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      • 105. Continue
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      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
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                         A Tribute to Nana

Recently my mother-in-law, JoAnn Smith, went to be with Lord. Today would have been her birthday. Those near and dear to her affectionately called her “Nana.” Of all the things I could say about Nana, at the top of the list is that she was a mother in the finest sense of the term.

 Mother  Nana had two daughters, Glenda, who lives in Dallas, and Patricia, my wife. She  was a devoted mother to her daughters and for several years was a foster mother  to a number of other children. 

Grandmother Nana had two grandchildren, Matthew and Victoria. She adored them. She was involved in their lives until the day she went to be with the Lord.

Great-Grandmother Nana had two great-grandchildren, Joshua and Katie Grace. It would not be too much to say that in her last several years, when she was gravely ill, seeing her great-grandchildren several times a week for a whole day helped keep her alive.

 Spiritual Mother In high school, Patricia became close friends with a girl named Debi. Naturally, Patricia and Debi spent a lot of time together, usually at Patricia’s house.  Years later, in a letter Debi wrote to Nana, she said, “I remember back then, you seemed very religious, which seemed odd to me, but it grew on me. After spending countless nights at your house experiencing what it was like to live in a close, Christian family, I began to realize what I was missing.”  In  her letter, Debi tells of joining the Catholic Church and liking “all the symbolism, the crossing yourself, the pageantry of the mass.” Then she went to Nana’s church, which was a Baptist church. Debi wrote, “It was so plain. No fancy altar, no processional, no bowing to the altar, no gold plating everywhere, no stained glass.” She goes on to say, “I couldn't believe that almost the entire service was spent on the sermon! I thought he would never quit talking! How boring! Or so I thought until I started listening. But more than that, it was a quiet spirit of a Christ-centered home that got my attention. I remember you lying on your bed listening to Dr. McGee [J. Vernon McGee’s Thru
the Bible
radio ministry] and wondering how you could listen to that guy
drone on and on every day. I did not realize then that was feeding your
soul.” Eventually, Debi trusted Christ. In that letter she wrote to Nana, she said, “You have been a role model for me, in raising my boys, in being a Christian woman, and in my relationship with Jesus. I know I have never come close to the high mark that you have set for yourself.” Then she adds, “I have you to admire, as how a Christian woman should and can be.”

That was Nana, a committed Christian and a model mother. Her “quiet
spirit,” her “Christ-centered home” bought Debi to the Lord. Nana was a mother to her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, her foster children, and her spiritual children.

                                       © G.  Michael Cocoris, 5/25/2012
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