Heath Lambert: Perhaps one problem that you’re facing this week is how to honor the mom in your life. Whether she is your wife or your mom, you might be stressing a little bit about what you’re going to do to honor her on Mother’s Day this Sunday. And so we wanted to take some time to think about how to honor the mom in your life. And one of the ways that I thought would be most helpful to do that is just by thinking about the impact that our mothers have on us. So many of us have wonderful stories of appreciation that we can tell about our mom, and I invited as our guest this week Amber Komatsu, who is the Membership Services Coordinator at ACBC. And she grew up with a wonderful mom named Candy. She has all kinds of wonderful stories to tell about the impact that her mom had on her life, and I thought it would stir all of us up to honor the moms in our life as we heard one of those stories that she tells. Amber, I’m glad you’re here. Why don’t you tell us a story about your mom and just one little vignette of kind of the impact that she had on your life as you were growing up?
Amber Komatsu: Sure thing. You know, I was actually thinking of this last night of honoring my mom and Mother’s Day coming up; and what I wanted to communicate to her and how I want to really express my thankfulness. And I started thinking of all the ways that she served me and my family, and you know, one way she did it was she homeschooled me for 12 years. That’s a big deal. She actually has been homeschooling for 28 years this coming year, which is pretty amazing; so grateful for that. And then I started thinking that’s a huge gift, but it’s not as big as her telling me and my six siblings how amazing our dad is. She would always tell us this like your dad is the most amazing man on the face of the planet. And it just was so sweet to see Mom loving my dad that way. I never doubted their care for one another; just so special. And then I started thinking, but there’s something bigger than that, and I will never ever forget, and it’s her love for Christ.
I’ll never forget these memories, we would be at home, and I mean, there’s six of us, so we drove her nuts sometimes, and sometimes might be an understatement. And I mean, my goodness, there’s14 years between all of us. And we would not be helping things. And so there would be a moment where we would just be disobeying or rebellious whatever kids do, and she would become angry, and she would have maybe an outburst of anger, and almost immediately, she would stop talking, and she’d leave the room. And whether it was 15 minutes later or an hour later, she would always return, and she’d come to each one of us kids, and she would say, and I could tell that she had been crying, her face was red, and she had tears, and she would always say I need you to know that I sinned against God, and God tells me it’s wrong to become angry that way and to respond in that way. So I’ve already gone to God, and I’ve repented of my sin. And now I need your forgiveness, and I wasn’t that old, but I remember thinking like that’s a hard thing for a mom to do. I’m a kid, and she humbled herself to show us what it looks like to walk as a believer who is identifying sin daily, turning from it daily, and asking forgiveness of those she offended. And I just I will never forget that. And it even it impacts me more now even than it did then, and it impacted me then, you know, so it’s just amazing to see that. And to see how her love for Christ was more important for me to see even than her love for me and her love for my dad. I’m so grateful. We’re going to have our first son, my husband, and I in July. And I hope I’m the mom that my mom was to me. I hope that my son sees me loving Jesus above all things in the way, I got to see my mom do that. I mean, she really was an example to me of what it looks like to fight sin on a daily basis.
Heath Lambert: You know, knowing you as well as I do and seeing the evident grace of Jesus in your life. It’s interesting to hear these stories about your family, about your mom and particular, and know that one of the main things that the Lord used to create that kind of grace in your life was actually your Mom. And so as we all try to figure out what we’re going to do for the mom in our life, as I’m thinking about my wife and how to honor her this week, and as you’re thinking about the mom in your life, there’s going to be all kinds of things that we’ll do. We’ll take her out to dinner. We might give her the day off; we might give her gifts or all kinds of things. But just thinking about these memories about mom remind us that there’s one thing that we can do. The moms in our life are doing small things hundreds of times a day, making beds, washing the dishes, making meals, and taking care of us. And we need to not let those little events go by, asking for forgiveness, pointing us to Christ, and reading the Bible to us.
One thing you could do this week to honor the mom in your life is to think through what are some of those things that the mom in your life does. And why don’t you stop what you’re doing this Sunday and say, hey honey, or hey Mom, thank you for doing this. And after you explaine what it is, say thank you and say I love you, and let her know that you value her on this Mother’s Day.
