(From “A Cloud of Witnesses)
“Let your speech be always with grace…” Colossians 4:6
I especially remember Mother Gladys’s straw hat, her faded dresses, and her wooden walking cane. I loved it when she would strike the tambourine and begin singing, “Oh I want to see him, look upon His face…” or “It’s gonna be the crowning day…” She had a resonant voice, passion for the Lord, and a sweet and humble spirit. She was tall, slender and stately with a broad smile, and it was obvious that she was lovely in her younger days. She had tremendous faith in God and had an air of holiness and grace about her.
After Mother Gladys retired from her job at the school for the deaf and blind, she became the “nurse” of her neighborhood. People say that she would walk house to house taking care of people who were sick or elderly. She was always poor, but if you visited her she would go straight to her garden, and give away some of her fresh vegetables. She never refused anyone the help that they needed.
She was a great encouragement to me personally. After we had been having tent services for several nights and I had testified a few times, she was the first one to approach me with a warm smile and a hug, and say, “There’s that missionary.” I felt honored by the way that she said it to me.
Mother Gladys was diagnosed with cancer, but she never lost her faith. When I went to visit her she said to me, “If the Lord wants me to get up, I will get up, and if He doesn’t, I won’t.”
Whenever people visited her, she would say that she just wanted to “have church”. Sister Doris says that when people would ask her what songs she wanted to hear, she would say, “Anything with blood in it” (referring to the blood of Jesus). She never complained about her suffering, because she did not want to cause her family or friends more grief. So she just stayed in her bed at home, and gradually stopped eating and speaking. She was a sweet and godly woman her whole life.
I did not know her for long enough, because she died soon after I joined the church. It will be amazing to see her again someday in the Kingdom of God.
Come on... Let's Rap!