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A Tribute To My Mom – Bonnie Richards

October 6, 2021
I was asked if I wanted to speak at Mom’s memorial service, and although that is not something I feel comfortable getting up in front of others to do, there are things I would like to share.  The Bible tells us to “honor your father and your mother.  “When thinking about the best way I can honor my mother with these words, I think the best way is to glorify Jesus.  The main thing that I want others to remember my mom for, is that she glorified Jesus in everything she did.You could not get through a conversation with her without her mentioning Jesus, her Lord and Savior.  I was going through my text messages with her tonight, and saw one from July 22nd of this year where I was telling her about a devotional I had read that morning.  A line in the text of the devotional said, “God created us with a purpose---that purpose is to glorify Him.”I went on to tell her that the first thing I thought of when reading that line was her.  I told her, “You are fulfilling your purpose because you ALWAYS give God the glory for everything!”  I told her she was an inspiration to me, and of course, she texted back, “It’s all Him and not me.”  That was my mom…always praising the Lord and honoring Him for the grace and mercy He has shown her.

I struggled with how much to share about my mom with others, because I want to respectfully honor her, and after much prayer and deliberation ultimately decided that she would want others to know the things I am about to say.  This is part of her testimony of the life altering changes that God can make in a person’s life.  You see, most people that knew my mom, probably have no idea that she was not always the very well put together Christian lady that they went to church with, or the polished professional they worked with at the bank.  No, my mom spent a lot of years lost and broken.  My parents were very young when I was born, babies really.  Mom had just been 17 years old for two months when I was born, and Dad was 18.  Mom was still in high school, and in 1969, they had school away from school for young mothers to go to, so as not to embarrass them or their families.  My parents got married, but being as young and unprepared as they were, that did not last long.  Mom tried to be a good mother but was mentally unprepared and overwhelmed.  She eventually got hooked up with the wrong crowd and this led to alcohol and drug abuse to escape the pains of her reality.  My dad ended up raising me and my mom and I were estranged for years.  I don’t know everything that happened in those years, but I do know that she eventually pulled herself together through AA, I believe.

Mom and I were reunited for the first time at my high school graduation.  I had always wondered about her and had written a letter to her and sent it to my grandparents.  That set off our journey to build a mother-daughter relationship as adults.  I’m not sure exactly when Mom became a Christian, but I do remember when I first realized that she was.  You see, like Mom, I went through my own years of drug and alcohol abuse.  I have vague memories of calling her in a drug induced haze to ask her about a pin I had that belonged to my great grandmother, or more specifically, about an envelope or box that it was in.  It said, “East of Eden”, which I was curious about.  I can’t remember what all was said in that conversation, but I do recall knowing afterwards that she and Ray were attending a church and that she talked about Jesus.  Within a few years after that, I too accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, but I was still very weak and broken and called her.  I was almost thirty years old and needed to break away from the place I had lived for twenty years of my life…away from the negative influences there, so I would not be tempted to fall back into my old ways.  Mom and Ray graciously agreed to let me come live with them in Birmingham so I could “start over,” so to speak.  This is where I first started to see my mom living for Jesus and honoring Him in everything she did.  She unselfishly poured herself out in service to Him in every way she could, often leaving little time for anything else.  Mom was just so thankful that the Lord had chosen her to be one of His children and had saved her from a life of addiction, pain, and misery, and her greatest desire was to point others towards Him as well.  Mom was often known to quote her life verse from the Bible found in Joel 2:25, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.”  You can see now, that’s exactly what the Lord did for my mom.  He poured out his grace and mercy on her, blessed her, and restored her lost years and relationships.  My mom was genuinely grateful for this and was truly a blessing to others.  She fulfilled God’s purpose for her, which was to glorify Him, and I’m certain if I could be with her and Jesus now, I would hear him say a phrase to her from Matthew 25, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

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