Call Her Blessed - A Tribute To My Mama

 "Her children will rise up and call her blessed, her husband also praises her."
 Proverbs 31:28 CSB

Thursday, October 1st, 2020, started off like most of my days. I was busy getting ready to close out my week and working to close deals before Friday. Then I got the call. At 3:25 pm, my whole world stopped. My sister called and told me that my mother wasn't breathing and that the paramedics were with her. I dropped everything I was doing and headed down to their home. As I ran out the door, my mind was racing. Not today, I begged God as I got on the interstate. Give me another day I requested. As I drove, I called my brothers and sisters in Christ and family members, asking them all to pray for the situation that I was headed to face. I was about halfway to my sister's home when the police officer that was on the scene called to give me the news no son ever wants to hear. He stated so steadily, "Mr. Mosley, I hate to be the one to have to tell you this but your mother has passed on. I will be here when you get here. Please slow down and take your time." For me, that moment is burned into my memory. I know exactly the spot I was driving on and I know the colors of the cars around my truck. In an instance, the person that carried me nursed me, doctored me, helped me, taught me, angered me, understood me, listened to me, cried with me, and most of all, loved me unconditionally was gone. 

The Bible tells us that none of us know the time that comes for us, we are simply told only to be ready. My mama was ready. She was ready the day that my daddy died. You see, mom and dad were only 19 and 17 when they got married. They were married almost 45 years when my father passed away in 2018. My father didn't show much emotion but if someone disrespected my mother I saw a side of him that frankly made me afraid for their life. My father fiercely loved my mom. And my mom loved him with everything she had. I saw a different side of her as she nursed him in his final days and was always close by his side. She was so heartbroken when he passed. She withdrew somewhat and we did what we could to urge her to get out but she just wasn't herself. It was like a part of her was missing. And looking back now, it was my dad that was missing. He was her reason for living. It wasn't that she sought after death or wallowed in her grief, she just wasn't whole anymore. It wasn't that she didn't love my sister or me or that she didn't love her grandchildren, cause Lord knows she did and she would tell anyone that would listen how proud she was of all of them. My mother just wasn't herself without my dad. A large part of her heart was simply gone from this world.

I think one of my favorite memories of my mother is when I was in high school. I was singing a solo at church and I was nervous. I didn't want to mess up and I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of our family and friends. She told me something I never forgot. She said, "Son, God has given you a talent that I frankly will never have and you must use it for His glory. Don't give the devil a victory by going up there in a spirit of fear. Let the Holy Spirit use you." It is something that I have never forgotten and Lord willing I never will. 

My mother was a blessed woman. Maybe not in a worldly sense but she was blessed because she had two children that will carry on her memory and call her blessed. She had six grandchildren that knew the love of their grandmother. A love that surpasses all understanding. She had a great host of friends that she carried around in her heart and she had a love for her dog Sterling. She had the love of the greatest man I have ever known, my father John. But most importantly she had the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

Mama, I am going to miss you. I know you are in a place that I can only dream of and seeing things beyond my comprehension. Tell daddy, papaw, mawmaw, Dene, Bo, and Dena I miss them and that I will see them one day soon. Keep watching out for us and know we will never forget you. I love you, mom.