This is an incredible story that I had to share with my blog readers. Given that today's marriages don't last, I thought that it would be nice to know that it is possible to give your life to another, to live as one.
A Tribute to my Mother by Pastor (Dr.) Erwin Lutzer
After having served her generation by the will of God,
my dear mother got her wish and went home to heaven on January 1, 2012,
a month after her 103rd birthday. By any measure, mother was a
remarkable woman. She was a hard worker who gladly sacrificed for her
family; she had a focused love for God and intolerance for sin. She was a
woman of prayer, a woman who understood better than anyone else I know,
both the eventual terrors that await the unsaved and the glories of
heaven reserved for those who belong to the King of Kings. She loved
Christ passionately and has waited with a longing patience for her
entrance into the heavenly kingdom. And what an entrance she will have!
Mother
was born to German parents in the Ukraine in 1908 and after World War I
began in 1914, the Russian government, fearing that the Germans within
its borders might mutiny, forced them to become refugees to places like
Afghanistan or Siberia. Incredibly, her father (my grandfather) had
actually come to the United States to make preparations to bring his
entire family here to Chicago. But when the war started, he immediately
made plans to hurry back to be with his family. Providentially, he was
able to catch the last passenger ship back to Europe; after that the
ships were used only for war material. If he had been stranded here in
the US, my mother’s family would have had to manage the
hardships of Siberia on their own. How thankful they were that he was
able to return in time to be with them on this long and painful journey.
Meanwhile,
the trip to Siberia took weeks (the large family had only one horse and
wagon) and when they arrived at the Volga river they were loaded onto
barges and from there herded into freight cars for the long train trip
to the northland. The entire family (with about six or seven children at
the time) lived in one room; later they moved into a basement. Life was
not only very hard but also dangerous. Remember, not only was World War
I in progress, but so was the Bolshevik Revolution. Often there was
fighting outside of their small quarters and the family had to stay
indoors.
Mother recounts the deep grief she
experienced when her younger sister died, and because of the fighting,
her small wooden coffin had to lie on a back porch for a week (my mother
was about 8, her sister was 6). Finally, when there was a lull in the
fighting, my grandfather buried her in a grave along with another body.
But my grandmother was grieved that her little daughter was not buried
in her own grave, so to please her, my grandfather dug up the coffin to
bury the little girl in her own shallow grave. Mother was very close to
her younger sister and wept for days in her grief.
When
the war ended in 1918, the families were able to return to their
homestead. Then the decision was made that my mother and her older
sister would go to Canada to seek a better life. Just imagine: my mother
was 20, her sister was 22. When they said goodbye to their mother and
father, they knew they would probably never meet again. Later they
learned that my grandmother lay in bed for three days, mourning the loss
of her precious daughters whom she expected to never see again (about
32 years later they were briefly reunited when my parents visited
Europe).
I will not detail all the hardships
that mother and her sister experienced in Canada. Soon after they
arrived, they were separated, working for various farmers. Mother loved
to hoe the garden, she said, so she could pour out her soul in lonely
weeping where no one would see her.
As God
would have it, the sisters then ended up working on farms that were
close to a small town with an evangelical church. My mother and her
sister had a strong desire to be “born again.” They had been baptized
Lutherans but knew that their baptism could not save them. When
evangelistic meetings were held, my mother was gloriously converted. “It
was as if I was in the holy of holies” she recounted later.
My
father was attending the same church. He also had been born in the
Ukraine back in 1902, and his story was similar except that his family
had to migrate to Afghanistan. There his mother and older brother died.
As a boy of 14, he threw himself across the bed and thought he’d never
stop crying. But when his family returned to their homestead, he bravely
came to Canada alone to work for a farmer who was willing to sponsor
him.
My father had become a Christian while
in the Ukraine. Now as he attended church, he couldn’t help but notice
the two young German women who had just arrived in the area. He knew of
my mother’s conversion and she had heard him pray, so she knew he was a
firm believer.
One Sunday he asked my mother
if he could walk her home and along the way he asked if she would marry
him! My mother said she’d have to think about it, but within 3 weeks
they were married at a farm on July 25, 1931. The marriage lasted for 77
years, until my father’s death 3 years ago at the age of 106! (A word
to the singles reading this: don’t use my parents as an example of how
long you should know each other before you marry!)
In
our home the Bible was read every morning and prayers were offered,
rain or shine, followed by a song sung by the family; my mother’s
favorite was “Take the name of Jesus with you”. I was the youngest of 5
children, and as my sister put it, “I got away with blue murder.” My
parents were desirous to protect us from sin (out on the farm there were
few opportunities to get into trouble, but boys will be boys!). My Dad
was a very hard worker but often sick in those early years, telling us
that he was dying (evidently he was having panic attacks which he
obviously outgrew!), so mother helped by milking cows, she grew a
garden, washed our clothes and cooked for the family. In the fall she
helped with the harvest, canned food for the hard winter and made sure
that we had warm clothes. I simply don’t know how she did it. When hail
took our crop away she and my father and we as children got on our knees
to thank God for his goodness. “We still have food to eat” my father
said. And that was enough.
At Mom and Dad’s 70th anniversary I asked my mother if she knew the names of all of her great grandchildren
(I think the number was about 25 at the time). She waived her hand and
said, “Sure, I have a prayer list and I bring them before my Heavenly
Father every day!”
My mother and father were
plain people who taught themselves to read (they had at best a grade 3
education back in the Ukraine), and to speak English. They were free of
all hypocrisy or pretense; what you saw is what you got. They were
fastidious in their honesty and although they were frugal when spending
money on themselves, they were very generous with others. Even in
retirement they gave virtually all of their money to Christian
ministries. They showed hospitality to those who were in need. The
legacy they left us is not in worldly goods but in their example of
faith, hard work and Christian virtues. I’m prejudiced, but they just don’t make them that way anymore!
“Thanks,
mother. I owe you more than I could ever say. For the times just the
two of us were at home in the farmhouse while the older children were in
school, when you watched me play on the floor, you read to me, loved
me, prayed for me. And when I needed a lap to sit on, you were there.
Only heaven will reveal who you were and all that you did and the
prayers you offered on my behalf. Whatever I’ve been able to accomplish
in my life, I owe it all to you…I’m your last born, your “der kleine”
(“the little one”) as you affectionately called me in German.
And yes, mother, we shall meet again.”
Erwin Lutzer
https://sites.google.com/site/biblicalinspiration/moody-church-series-a-king-is-born-the-king-s-credentials/biblical-inspirational-series-a-king-is-born-the-king-s-family-tree-moody-church/biblical-inspirational-series-a-king-is-born-part-three-the-king-s-birthplace-moody-church/biblical-inspirational-series-a-king-is-born-part-four-the-king-s-worshippers-moody-church/biblical-inspirational-desperate-praying-o-god-our-help-in-ages-past-moody-church/a-tribute-to-my-mother-erwin-lutzer-dr-erwin-w-lutzer-pastor-the-moody-church-january-01-2012
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