Wayburn Dean:
WayJade Music/Exalt Music Group recording artist
I am not really supposed to be here. Only two days after I was born, the doctor informed my mother that I had rheumatic fever and had ten days, maybe less, to live. My mother took me home to the little cottage where we lived in New Mexico and held my little lifeless newborn body up to a single light bulb hanging from a wire in the ceiling. “God,” she prayed, “I’m coming to you as Hannah did. I’m asking you to save my baby, and I promise I will give him back to You.”
God spared my life, and not only did he give me life, he gave me a voice, music and message to share. When I was 6 years old, I remember my mother sitting on our little broken down couch and singing “Silent Night” at Christmas time. I began to sing along with her and learned harmonies for the first time. My mother has always been there to not only change the outcome of my life but also the course.
This Mother’s Day, I am grateful for prayer and for a God who hears them.
I recently went back to the house where I grew up, and I was amazed at how tiny it now seemed. But there was that wire hanging loosely from the ceiling, and it reminded me that the smallest light and sincere prayer can make a big difference.
Judd & Maggie: Maggie – Judd and I have a pretty amazing mom. We are two of seven kids, and my parents have been married for 34 years. So come Mother’s day, you’d think we’d go all out for her. But really, it’s a pretty simple celebration.”
Judd – “My sister and I help with the meal, usually dinner. We get a few gifts- maybe flowers, or a spiritual book. And after our meal, we have a tradition called “honoring,” which means everyone take turns encouraging and remembering her virtues and special gifts. It’s always a special time, because everyone gets a chance to speak (which doesn’t always happen in a large family!) Many times my dad has written her a poem, or a song. It’s very unifying, and a small attempt to repay her for the countless sacrifices of love she has made for her children.�
Cindy Morgan – �For me, Mother�s Day has probably become one of my favorite holidays, mainly because it means spending the day with my two little girls; and hopefully this year, my mother can join us as well. One of my favorite Mother�s day memories in my own experience as a mom was a couple of years ago�. We were in Canada at the time and my girls had been talking about a secret they had for me. They all came to get me out of bed, so excited with their little faces shining with excitement. What I opened from them were two small handprints they had made into ceramic and colored all shades of pink and yellow� my eyes filled with tears, looking at their little hands – how small they were and how much care had gone into their creation. It is one of my favorite memories.
Being a mother is the best thing on earth. It makes me appreciate my own mother and how much she gave to me. It brings a new understanding for how much God loves me. I can�t thank Him enough for the gift of being a mother.�
Seth Marcum- Roads To Rome:
“My mom gives 100% to everything she does all the time, but never have I felt like she wasn’t giving 110% to me
On their self-titled, major-label debut album, RiZen: Adriann and Aundrea Lewis, Kanika Trigg, and Ashley Jones, build proudly upon the foundation of traditional gospel music. The four young women of RiZen add the distinct markings of their own contemporaries to the traditions of their forebearers. Imagine the Caravans�or any one of a number of gospel legends�refueled and retrofitted for the 21st century, and you might start to get the idea.
Adriann and Aundrea – “My mother is my best friend. She is witty “beautiful” interjects Aundrea; she’s very loving “and caring,” adds Aundrea, and concerned about us all the time. She is hard working, strict, unselfish “and I do believe she would lay down her life for us,” says Aundrea.
Aundrea – “We are sisters so that’s why I keep saying things – we have the same mother!”
Kineka – “My mother – I love her with everything I have. Because of her, I am who I am today. She taught me everything: how to be a woman, how to be a good wife. I owe her everything.”
Ashley – “My mother stands really tall in my life – she was a single parent, and she did the best she could for my brother and me. It took a lot of wisdom raising us with her being a single parent.”
Adriann and Aundrea shared that it was their mother, Kayron Lewis, who came up with the name for the group. “RiZen – it was a vision from the Lord – ‘They shall rise again.'”
More Mother’s Day thoughts at:
Jeremy Camp and Josh Havens on Their Mothers
RELATED ARTICLES & LINKS:
GMA Journal: Tuesday Morning, April 27
GMA Music Awards Photo Gallery
Photos by Kathryn Darden for ChristianActivities.com5/8/4
