From the desk of Steve Shultz:
In celebration of Mother's Day, Bill Yount brings to our readers a timely word and testimony of, "The Best Mother On Earth."
How wonderful it is when we can celebrate the life of a mother, even after she has passed away. But how much more BRILLIANT to celebrate your mother while she's still living and she can hear or read your words and be glad! Such is the case as Bill Yount celebrates the miracles, the faith, the life, and the legacy of his still-living mother.
Happy Mother's day to every woman who is also a mother who reads this!
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Bill Yount:
The Best Mother On Earth
A Mother's Day message...
The Best Mother On Earth
Mom made us kids go to church. "You are going," she said. "As long as you are under our roof, you will be under the roof of God's house!"
Before I knew the Lord, I thanked Him that our church had a balcony. It didn't matter to Mom where we kids sat as long as we got under that roof. We perched on the highest and farthest seats from the pulpit. We talked and carried on with friends and got away with a lot of things, or so we thought.
Then one Sunday morning a lady from the pulpit started to sing, "He Touched Me." I suddenly discovered how long God's arm is. It's as long as the pulpit is from the balcony, for He touched me.
I rose from my friends and with weak knees started down the side steps of the balcony. I then walked down the center aisle of the church, while she was still singing, making my way to the altar. I gave my life to the Lord that day and I have never been the same again.
At eleven years old, Mom saw a huge goiter instantly disappear from my grandmother's neck in a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting. The next second a five-year-old boy beside her started jumping up and down screaming, "Mommy, where are you? Where are you, Mommy?" The mother standing right beside him said, "Honey, I am right here!" Mom saw that little boy jump up into his mother's arms to see her for the first time as he shouted, "Oh, Mommy, I can see you! I can see you, Mommy!" The mother began to cry out, "He was born blind!"
From that moment my mother got this mindset: "This is the way my life is going to be," and it has for 88 years and still continues. Little did she know what she experienced in those miracle meetings would one day cause healing to run in her own life and family.
The Great Physician
Mom had cancer 35 years ago. It was spreading throughout her body with the death sentence of five years. Mom felt led to visit a different church in town. She went with Aunt Sophie who has been healed so many times that people think she's crazy. If you are believing for a miracle or healing, be careful who you hang out with. You better find two or three crazy people who believe "all things are possible"!
They arrived early and sat near the front of the church before others got there. As soon as Mom sat down, she felt a hand touch her shoulder, shooting a bolt of electricity down through her body as it burned the hairs off her arms. "I just knew God healed me of that cancer!" she said. They found out later that church didn't believe in healing. I think that's why God healed her before the service started. That cancer never came back on Mom.
Then a tumor appeared on Mom's thyroid. Doctors wanted to test it for cancer. Mom prayed the night before the test. "Lord, if I get weak and sick with this tumor, how am I going to help anybody?" While on the table the doctor held a needle in one hand and felt for the tumor with the other. Again he felt for the tumor. After a moment of silence, the doctor said, "Mrs. Yount, I can't take this test. I can't find the tumor. It's gone!"
Mom said, "I shimmied off the table and staggered down the hallway under the power of God like a drunkard. The Great Physician beat the doctors to it."
When in her 70s, Mom faced a quadruple bypass surgery. I prayed for her the night before. She then prayed for herself. Her prayer was so short it concerned me. She didn't even say "Amen." I wanted to tell her she should pray longer for the seriousness of this surgery, but I didn't. I will never forget her short prayer that night. She prayed, "Lord, tomorrow morning is one of the reasons I've served You my whole life." That was it. She came through that surgery with flying colors. When she turned 80 years old, she was working in an assisted living home taking care of older people. She told us, "All these people are old in here."
A couple years later, her family doctor said, "What we have found this time, you will have to quit your job and stop driving your car." He shouldn't have touched mom's car. With the doctor's report, Mom had quit her job and the state took her license. Mom called me one night and said, "Bill, my best friends are calling me to encourage me but they end up reminding me of all my problems. I told them all, 'I don't have any problems, I just keep going.'"
The following Sunday she went to church to get anointed and prayed for by the elders. She called me that Sunday evening and said, "They anointed me with oil and prayed. I believe God healed me again and I want my license back!" Mom started calling up her doctors every other day demanding another test for her illness. She finally wore one doctor out. He gave her another test. As he read the test results with my Mother sitting in his office, he stopped halfway through the report and looked at her: "Mrs. Yount, I think you can go back to work now." Mom said, "How am I going to get there?" The doctor said, "Let me see what I can do." This is unheard of at mom's age of 82 years old. Mom got her license back and drove again.
Mom's Foot Totally Healed
I am learning when you get a breakthrough or victory, it's preparation for what is to come. Our family was shocked as the call came saying our mother fell down the basement steps and broke her ankle severely. Through surgery they put eleven pins and a plate in her ankle. From her battling diabetes, the ankle refused to heal. The doctors finally said, "Mrs. Yount, if the ankle does not begin to heal in a couple weeks we are considering amputation. They marked mom's leg and explained about the artificial foot and said, "You'll get along fine with it." But Mom prophesied to the doctors, "Whenever I go to Heaven, I am taking my foot with me!"
Mom often told her doctors "Who" was in the process of healing her so that when it happened they knew they had very little to do with it. Weeks went by with no healing. The doctors told the family, "The foot is dead. It is black and has no circulation in it. You can take her anywhere else, but it's too late." If you have been given a "no hope" report from a doctor, I strongly recommend you get a second opinion.
The Lord led my Mother to a doctor in Pittsburgh, PA for a second opinion, and I went with Mom to see this doctor. As he looked at mom's foot he said, "I'm going to try a couple things," and he walked out of the room. I followed him out and asked what he really thought. He said, "I believe there's hope."
I never heard those words from any other of her doctors. His words encouraged the whole family. I stayed the following week for Mom's surgery. As the doctors came into her room that night to give her the report, the lead doctor said, "Mrs. Yount, I believe when you go to Heaven, you will be taking your foot with you." This surgeon took the eleven pins and plate back out! After a battle of believing for five long months with special therapy, Mom's foot was totally healed.
She Keeps Outliving Her Doctors And Diseases
Today, Mom, at 88 years old, is living in an assisted living home where she used to work years ago. She is battling some health problems but she still gets around well, going to church on Sundays, and still lives to help others. One day she told the director, "I don't know why I am here in this place, for God has healed me so many times before." The director's son spoke up and said, "Maybe God sent you here to tell us about Him."
There is seldom a day goes by that I don't call her on the phone. Why? I am still learning much from her. I think that's why God keeps her living – for my sake and others. She had a cancerous tumor removed from her stomach recently and is doing well. No chemo was needed. She keeps outliving her doctors and diseases. Her wisdom is outlasting her enemies and mine, too.
When I recently talked to Mom, she said, "Bill, I can't tell everyone this for they wouldn't believe it, but I wanted to let you know. I was feeling discouraged and all of a sudden I was in the lap of Jesus. I don't know how I got there. He put His arm around me and I felt the greatest peace I have ever known."
This is one more reason why I call Mom every day: to see what God is doing in her life. I know the day will come when I call her and the phone will ring with no answer. But her healings and miracles will continue to touch multitudes.
Bill Yount
Blowing the Shofar Ministries
Email: theshofarhasblown@juno.com
Website: billyount.com
Bill Yount has been a member of Bridge of Life in Hagerstown, Maryland, for the past 33 years where he is now an elder and a home missionary. He is currently an advisor at large for Aglow International. Bill faithfully served in prison ministry at Mount Hope for 23 years and now travels full-time, both in the U.S. and internationally, ministering in churches and Aglow circles. "Humility and Humor" characterize his ministry as he brings forth a fresh word that is "in season," proclaiming the word of the Lord! The shofar (or ram's horn) is often used in his meetings, breaking the powers of darkness over regions, churches and households. The shofar represents God's breath blowing into the nostrils of His people, reviving them and awakening the lost. Many of God's messages, which Bill ministers prophetically, come out of his everyday life with his family and friends.
