Wanted And Born Into Love
October 13th, was the day I was born on. I love the fall, it is one of my favorite seasons, so it was a good month to be born in. I was born into a really amazing family. My parents, loved God and honored Him and they were people who lived responsibly, learning and growing as they raised 6 children in the best way they knew. In our economic state, I guess we would be classified as poor, we lived on government cheeses, powdered milk and many of nights had cereal for dinner and meat was expensive and a treat. We were very grateful for the Salvation Army clothing, never really owned anything new, but learned to be thankful that others gave so we could have pretty clothes. Dad would come home from the donut shop, maybe once a month if we were lucky, and we would savor every bite of our donut, being so very grateful and happy for it. Our economic status was classified as poor, but our family life was rich in love, joy and peace and there was never a day that passed by that we were not laughing and enjoying life. We had no idea we were poor, because we were blessed in every way possible where it really mattered. As my parents continued to love God, serve God and give out of their needs, things got better for our family and God blessed us.
Living With Godly Patriarchs And Matriarchs
My parents grew as the patriarch and matriarch of a very large family, with arms opened wide to anyone who wanted to come into it. We were taught not to see in “color” or “creed”, but to love and treat all respectfully. My parent modeled and taught us a respectable civility. We grew up in an atmosphere of civil servants at work for all the people of their community. All parts of our family life were surrounded by firemen, policemen, detectives, and military, as we grew up as a family of civil servants who gratefully learned to be servant leaders in our community.
Growing Up With God Being First
God was always first and always revered in our home. We were taught how blessed it is to obey Him, to receive from Him and to pray. Both my parents had the gift of giving, combined with the gifts of wisdom, hospitality, faith and evangelism, they were quite the team. We never knew who we would find at our home, but whoever did stay with us always left completely ministered to, loved and changed. My parents where very unselfish people, even when they had nothing to give, they gave sacrificially to others. It was a great atmosphere to grow up in and be shaped by. We lived in a little house on 29th street in Rivera Beach Florida and we were a happy family, we lived with less and loved with more.
Legacy Of Prayer
My father, was an amazing patriarch. He would call out the names of every family member and the list kept getting longer and longer as the we kids married, had children and then our children married and had children. Dad spent every day calling each name out to God and praying the Word for His children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren until the day He died. What an incredible legacy of prayer He left us.
Servant Prayer Warriors
Mom died early at the age of 62 of cancer and it was amazing as her last days she had people lined up at her bedroom door to speak to her. On her death bed, she ministered the love and grace of Jesus Christ to people and they came to love her and left completely loved by God by her. She had a word of encouragement for each person. It took dad a long time to grieve mom’s home going, she was the love of His life, but he continued to pray for all of us, He continued to reach out of His grief and care for us in the best way He could through prayer and encouragement. Amazing servant prayer warrior, amazing man of God’s wisdom.
Death Do Us Part
Dad died a few years ago on my birthday, October 13th. I was so shocked when I got the phone call because they had told us that he was doing better and felt he no longer needed to be in hospice. My children had come with me to see him at the hospice nursing home and he prayed over them and blessed each one of them and I had to drive them back home to North Carolina. I was going to stay home for my birthday and then go back and stay with him for a while and help with his recovery.
A Worldly Perspective
We went out to a birthday dinner and my phone was turned off so I could focus on my family, because I had been away from my grandkids for about three weeks and needed to catch up with all of them. As we were driving home, I noticed I had a missed call, but I thought, I will listen to my voice mail later. We drove into the driveway and I got a call from my brother, I took it and he told me dad had died. I fell to the ground, no, no, not on my birthday, it seemed like such a cruel thing because I was focused on this huge loss in my life and the void that was just created in me. My dad, my precious dad who had supported our family in every way was now not on this side of heaven. It seemed so hard to imagine how I could live with this reality.
A Miraculous Merciful God Gift
My sister called me the next day as we were making plans for dad’s funeral, she asked me to speak and I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I knew I was supposed to. Then she asked me if I had gotten a message on my phone from dad yesterday. My brother and I share the same birthday, I was his first birthday present, born exactly on His birthday. Dad had called him to wish him a happy birthday. So I opened up my phone and went to my messages and there it was. “Kim, this is dad. I love you. Happy Birthday, God bless you, love dad”! What an incredible gift he gave me. He called me hours before he went home to be with Jesus. I have played that message over and over again these past few years and it helps so much to hear his voice of blessing.
Human Voids
My first birthday after dad’s death, I could not celebrate, I just could not. The second one was hard, but I did celebrate because I turned 60 and my family threw me a surprise birthday party. That helped break the ice, all of us together talking about dad and mom, it helped and I felt like a part of my huge void was filled that day.
A Change In Focus
This year, has been the best year of all because I am with my kids and grandkids and my focus has been on them. I miss dad tremendously, there is such a huge void in my life, I doubt it will ever fill. But this year was different because instead of saying how much I missed that he was praying for every member of our family every day, instead of focusing on that void, I felt God say to me to fill it, to be the one that calls out every name, prays up for our family. So I stepped into that role and have begun praying for my family the way dad did. I can now see the reason why he was so blessed and favored.
A Kingdom Perspective
The best blessing of all though came when my son and daughter in law, who had been told by a doctor after her last miscarriage that the probability of having any more children now was only like 5 percent out of a 100 and they needed to face that they were not going to have any more children. It was very disappointing, but I took that disappointment and gave it to God and changed the focus off the impossible and put it on the possible and began to pray for a miracle. After lots of prayer and hope, they miraculously got pregnant and even the doctor was amazed. It was a miracle baby. Then they found out that they were having a boy and the little miracle baby was growing inside of the womb and doing very well. The blessing came when they named him after my father. Declan Vincent. What an honor, my dad would have been so blessed. My dad left us such a living legacy, one we could all be proud of and model after and now this little miracle would have his name. This is a good birthday!
Flip-Flopped JOY
This year, I decided to flip-flop my worldly viewpoint for a kingdom perspective and realized the best day of my Father’s life, the day He got to go home to Jesus, to His forever future and realize the hope and promise of His salvation, was the very day I was born into this world. My Birthday, what an honor. That makes for a very Happy Birthday. I miss you dad, thank you for even thinking of me on your death bed, for calling me to bless me at your greatest hour of need. You are amazing and I hope to follow into your footsteps and in my 60’s be the remarkable senior citizen you always were. I hope to leave a living legacy of prayer, be honorable, be loving, be kind, be encouraging and trust God first in everything, just like you were in your older years. Love you Dad. Happy Homegoing Day Dad. I am going to go now and listen to your voice mail message again. Love you Kimeeee
The Bridegroom’s Voice
I know God had the most to do with me publishing “The Bridegroom’s Voice”, but He used my dad and mom’s encouragement to cheer me on. They always made me feel that I could reach above and beyond what I naturally had at the moment and supernaturally tap into God’s potential. They were hope givers. They believed in God all things were possible. I could do more than I thought I could do, I could do the impossible. They believed in me and this gave me the courage to step out of the normal and be extraordinary for God. I dedicated the book, The Bridegroom’s Voice to my parents and made sure it was published on October 13th, to honor them. Today I celebrate them as I offer the book for a reduced price to all of you for $10.00 for the next ten days, I pass on the blessing of my childhood, my parents living legacy to you.
God bless you MUCH,
KimberlyMac
Thank you for stopping into the Author Table. I know now you understand a little better the why of my design and how God used my parents as a living legacy for the purposes of my life. I want to take this opportunity to highly encourage you to purchase a copy of my book, The Bridegroom’s Voice, it is a great tool for the Lord to speak to Your heart, to prepare you by fleshing you out and causing His truth to be first place in your life. I hope you enjoyed your stay in The Bridegroom’s Café today and I pray your soul was fed by in that Miraculously So way of God. Please share this hope with others by using the social media buttons below. I would love, love to hear from you, so please leave a comment on how this post inspired you to be a living legacy for your family. out” and how you plant to spend quality time listening to The Bridegroom’s Voice. God bless you MUCH, KimberlyMac