Doreen Elizabeth McDonald

What follows is a beautiful email Bobbie Houston sent out about a moment with her mum who in her latter days was affected by a stroke and very frail in a nursing home in New Zealand:

"March 1st ... The first day of autumn/fall for us Down Under, but also my mums birthday. If she (Doreen Elizabeth McDonald) were still alive, she'd be 96 today

My mum had a little bit of dementia. One time years ago, I rang her from Sydney and she said "oh darling, I was just talking to myself about you".

The memory that comes to mind... is that one November (2 months before she died), I was terribly burdened for her. I lived in Sydney, she in NZ - and for some reason I couldn't go visit. Can't remember why, but it kind of upset me. So I prayed and did what the bible says, "cast your burden".

 A couple of weeks later I ventured to the mailbox and here was a letter from a woman I didn't know. She was a nurse in NZ...One evening, they were attending to one of the precious women, when another woman on the other side of the room starting making distressed noises (my mum couldn't speak cos of the stroke). So these two beautiful nurses went over, began to pray and sing over her. Once she settled, they looked at the pinboard above her bed and all there was, was a Christmas card.... So these dear nurses had looked at the Christmas card and one said, "I think that is the Houstons in Australia. I wonder if this lady is a relative".

LONG STORY SHORT...she wrote to me not knowing it was my mum, not knowing that the moment they prayed for mum was the moment I had been burdened and unable to fly to be with her. The lovely nurse told me that "they had prayed and sung to this fragile little soul and that a beautiful peace had settled over her, that I didn't need to worry and that she would be alright now".

Okay, I'm bawling now ... but I SAID ALL THAT, to say that when we reach out...it matters! Never underestimate the power of a hug, a smile, a gentle touch, a song sung in the night over a distressed soul.

By the way, not long after that, I went home to NZ. Spent a few days with my mum. She couldn't talk, so I talked for TWO days - told her everything about Sydney, the church, the kids, the house, the garden, the weather, Brian, the kids, the house, the garden ... and when I left, I put my face to hers (cos I kinda knew this might be my goodbye) and said, "oh mum, you're making me cry" ... and as clear as anything, she said "I don't want to". She'd heard everything I said and God graced her to articulate one last sentence.

I told her she needed to go home to heaven ... and then sometime in January, she quietly departed this life for the world she was really created for. I was on a beach when my sister called. I was sad but not grief striken, because she had been promoted to heaven. At lunch that day I ordered a glass of champagne and toasted Doreen Elizabeth McDonald - beautiful, kind, gracious Doreen, who always put others before herself, who entered this world on March 1st, 1914 ... and I guess I'm making a toast to her again today.

Be blessed, be kind, be someone's hope and peace today"
 

 

"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference." - Barbara De Angelis