There are several people I can't wait to meet when I get to heaven. Of course, Jesus is the first person I want to see. I don't think that there's a Christian alive how would not want this. Of course, I want to see my family who have gone on before me. Yes, I want to see so many of the people mentioned in the Bible.....I do have questions I would love to hear the answers to. I want to ask Noah's wife, "Didn't you think Noah was crazy?" But there are two ladies who most of us don't even recognize that I want to go to and hug their necks and say thank you.
Those two ladies names are Martha Franks and Olive Lawton. Martha was a missionary to China in the early 1900's. Olive was also a missionary to China, best friend to Martha, and as it happens is the first cousin of my daddy-in-law. These two ladies I will be grateful to for a very long time.
You see, God gave Martha a most unique vision. She saw that missionaries, preachers, and ministers, who gave their lives to serving through the ministry, would not have a place to go when they got older and needed specific health care. Because of their very modest salaries, they would not be able to save the money needed or even buy insurance policies that would provide for them in the older age.
Martha took her inherited land in Laurens, SC and started the Martha Franks Retirement Community. She and Olive worked tirelessly to raise the money needed to get this community up and going. That is an incredible feat considering that it happened during the time that they started this....it was a very male dominated world.....yet these two ladies had a mission from God and today, there is a wonderful establishment where these precious ministers can live out their final years in peace, love, and dignity they deserve.
Why is this so important to me? Because Wes' mom and dad moved in to this retirement community back in November. His dad is in assisted living and his mom is in skilled nursing.....which is in the same building....so they are together every day. We invited them to come live with us, but Texas is a very long way from South Carolina - where all their family resides. So we understood why it wasn't very appealing to move our direction. However, they were just not able to take care of themselves and we knew that they needed to be with someone. Through miracle after miracle after miracle, we saw God guiding us to Martha Franks. Not only are Wes' parents well taken care of, but are so happy too. The staff is unbelievable! The love they show to each individual is incredible. As Wes and I were leaving from our last visit, I looked at him and said, "I just can't find anything not to like about this place!" Yes, it really is that wonderful.
And it all started with one little lady's vision and her friend who told her she wanted to help. Yep, I'm gonna hug those two ladies when I get to heaven.
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