm.
The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:24–25)
Jesus has proven Himself to be my personal “claw” anchor
during one of the darkest times of my life—a time when a traitorous “friend” stealthily sought to sabotage our ministry . . . and me.
“Julie” came to Hope For The Heart from another highly regarded ministry. In fact, I didn’t recruit her—she recruited me. “God told me I need to come help you,” she announced confidently during our first conversation. I was humbled and overjoyed that our little ministry, only a few years old at the time, could attract such an experienced pro with what sounded like a stellar record of achievements. What’s more, the head of our ministry had moved to Canada to follow her husband’s career reassignment.
God sent Julie to me just in time
, I thought.
But six months after her arrival, odd, inexplicable
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