“Honor to Whom Honor is Due” Series – Rose Higginbotham

mom As I recognize people who have influenced me to preach, I must include my mom along with my dad as the two most influential people in my life. I really feel like I could not have been raised in a better home or by better parents.

I don’t have any memories of either my mom or my dad trying to convince me to become a preacher when I got older. But they had everything to do that with decision. You see, as I said before, “Preachers aren’t born, they’re made,” and from the time I was born, my mom and dad instilled in me a love for God and his word.

Being married to a preacher is not always the easiest thing. It was even more difficult living next door to the church building and all the interruptions that brought, including weekly use of our basement by the church. How many of you would want the church invited to your basement every week for meetings, meals, etc.? But mom dealt with all that with grace. I’ve heard some mothers married to preachers say they would never encourage their sons to preach.  How sad, and how thankful I am that my mom did not have such a disposition.

Some of my earliest memories of home were with my mom and me saying bedtime prayers. I have memories of sitting on her lap as she read from a red Bible story book that had stick figure illustrations on the inside. I remember mom teaching us how to make puppets out of brown lunch bags and watching my sister and me re-enact Bible stories. I remember my mom inviting neighborhood children to our home for Bible studies. I remember mom checking my weekly Bible class lessons on Saturday to make sure that I had them done for Bible class. I remember being so proud when I walked into my 1st & 2nd Grades Bible class to have my mom as a teacher. In my mind, I can still see her using the flanelgraph for lessons, and a house made of Styrofoam in which the lame man was let down through the roof ( it doubled through the week as a fortress for my army men). I remember when it was bedtime and the house would get quiet, I’d hear my mom and dad reading their Bibles aloud together. This is the kind of mother I had.

My mom and dad did without so that they could send me to a college wherein they thought I would get the best Bible education. And you know what I discovered when I arrived at Freed-Hardeman? I discovered the my mom and dad had prepared me well by helping me to have a good foundation of Bible knowledge.

Those of you who know me know how proud I am of my dad, but as proud as I am of my dad, I am every bit as proud of my mom. I don’t know what or where I’d be today if it weren’t for the godly mother I had who tried to instill those values into me.  Not everyone could say this, but I’d give anything if I could turn back the clock 50 years and relive just a week in my home. But since I can’t do that, I’ll just have to savor the memories. Thanks, Mom! I love you!

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