As much as pain, heartache, and disappointment seem to be constants in my life, there is another steadfast companion I have. Jesus. The group Mercy Me sings a song entitled “Even If.” The chorus of that song has become a mantra in my head. It says, “I know You’re able, and I know You can… save through the fire with Your mighty hand. But even if You don’t, my hope is You alone.” If my faith were built solely on my circumstances, I’d have an unstable and crumbling foundation on which to live. Fortunately, my faith is built not on something, but SomeONE. This “Constant” in my life is THE driving force for living and the reason I press on during tough times.

I can recall, time after time, evidence of God’s faithfulness over the past 13 years. When my mom’s accident happened, we had to piece the events together from witnesses and police reports. Although her memory is intact today, she remembers nothing of the day of the accident. We learned that after mom went head-first into a brick wall, she was found unconscious. Someone came to her aid to administer CPR. Someone saved her life. Had she left this earth at that particular time, she would not have been ready to go. Thas was God’s Faithfulness. Another time her life was spared, was after she decided she’d had enough and wanted to take her own life. Her plan failed and she remained, confined to the chair that seemed to be her only support and hope in life. She still wasn’t ready to leave this earth. That was God’s Faithfulness. I can remember numerous times that we’ve called in hospice because we thought her body was shutting down. Each time her life was preserved. That was God’s Faithfulness.

During all those times, I was able to have conversations with mom about being ready to go home, and by home, I mean Heaven. I believe that this earth is a place we are all passing through and our forever home is not made of material things “where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”  (Matt. 6:19) Our home is far better than what we see, and it awaits those who have trusted in the One greater than themselves. My mom had not trusted in anything greater than what her eyes could see. Fortunately, I had opportunities to talk with mom about what faith looks like. I shared with her that faith and salvation aren’t about being good, doing good things, or checking off a list. I told her that faith is about a relationship, and the only thing she had to do was enter into that relationship.

My mom was a good person. She did good things. She wasn’t mean or unkind. She was gentle and caring. For a lot of us, we connect our actions with our circumstances, thinking we are in undeserving situations as a punishment or malicious acts of God. Not so. God has no malice in Him. It would be against His nature. Although our faith in Him doesn’t often radically change our circumstances, our faith in Him gives us an eternal perspective and supernatural peace that comes only from Him.

On one particular day, I asked mom if she was ready to go home. I told her Jesus was ready to receive her, and that all she needed to do was accept HIS gift of life and salvation. He was waiting on her, not to be good or do enough, but just to surrender and enter into a relationship with Him. She knew about Jesus. She had seen the change He made in my life over the years. She also followed a quadriplegic and believer online, Joni Eareckson Tada, who spoke of a healing faith in Jesus. She had been to church and heard sermons. She had read some of the Bible. The groundwork had been laid. She said she was ready. We prayed in a hospital room as mom asked Jesus to be her Savior. That was God’s Faithfulness.

I have no doubt in my mind that when the time comes, Mom is ready. Along with her constant misery of being in a wheelchair subject to frustration and pain, she has another Constant deep within her heart, Jesus.