Praise the Lord for the way He
comforts us in all our afflictions. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful
Sunday, a day of worship, a day of celebration, and a day of witness. Thank you
all for praying for my mom back in India. She has been hospitalized since June
of this year. I called to talk to my brother around 2 PM yesterday. My brother
Potel was spending the night with my mom by her bedside every night for last
several nights. I had a long conversation reminiscing about our lives with our
mom. She was such blessing to all of us and to so many others. In an hour we
received the phone call that my mom slipped in to the presence of Jesus. Jesus
came and took her to be with Him in His presence in the company of the church
Triumphant for ever.
My Mom died within 72 hours of the death my
mother-in law. Today are the calling hours for my mother-in-law. The service of
death and resurrection will be held tomorrow, the 2nd of September, at the
Smyrna Baptist Church in Smyrna, NY.
I praise the Lord for the life and witness
of my mom. She was around 87 years old. She was born in a village 7 miles from
my village. She came from a very rich family. Her family was blessed with a
great amount of land holdings. She was the youngest of 4 children. Her oldest
brother had died while high school. My dad had one older bother and one older
sister. My grandfather ( Paternal) was the first Christian in our village. The
Lord blessed him with substantial amount of land in the village. My only aunt
from my father's side was married to the first cousin of my mom. My aunt was
married in Christian wedding ceremony performed by a British Missionary named
Edward Evans. My mom came to my dad's house as a young bride. She must have
been 18 or so. My mom and dad were married for 4 years with no children. She
shared with me that she prayed like Hannah in the Old Testament prayed for a
son. The Lord honored her prayer. After four years I was born. I was sickly
as a young child, and suffered many seizures. My mom prayed for me and nursed
me, and I was healed completely. My mom and dad were blessed with 7 children, 4
boys and three girls. One of my sisters died in 1968 as a young teenager.
My uncle married to my only paternal aunt
became Christian under the witness of the British Baptists. This uncle gave me
my name after the name of two sons of a British medical missionary who were
named as Brian and David. My name was supposed be Brian, some how in the
translation it became Brown, a very unique name for the "first name". My
younger brother got named David.
My mom had went to a mission school through
third grade. She knew how to read and write. She knew how to read the Bible.
She loved the Lord. I heard the Name of Jesus from the lips of my mom for the
first time. I believed in the Lord Jesus as the Lord, God, and my Savior at the
age of three. My mom instilled in my heart a desire and thirst to love Jesus
and to know Him more. From my mom I learned for the first time that Jesus is
the Lord, not the gods and the idols our villagers worshipped and offered animal
sacrifices. She taught me that God in Jesus answers prayer. I believed in
prayer and began to tell others about Jesus.
There was no church building in my village
so the church gathered in my uncle's house next door in the other half of our
house every Sunday. The British missionaries would come from time to time and
lead the worship. They also came for Christmas celebrations and the
festivities.
My parents, along with my uncle's family,
were farmers. My grandfather had divided the land and the fields equally
between my dad and my uncle. While we were growing up there was no electricity,
no running water, no telephone, no radio, not even a clock or watch. I learned
to measure time looking at my shadow. My parents had no bank account as there
was no bank. We all lived from the land. My mom and dad raised crops like
rice, corn, lentils, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers
and cash crops like ginger and turmeric. We had plenty to eat all year through.
My mom was a wonderful homemaker. She made quilts for us. She was wonderful
cook. Our home was open for the visitors and guests. Pastors and missionaries
were always welcomed in our home. I recall missionaries like Frank Wells, Joyce
Henry, and many pastors spending the nights at our home. Later, short term
missionaries from USA, UK, German, New Zealand, and Australia stayed in our
home. My mom served them with joy and devotion. She cared for the poor, and
opened her heart and her home with great generosity and love. My mom and dad
were blessed with lots of land where they raised various crops. The villagers
worked there as daily laborers. My dad and mom treated them as part of the
family.
My dad was a hunter like Esau of the Old
Testament. He was an outdoors man. He killled lots of deer, elk, wild
buffaloes, wild boars, many small game, and even tigers. He had killed 33
tigers that were menacing the village cattle. My mom and dad raised chickens,
goats, cows, and water buffaloes. We had lots fruit trees such as mangoes and
jackfruit. In the summertime my mom and my dad and all of us went out gathering
mangoes. My mom dad sowed in tears and harvested with joy. I remember hearing
the local ballads and the harvest songs including funeral dirges.
My dad died on December 23,1973 at the age
of 48. My mom has been a widow all these years. Her life has been devoted to
prayer. Her life was also devoted to her children and grandchildren. My
family, including all our four daughters, spent a month at home in my village in
the summer of 1996. My mom thought that she "died and went to
heaven".
She was loved by people of all backgrounds.
She was loving and gracious. It was in 1977 she had severe fall and suffered
severe head injury. She went in to a coma. There was no advanced and
sophisticated medical care. The doctor, who was a Christian and a friend mine,
asked the family and the church to pray for her. My mom was in a coma for 70
days. The Lord fully restored her. The Lord blessed her abundantly. She was
able to travel to America in 1985. She returned back to India as she missed the
village and her family there. She returned back to America the beautiful in
1991 and stayed here for over one year. She loved us. She loved people here in
the States. She was loved by so many here who knew her. She lived in the Lord
and died in the Lord. Now she is with Jesus her Saviour and Lord.
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write,
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them "(Rev.
14:13)
1 Corinthians 15:51-55
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised imperishable, and
we will be changed. For
this perishable must put on
the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But
when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and
this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the
saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
In
Jesus our Lord.
Brown
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