Happy Mother’s Day! 
Today, I want to take time to honor our mothers.  I have been especially blessed with three of
the greatest mothers in the world in my own life.  My own mother, Albertina Kozlovsky Grooms, my
mother-in-law, Louise Winston Obenshain, and my wife Edith, the mother of our
children and Nana of our 18 grandchildren.

I know today can be especially difficult for many
people because of several reasons. Maybe your mother passed away this past year
and this is your first Mother's Day without her. Or even though it was years
ago, you still missed her greatly. It might be that you could never biology
give birth to a child and this day brings back the emotional pain and possible
guilt you feel because of it.

It is possible that you grew up in a dysfunctional
abusive family and you can’t recall too many good experiences with your mother.
It is my prayer that what the devil meant for evil in your life, by God’s grace
you will experience His spirit of forgiveness through Jesus Christ and find hope
and healing to break that chain of pain and bad memories.

My mother-in-law, Louise, was never able to give
birth to a child because of medical reasons. 
But she became a mother when she and her husband Elmer adopted two
orphaned children, Edith and Peyton. Louise lost her husband to a heart attack
when Edith was 10 years old and experienced another tragic lost a few years
later when Peyton was killed in a gun accident. Louise never lost her faith and
worked hard to be the best mother possible to my wife and took me in as her own
son after we got married. She went to be with the Lord on February 10, 2001. We
still love and miss her greatly.

A few years ago, I found in one of my mother’s
Bibles a three by five index card with a handwritten prayer that my mother had
written years earlier. Her prayer was: “That Mike may be filled with the
knowledge of His will in wisdom and spiritual understanding, being fruitful
every good work, to be strengthened with all might to His glorious power”.  My mother loved the Lord and prayed for all
five of her children.  But I feel especially
honored that we found this specific and personal prayer that she prayed for me
and took the time to write and record it on this card.

Mothers, there is no greater legacy and gift that
you can give to your children than your prayers along with a Godly life.  Please take the time to pray for your
children, especially in these very difficult days in which we live.

My mother went to be with the Lord on October 11,
2018, and we all missed her very much. She was an awesome grandmother and
great-grandmother too!

I also want to honor my beautiful and wonderful wife
Edith on this special Mother’s Day!  I’m
convinced the first thing that makes her such a great and wonderful mother is
that she is an awesome wife!  She prays
for me, supports me, encourages me, corrects me, comforts me, and assists me. And
maybe most of all, she forgives me often for all the foolish and dumb things
that I do.  And she is always there for
me!

My wife, and the mother of our children, is also the
reason we have been blessed with such wonderful children!  She set an example before them of how to love
others and accept them unconditionally.  She
showed them how to give up all the rights to yourself to serve and bless
others.  As a pastor’s wife, she was
willing to give me up, and sacrifice her time with me, so that I could help and
minister to other people. 

If I have enjoyed any success as a pastor, it is
because of the love, diligence, loyalty and prayers of my wife, the mother of
our children, my mother, and my mother-in-law! These awesome women have
sacrificed their entire lives for the sake of Christ and the Gospel!  They truly and completely fit the description
of the Godly Woman in Proverbs 31, and today deserve to be praised and to be
blessed!

God bless!