Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
May 10, 2015 - W1519

Pastor Wayne:  Thank God for Moms. They would lay down their lives for their children. That’s the same kind of love Jesus has for us and Moms reflect that so well to their children.

Another thing about Moms is that their child can be such a pill or be among the worst, but she will still love them. And that is what we are about to see. Four Moms will share their story with us. The first Mom has gone into foreign countries not just to help feed the children or send money, but, to actually adopt children who otherwise would be thrown out into the streets to fend for themselves. Often they are met with such dangers as sex trafficking and other illicit affairs after their families abandoned them because they could not care for them. This mom has taken her love into these countries to bring a few of these children into her home to mold them and nurture them in a home filled with love. When you see that kind of love and see it through God’s eyes you will know that’s the kind of love that could change the world, one heartbeat at a time.

The second Mom is faced with an obstacle that no one really plans on. Their son Micah was stricken with Severe Autism. It is a condition that takes a life time of learning to adjust to the kind of love that has to embrace so much more over and over again.

I’ll introduce the other two Moms after the testimonies of these first two Moms

 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God, and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27 NASB)

Gaye Drummond:  “I’ve often thought of the woman and how amazing she is to have willingly given up her child because she knew that there would be a better life for them elsewhere.

If you have ever been to a third world country you can see what their world would be like if they don’t have a home. They can grow up in an orphanage where they will be clothed and fed at that time, but there comes a time when the orphanage can no longer take care of them. They are then tossed out into the streets with nowhere to go.

I have a family of 5. I’ve been married to my husband for 30 years. We have two sons ages 22 and 18. We started attending New Hope about 7 years ago. In the first few years, God was really working on our hearts. Then God introduced us to a show on HBO called “Smile Pinky”. It was about the children who have cleft lip or cleft palate. I started to feel like I really wanted to adopt a child like that so I turned to my husband and he said he was thinking the same thing. So that opened the doors.

Within a week of getting approved to adopt we were placed with a child. They told us they have a little girl for us and though the child is informed and we are sent photos it took a lot of paperwork and it became a very long drawn out process.

We felt fortunate to have a child to adopt, but it would take about a year. Meanwhile birthdays go by and Holidays which we wish we could have shared with her if only we could have had her already.

When the time finally came we welcomed Gracie into our home. She had a condition known as craniosynostosis. They said that she would not be able to speak because she had very low verbal acuity on her tests. The thing that really helped us to bond to her and her with us was the surgery. She had to have major surgery with a neurosurgeon and a plastic surgeon. They had to do a craniotomy and remolded her entire skull. God really provided me with a strength to not be concerned, like an inner strength God gives moms in times like this. But it was also at this time that she realized, she needed us, so the bonding began here.

Then the orphanage that we worked with said they had a new program where we can take in a few children for the summer to see if it’s a “good fit”. We thought about it and we decided to take in two sisters. It was difficult at first because there was a language barrier. But God was really working on our hearts. At the end of three weeks when they were ready to go back, we asked them if they would like come back to stay with us. They nodded. So after a year and a half we were able to finalize the adoption and brought them here to live with us. Now we have a family of two boys, one really young girl and two older girls.

People have asked us, “Is it hard to love an adopted child?” I would say, it’s just like when you meet your husband [to be] for the first time, it usually not love at first sight. You have to get to know them. It’s like having a stranger in your house, but you know it’s the right thing. Having two biological children with which you have a strong bond with and then bringing in other children where you have yet to bond to and learn to love, you can’t help but wonder, “Will my own children feel I love them less?” It was an issue I struggled with.

But now I know that this is the exact family that God wanted us to be. For this Mother’s Day I just want to have the peace, knowing that my children will be with me in heaven. That’s the greatest gift of all.”

Myra Lodge:  “My family and I were born in Hilo. We started attending Pastor Wayne’s church in 1990. In 1994 Pastor Wayne married us. Shortly after that my husband was accepted into flight school, so we moved to Alabama and started a military career. We had been away from home for about 6 years and then returned back to Hawaii.

We have three boys, Blaze is our oldest and at age 26 he’s a father of two. Our second son is Julian age 21. He has such a good heart, and is actually the apple of my eye. Our third son is Micah, and he just turned 18.

I think if you initially saw Micah and he didn’t say anything, you’d think he was a normal child. He was born so beautiful, 10 lbs. 12 oz. Everything seemed normal. Then I noticed his infant progress milestones were just not the same as his two older brothers. He wasn’t sitting at 10 months, and he wasn’t even taking strides to crawl. In fact he would just lay there and sleep all day.

I began to realize something was wrong. The doctors diagnosed him with “global development disorder” which meant that globally, all over, he was delayed. It didn’t mean anything to us except that he needed therapy every day.

When we arrived back home in 2000, Micah was 4, but the schools tagged him as being mentally retarded. But thanks to God they sent us to a psychiatrist who knew what he had and that was severe autism. My husband was still serving in the military which meant I was home alone a lot trying to manage everything on my own. Our other two sons had to accept that Mommy wasn’t going to be around as much for them as I would need to be with Micah. That was about the time our family started to fall apart. I felt so alone, as there was no one around to help me. Oftentimes I would fall to the ground crying. After crying for a while, I would pick myself up and say “Okay, I’m ready for the next day.” I just simply learned to deal with it day after day, year after year.

We always prayed. We always went to church. We trusted the Lord for everything. But I still questioned, “Why?” And wondered if I had done something wrong. We had to go through this process though to get to understand that God didn’t give us this child to hurt us, but that He trusted us to love this child and take care of him. God trusted us with him.

Micah is a handsome young man and very loving. He can capture anyone’s heart with his smile. Micah likes to connect with people too. His spirit is the purest. God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. And I really believe God trusted us to take care of Micah. The Lord really has been my strength. I could not have done it without Him because I had no one else to rely on.

I also really thank my husband because through it all he always maintained a positive outlook. That really helped me to accept our circumstances. Sometimes we love our children only when they are good, but through this we learned to love them even when they are not or even when they give you a hard day. The biggest thing we have learned is to love them no matter what.”

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro:  A Mother’s love goes beyond everything else. In the next two Mom’s testimonies we will see that both went through unique situations in the raising of their families.

First, you’re going to hear from Roberta, where we will find out that she had to raise her family up under strained influences that would cause some difficulties in the lives of her children. She learned how to release the generational curse of her past so that she can bring new meaning into the lives of her children for their future.

Then you will hear from Tarah, who is a pastor’s wife here at New Hope. Sometimes you wonder why even though you serve God with everything you have, things can still go wrong.

Roberta Mahoe:  “When I was a young girl, my sister and I were always being bullied because we were so poor. I got so sick and tired of that bullying, so one day I told my sister to hold on to me and don’t let go. I was ready to take them down. So when this one girl started bullying us I grabbed her and threw her behind the gate and locked it behind us. Then I beat her up. All the hatred I had in me gave me the strength [to beat her up]. From that day on I was able to stand on my own and I was changed, not for the good but changed to become a “toughie”. When I went back to school, everybody wanted to be my friend, but I would say “NO, stay away from me”. And that was the way it was from then on no one would be able to come close to me, not even through my marriage.

When my kids were young they used to come home crying every day. I’d get calls at work that one of my children got lickings! So one day I taught my kids how to fight. I told them “Okay, that’s it. Pau. You gotta learn to defend yourselves from now on.”

My youngest boy ended up in the courts because he was beating up a boy, but it wasn’t only one boy it was three against one. When my boy was in the courtroom, no one could recognize him [he was so bruised up], but he still got blamed for everything so they sent him to Halawa correctional facility first, then he was sent to Saguaro Prison. I blamed myself for the way I brought up my children. Then one day my son told me that New Hope had gone up to Saguaro and he said that even though everyone tried to be tough by the end of the service they were all crybabies. He told me it was AWESOME!

Now every time I come to church, during worship I mention each of my children’s names. I name 5 of my children, 21 of my grandchildren, and 15 of my great grandchildren. At the end of worship I have mentioned each name three times. My prayer is “Lord, I know you [are] there, but just guide my son. He made wrong choices, but it’s my fault because I taught him how to defend himself, so it’s [because of] me. Guide him and let him make the right choices and that is what he is doing today.”

That’s why I went to Life Change, because I blame myself for everything. The first time I went I was shocked. But I had to go back because I loved it the first time. But I still had a piece missing, and I could feel it missing [inside]. I shared with them that there’s something that still needs to come out. I could feel it. I cried and cried and cried. I never did that before. Nobody could make me cry. Life Change changed me and made me cry and cry. That day that I cried the change in me was because I was told that God loves me and forgives me. He told me it wasn’t [not any longer] my fault. That it was under His feet, I have nothing to worry about and now I can move forward.

So that’s why now I learn every day. I tell my kids I love them. So the Lord comforts me everyday otherwise I would not be the way I am today. If you knew me 30 years ago you guys wouldn’t be my friend. Today I am a different person. If I knew then what I know today, things would be so different, but it is never too late. Never too late. I thank God everyday.”

Tarah McFall:  “It was September 2009, and we were so excited.  The baby’s due date was actually [slated for] Pat’s birthday May 12^th. But we miscarried. It was earth shattering for us. We had all these dreams about what the baby would look like or sound like and what the baby would grow up to be. But now it was gone.

When I lost the baby I felt like there was so much I lost within me. It was the longest “night” for me, meaning not only one night but weeks and months. I didn’t have all the warm fuzzies of being a Christian woman. I wasn’t always happy like people expect Christians to be because I was going through an intense moment that lasted forever. The only question that God was asking me was “Do you trust Me?” In Song of Solomon 2:2 it says:

“Like a lily among the thorns so is my love among the daughters” (Song of Solomon 2:2)

Because of this tragedy, I felt like I was a failure as a woman. This is what I am geared for, designed biologically to do and I couldn’t do it. I felt like I failed, like I let God down and I let my husband down. But when I came across that scripture I realized that no matter what, I am still His, I am the Lord’s. Nothing, no circumstance can ever take that away from me. So that is what I clung to, even when we go through the tough times.

When we found out we were pregnant with Jaden, it was Christmas day and we were so overjoyed. But then worry set in, what if it happens again? But through the whole pregnancy, God kept asking “Do you trust Me?” So I just laid it all down [at the feet of Jesus] because I had no control over God’s redeeming fashion [grace]. Then on September 8 Jaden was born. It was altogether wonderful and a fulfillment of His promise and healing took place.

So it was in the midst of that tragedy that we became knit closely together. Pat and I really came together in unity.

When Jaden was born it was an eruption of celebration. Then Miya was born a year later and we weren’t expecting that, but now we are expecting our third. We are really excited. Becoming a mom has completely changed me. I’m learning that I am not just a mom but that I am discipling these kids, these wonderful gifts from God, so that they will also come to know The Lord and to know His voice.

I’m constantly brought to the end of myself after the demands of the day but at the same time I am filled with not wanting to be anything else but their mom. I am excited to adventure with them watching them become the man or woman of God.

My vision for my children is to simply be passionate lovers of Jesus and of others so they will have an impact upon the world. I never thought I would fully understand the selfless love of Jesus. It’s beautiful to be a mother; it’s hard, and fun and messy at times, but it’s all worth it to be the beautiful reflection of Jesus that gives and gives and gives.”

1) Which mother’s testimony can you relate to?

2) What sacrifices can you remember your mom giving as she nurtured you?

3) Through your mom’s upbringing what was the greatest impact she made on your life?

4) How can you honor your mom today?