Mary

I am reading Mary by Francine Rivers, the fifth book in the Lineage of Grace series. It's a fictional story about Jesus' mom, who happens to have the same name as my mom, and I really liked what she wrote about the name Mary in the intro, which is an account of Mary's birth:

Anne [Her mother] studied her newborn's face. "Mary," she whispered. "My precious little Mary." Her heart was heavy, for both of her daughters now bore a name that meant "bitterness and suffering." The name Mary declared the depth of every Jew's despair under the oppression of Roman conquerors. Mary was a cry to the Lord for rescue.
...
"Lord, Lord, please let her name come to mean more than 'bitterness and suffering.' Let it come to mean 'strength is from the Lord.' Let it come to mean 'God's love uphold us.' Let it mean 'trust in God, and let nothing defeat faith in you.' Oh, Lord...let the name Mary remind us to obey without fear."

As I was reading this today, I was reminded strongly of my own mother, Mary Ellen Doezema Cnossen. She was the fifth child born to her parents, and when I read that Mary meant "bitterness and suffering" I was hoping that my grandparents did not choose my mom's name because of that meaning. This thought occurred to me only because I have been reading the Old Testament, where people named their children based on the circumstances they were in at the time, not because they liked the name.

Then I read on, and realized that Mary was the perfect name for my mom, no matter why her parents may have chosen it. Mom demonstrated that her strength was from the Lord every day during her last five years with us. And it was evident that God's love was upholding her. She never let anything defeat her faith in God; in fact one of her favorite passages was Romans 8 where Paul writes about being more than conquerors, and that nothing could separate us from God's love.

My mom's example reminds me to obey God without fear, because God allowed her to go down a path she definitely didn't choose, and she was able to touch so many lives because of it.