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"Only God knew the specific plans He had intended for me to fulfill in my life, and He put me under the care and guidance of a Christian woman that not only believed in me, my brother and sister, but she prayed for us. Our mother could "smile at the future" (Proverbs 31:25), because she had placed all of us and our futures in the very capable hands of her Savior.

My mother, Hilda Faye Cartrette Smith, sister to one younger and one older brother, was raised by a Studebaker salesman father and a Christian mother. She lived on this earth for sixty-one years, but I believe her faithfulness will continue on for generations long after I am gone. So much of who I am is because of the woman she was. She was a faithful wife and mother, sister, friend, Sunday school teacher, and fellow-servant with our Dad in different ministries.

In May 1997, Dad had gone on a business trip to Brookings, South Dakota, for a training seminar. He was to be there May 5th through the 9th. After he left, Mom and I looked forward to seeing each other. We had lunch together, and then Mom was going to stay at my house with the children so that I could get out and run some errands. When I returned home a few hours later, Mom said that she had a terrible headache, and would not accept our dinner invitation, but would head home and lie down.

Once I got the children down for their naps, I just felt like I needed to call Mom and check on her. She was now sick with severe diarrhea and vomiting that accompanied her headache. Her doctor had instructed her to call an ambulance and get to the nearest emergency room immediately, but Mom would not do it. So, I got my sleeping babies out of their beds, secured them in their car seats, and began the 30-minute drive over to my parents' home out in the country of Lexington, SC. What I found was most frightening; my mother was on the bathroom floor, sicker than I had ever seen anyone in my entire life. On the 15-minute trip to the hospital, Mom cried out in excruciating pain from the headache. The children were frightened, as was I. As we were filling out the admitting forms at Lexington Medical Center, she began to convulse. I was afraid she was going to die right there in front me, Hannah and Ross.

A cat scan was done, and it revealed that Mom had a brain aneurysm. She needed to be transported to Richland Memorial Hospital by ambulance immediately. A team of neurosurgeons greeted us with the prognosis after examining Mom. She would need brain surgery the next day. Here began the privilege I would have to pray for my mother like never before. She had been such a good example for me, and I knew where I had to turn at a time like this. Although I felt very much alone facing the immediate trauma, I knew the Savior my mother had gone to on my behalf all of those years would then be with me as the tides were turned..."