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A TRIBUTE TO MY PRECIOUS MOTHER

Lavona Marie Haynes Scissom

May 11, 1918 ~ October 18, 2009

Sandra Scissom Bontemps
October 21, 2009

Our Mother, Lavona Marie Haynes Pylant Scissom, is in Heaven with Jesus and Our Heavenly Father, smiling down upon us today, as we JOIN TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE HER LONG LIFE !

All five of us daughters, our husbands, and many of her grandchildren, celebrated Mother’s 91st Birthday on May 11.

As I prayed about what to write, there are so many things that I REMEMBER ABOUT MOTHER. These are MISTY WATER COLORED MEMORIES SHE HAS LEFT BEHIND. For 91 years, God has been intricately and lovingly weaving the tapestry of her life long journey, into beautiful colors for eternity.

The last gift I gave to Mother, on Sunday afternoon, October 4, was a lavender praise and prayer scarf with golden angels on it, with Psalm 91:11,

“The LORD will give His angels charge over you
To keep you in all your ways.”

I wrote her a note, and added verses 15 and 16,
“He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in times of trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him,
And show him MY SALVATION.”

In the note, I wrote to Mother, assuring her that she was so loved and blessed by so many, and God had given her a long life...... To show His SALVATION. HIS LOVE. YESHUA. JESUS. THE BEGINNING AND THE END. Just a few hours later, that evening, while Mother was in a church service at Summit View, the retirement home at the foot of Signal Mountain, close to me, where she has lived for many years, she had a stroke. I was so grateful that she was not alone, and there with others there to pray and comfort her. And we know there were angels all around!

So much could be said about her life. So many things she loved. She told wonderful stories from all her experiences, and she remembered and described every vivid detail. Dr. Dowlen, her doctor for many years, said he loved to see her and hear her interesting stories.

Mother loved being a nurse, ministering to others with the gift of mercy, and recalled many of these stories all the time. But I truly believe that she most loved her five daughters, grandchildren and great grand blessings. And she was so proud, and talked incessantly about us to others all the time, referring to us as, “MY FIVE GIRLS.” We were known always as “SCISSOM AND THE GIRLS” and ‘THE SCISSOM GIRLS”.

In praying and thinking of how I wanted to honor Mother and pay special tribute to her memory......... these are the Bible Verses that the LORD led me to:

“May the Lord make you increase,
Both you and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord,
The Maker of heaven and earth.”
Psalm 115:14-15

“When they see among them their children,
(and their children’s children),
The work of My hands,
They will keep My Name holy.”
Isaiah 29:23

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children,
(and grandchildren)
Are walking in Your truth.”
3 John 1: 4

Dear Heavenly Father God,

Thank you for our precious Mother. Let us remember, honor, celebrate and reflect on the moments in our lives in our relationship that were affirming, nurturing and caring. May we continue to live our lives, with the utmost of integrity, honoring, respecting and cherishing others, as we continue to find ways to bring honor to our Mother, who gave us life and was responsible for our very existence.

Honor is not about a perfect childhood. Honor is about gratitude and respect.   And Your only commandment with a promise is, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long.” We have been taught to stay in Your Holy Word. Meditate on it day and night. AND in great faith, stand firm on God’s Word! Then rest in Your promise that You will honor our obedience. We know that honor and healing are intertwined. Honor brings healing. And we know that a life well lived is pleasing to You, Father God.

We thank You Father, for all that Mother did for us. For the many years Mother worked long hours as a nurse. She sacrificed greatly.   Many times she stayed up until dawn, before Easter Sunday morning, to finish sewing our ruffled pastel dresses. She spent countless hours in the kitchen, cooking “Chicken Every Sunday.” And she was well known for her Chocolate Pies.

And for every special Holiday throughout all those the years, she baked hundreds of dozens of Tea Cake Cookies, using her Mother’s family recipe. I remember one year, four of us volunteered her to make special Valentine Boxes for school.

We have all marveled at how Mother did all she did with what she had. And how she managed to raise five daughters much of the time on her own. And I know after we were grown, she spent many sleepless nights, and countless hours worrying about us and praying for us.

Mother found no greater joy in life than to tell everyone about her five daughters. I can just hear Mother now, saying, “Blessed am I, for I have FIVE DAUGHTERS!”

Each of us five, her daughters, are different from every other, each with a special individual Divine Design as You made us Father God. I believe that a Mother and Daughter’s relationship is as unique, complex and complicated as any relationship in our lives. And on our life’s journey as we have found ways to love, honor and connect with our Mother, each one of my sister’s and I   have brought new changes, challenges and   experiences for Mother, new education, and new deeper meaning and understanding to her life, as we have lovingly opened our hearts and Five Life Gates for Mother to enter and discover treasures and delights. Know my precious sisters, Bobbie, Carolyn, Linda and Betty that each of you have given Mother so much love, comfort and joy, encouraging and enriching her life immeasurably. We all have precious memories.

We all thank our husbands, for their love for us and Mother, and for their understanding and support through the years.

Recently I wrote a prayer and declaration “I PRAY YOU DANCE,” for my daughter and spiritual daughters. I smile when I think that each one of my sisters and I have learned and developed our own familiar dances with our Mother. I smile also to think that all relationships involve learning dance steps.    I have loved watching my four beautiful sisters stepping out of their childhood dance and taking grown up steps.

The most important legacy a Mother gives her Daughter is the way she lives her own life with her own special Motherhood Dance. And MY SWEET SISTERS, what a complex, remarkable, incredible dance of eternal truths of sisterhood, we have danced together and apart in our lives journeys.

I pray for my sisters and Mother’s grandchildren and great grands, that our generational pattern will always be ingrained within us, and we will model and demonstrate Jesus’ LOVE and keep you LORD GOD as our FOUNDATION. We Pray in FAITH and know that You answer prayers.

“Call on God. And He will help you.
Live your life in His Presence
and ‘taste and see that the LORD is good.’”

Remember, celebrate and rejoice always my sweet Sisters, “ For we are God’s daughters, fearfully and wonderfully made." Chosen. With God, our perfect Parent, our voices are uninhibited by the past, because IN HIM we are Unconditionally Loved. Accepted. Forgiven. Approved. Accepted. He KNOWS US and He desires for us to KNOW HIM.

Thank You Father. In You is perfect love that will calm our fears, restore our losses and renew our spirit, because “In YOU we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28.   We know that the yearning for perfect love is only met through intimacy with You Father.. In that intimacy with Jesus, in the Secret Place, overshadowed by Your Almighty Wings, we find the confidence, courage, strength and victory for this journey of life.

Thank You Father God for Your gift of love that You give to all who come to You through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR. Thank You for Your Amazing Grace that allows us to walk and live in the fullness and righteousness of CHRIST, in newness of life, in freedom, and in Kingdom Power and Authority. Thank You that we are OVERCOMERS AND HAVE VICTORY IN JESUS.

Sweet Sisters ~ In all these years together, as we have celebrated birthdays, holidays and Mother’s birthday, we have shared both problems, trials and solutions, as we have talked, laughed, cried, praised and prayed our way through life.

Mother’s legacy to us and her values, are passed from generation to generation.   These legacies affirm our family, but are emotionally laden, as they influence and motivate our life choices.

At this time, I pray comfort, joy and peace for MY PRECIOUS SISTERS, LORD. And for our precious children, grandchildren, and family   We know that if we focus on JESUS, first of all, and then remember the cherished good memories of our past, and allow them to, these legacies will bring a sense of YOUR LOVE, and continuity and unity to our families binding us together in greater ways than ever before.

Mother has so loved her grandchildren. And great grandchildren. Each generation is as sweet and young as springtime. And yet spring itself follows Your laws Father, of birth, life, growth, and death.

Thank You Father, that Mother brought us up in faith, in a little Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Alabama, rooted and grounded in the truth in Your Holy Word. And to know Your unconditional love.

She was such a gracious Southern Lady! In the South it was considered a rite of passage for a young girl to receive a book of manners from her Mother.   Many years ago Mother gave us Emily Posts’ Book of Etiquette. Thank You that she taught us to be polite, gracious, hospitable, respectful, kind and considerate. Thank You that she taught us all social etiquette and graces, helping us to discover true beauty that is internal.

Thank You that she taught us a kinder, more genteel, way of living and relating with others. We have carried these values into our adult life, and taught them to our children and grandchildren. These values have touched every aspect of our lives. And my sisters and I count the social graces and our faith in God instilled in us by our Mother, the most precious and constant gifts of our childhood.

We all remember Mrs. Runyan and especially, Jane Terry, loving to listen to our childhood prayer that Mother taught us, and we all sang together every night, “Father we thank Thee for the night. And for the pleasant morning light. Help us to do the things we should. To be to others kind and good. Amen.” Etiquette is after all, simply summed up by the GOLDEN RULE. “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”

You tell us Father, in I Peter 2:9 that we and our children and our grandchildren are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We are called out of darkness into light. Jesus is the light and hope of this world. Thank You Father God, that through His sacred sacrifice and atoning blood on the Cross of Calvary, through His life, death, burial and resurrection, and New Covenant, we have salvation, Your gift to us, so that we may have eternal life with You in Heaven.

Thank You for redemption and restoration as You transform us from glory to glory.

And we thank You for Your Holy Spirit’s comfort and solace, as we know Mother has now gone TO HER HEAVENLY HOME TO BE WITH YOU AND WE HAVE HOPE IN THE FACT THAT WE WILL SEE HER AGAIN ONE DAY. We also know that JESUS’ coming is eminent, and we will be raptured up someday soon to be with all our loved ones who have gone before us.

As lovers of Jesus, and servants of God, this then is our heritage and greatest legacy that we pass on to our children, and they to the next generation. In Christ we are anointed and we are joint heirs with Jesus. We are more than conquerors through Christ, who strengthens us. You Father God are our refuge and fortress. You hide us beneath Your Almighty sheltering wings and give Your Angels charge over us.

We want to be doers of Your Word God, and a channel of blessing. We pray to always be vessels of love, mercy, grace and compassion.

We pray to always speak blessings to our children, and others, so our children and grandchildren will rise up and call us most blessed.

We pray to be sensitive to Your Holy Spirit and His leadership and guidance. And we always give you all power, honor and praise. YOU ARE HOLY. HOLY. HOLY.

Thank You Father that everything has its Time.
In Ecclesiates 3 you tell us,
“To everything there is a season.
A time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born.
And a time to die.
A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.
A time to heal.
A time to build up.
A time to weep.
And a time to laugh.
A time to mourn.
And a time to dance.
A time to embrace.
A time to gain.
A time to keep.
A time to fear.
A time to speak.
A time to keep silence.
A time to love.”

Not long ago, I gave Mother a silver bracelet with the scripture from
I Corinthians 13,

“ LOVE NEVER FAILS.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
But then face to face.
Now I know in part,
But then I shall know just as I also am known.
And now abide FAITH. HOPE. LOVE.
THESE THREE.
BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.”

We thank You Father for our MOTHER’S LOVE. And we thank You for YOUR UNCONDITIONAL PERFECT LOVE. In the book of John, Jesus said He will give us the love You have given Him. And He will give us Your Glory. Thank You for Your Covenant Promises and Blessings. Thank You for Your AMAZING GRACE. Where Your Grace is, Your Glory Falls. Where Your Glory falls, our spiritual senses are heightened, and we FEEL YOUR AWESOME HOLY PRESENCE AND EXPERIENCE YOUR SUPERNATURAL POWER.

We ask You today, Father to send Your Holy Spirit to give us grace, comfort, joy and peace. “YOUR JOY, LORD, is our strength.” We rest IN YOU, SO You may rest upon us. And we ask for Your Seven~Fold Spirit, to empower us, with the awe of You, Wisdom. Knowledge. Understanding. Counsel. And Might. Help each and every one here today, LORD, TO “ASPIRE TO BE ALL THAT YOU CREATED THEM TO BE.”

May we serve You and minister, from YOUR HEART. YOUR LOVE. AND THE PASSION OF JESUS.

TO OTHER MOTHERS AND FATHERS ~

Perhaps there is no greater privilege in life than having a godly Mother and Father. One who fears the LORD and stands in the gap in prayer for their children. How many of us can trace our first witness of truth and salvation to our own precious Mother and Father. How many of us experienced true understanding and the unconditional love of JESUS through a motherly and fatherly example?

There are many blessings, promises, responsibilities and examples of motherhood in the Bible. A woman who abides in CHRIST and walks in His ways may cherish and claim this rich inheritance God has provided.

May God bless each of you precious Mothers, and may He give each of you encouragement, assurance, comfort, joy, peace and hope IN HIM.

“So shall it be that her children arise up, and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
Proverbs 31:28-29

“FATHER GOD, WE MAGNIFY YOU. FOR YOU ARE GREAT AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING GRACE. FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS. AND FOR THE POWER OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT.

And we will never cease to give YOU ALL PRAISE. HONOR. AND GLORY. WE PRAY TODAY AS JESUS TAUGHT US, ‘THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.’ FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER. AND EVER. Amen.

I will close with this..............

One of the nurses came in to Mother’s hospital room and thought she was with the wrong patient or had the wrong chart. She could not believe Mother was 91 years old. She looked at Mother, saying how beautiful she was, complimented her fair, flawless porcelain complexion, shook her head in amazement and said, “SHE IS TIMELESS!”

PRECIOUS MOTHER,
YOU HAVE LIVED WELL.
LOVED MUCH.
YOU WERE STAUNCH, STRICT
AND SOMETIMES VERY STUBBORN.
AND YOU WERE STRONG!
BEAUTIFUL THREADS OF YOUR LIFE
ARE INTRICATELY WOVEN INTO OURS
THROUGH THE TAPESTRY OF GOD’S
LIMITLESS GRACE AND LOVE

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US
TO SPREAD OUR WINGS
AND FLY
THANK YOU FOR HELPING US TO GROW AND FLOURISH
THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US TO DANCE
THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO GUIDE OUR STEPS
AS WE HAVE JOURNEYED ALONG THE PATHWAY
TO A DEEPER WALK WITH GOD

YOU HAVE HAD AN AMAZING LIFE JOURNEY.
AND TODAY YOUR FIVE DAUGHTERS,
GRANDBLESSINGS
GREAT BABY GRANDS.
AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS
PAY YOU GREAT HONOR AND RESPECT.

THANK YOU MOTHER
FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR US.
THE WORDS SEEM SO SMALL
WHEN THE GRATITUDE IN MY HEART IS SO LARGE!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY
FOR GRACING US WITH YOUR LOVE.

AS YOUR FIVE DAUGHTERS
RISE UP AND CALL YOU BLESSED!
WE ARE BLESSED
BECAUSE YOU GAVE US LIFE.
WE ARE RICHLY BLESSED BY YOUR LIFE
WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED
BY YOUR SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION.
YOUR THOUGHTFULNESS
YOUR LOYALTY
WE ARE BLESSED BY THE GRACE OF YOUR LOVE

NOW YOUR LIFE ON EARTH HAS ENDED
BUT WE HAVE PEACE AND COMFORT
KNOWING IN GREAT FAITH
THAT YOU ARE HOME IN HEAVEN WITH GOD
AND ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW.
YOU ARE DANCING A NEW DANCE
AND SINGING A NEW SONG
WITH THE CELESTIAL MUSIC OF THE ANGELIC CHOIR

REST NOW IN THE LOVING ARMS OF JESUS
KNOW THAT YOU ARE GREATLY LOVED.
WE WILL MISS YOU
WE CHERISH YOU
YOU ARE A PRECIOUS GIFT TO US
FROM GOD

WE ARE BLESSED BY AN INDELIBLE RICH HERITAGE
AND OUR BIRTHRIGHT OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
YOU ARE GONE FROM THIS EARTH
BUT FAR FROM GONE FROM OUR LIVES
YOUR LOVE AND MEMORY
WILL BE AN ETERNAL FLAME
TO GIVE OUR FAMILY STRENGTH
AND BOND US TOGETHER IN LOVE
IN GREATER WAYS THAN EVER BEFORE.

AND YES, MOTHER, “YOU ARE TRULY TIMELESS!”
YOUR BEAUTY, GRACE AND LOVE
TRANSCENDS ALL TIME AND SPACE
THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNWAVERING LOVE
AND GIVING HEART
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE JOURNEY WITH US
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE TREASURED MEMORIES
OVER ALL THESE YEARS

THANK YOU MOTHER
YOU ARE A TIMELESS TREASURE!
HEART OF OUR HEARTS
YOU LEAVE WITH US
A STRONG BOND OF LOVE THAT CAN NEVER BE BROKEN
A LASTING LIVING LEGACY
FOR YOUR CHILDREN
GRANDCHILDREN
AND GREAT GRAND CHILDREN
BECAUSE YOU TAUGHT US
THAT GOD’S PRINCIPLES ARE TIMELESS
AND THEY ALONE
PROVIDE US WITH AN UNSHAKEABLE FOUNDATION
IN THE SAVING GRACE OF CHRIST JESUS
OUR LORD AND SAVIOR
UPON WHICH TO RAISE OUR FAMILIES
A LASTING ETERNAL LEGACY
TO PASS TO THE NEXT GENERATION

KNOW THAT YOUR LOVE WILL GO ON AND ON
FOREVER BINDING US TOGETHER
AS GOD’S LOVE FLOWS
IN RIVERS OF LIVING WATER
THROUGHOUT GENERATIONS

I LOVE YOU IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!