But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Have you ever met a person who exhibited such a strong faith that you just knew they were one of God’s children without them saying a word? A calm, quiet, assurance about this woman made me feel relaxed and comfortable. Someone I felt I knew her for a lifetime, someone I could talk to for hours … yet we just met?
I may not have been able to quote the fruits of the Spirit, at the time, but she lived them all to perfection. Well…as perfect as any human can live them this side of heaven.
I was in my teens when I met her and she in her late fifties. She was caring and kind to all she met. Generous with sharing the fruits of her labours, which was back breaking work as she tended her huge vegetable garden along with the chickens, cow, pig, and horse. She taught her twelve children to work right alongside her, teaching them the skills they would need to survive on their own.
Jars of jam made from hand picked wild berries, preserves of different fruits and vegetables stored in bins, filled her basement. These from the summer and fall harvest which fed her family during the long winter months. By the time I met her, most of the children were out on their own except for the last three boys who were in their twenties.
Her great love for Jesus gave her an intense desire to daily read and study her Bible. She was the wisest woman I have ever met, and one would never have known by the knowledge and wisdom she displayed, that she only had grade three formal education. Her Bible was her constant companion!
At seven years of age she began working at a summer lodge where they hired her to help the cook make at least twelve loaves of bread a day, depending on how many guests were there at the time. She began each morning by walking five miles on a country road up long hills and down dales until she reached the lodge. Because she was so young and small, she had to stand on a stool to reach the counter top. She would knead and punch the dough with her fingers and fists and then when ready, put them in the pans for the cook to bake.
That done, she would walk the miles back home before beginning all over again the next day to the end of summer. By the time we met, her hands were soft and smooth, the ends of her fingers were broad and turned up on the tips from years of kneading bread and hard work.
She married at seventeen and over the years twelve children were born to her at home. One child was born with the veil still on him, which she removed herself. The twelfth son died at the age of seven from a mastoid infection, and when the eleventh son developed polio, she stayed up seven days and nights putting blankets on the wood stove oven door. When paralysis came upon him she would take a warm blanket, put it on his legs and massage and massage until the paralysis left. All she fed him was rice water which we now know is very nourishing, but who told her? Most of all she prayed begging God for her son’s life and dedicating him to the Lord.
Her prayer was answered, and her son recovered able to walk, run, climb, and play just like other children. The doctor was so impressed with her method of treatment that he asked her to come to work with him treating other patients with polio. With her family responsibilities this was not possible.
She was a brave and strong woman with a pioneer spirit and an abiding love for Jesus. In times of trouble she had learned there was only one person she could go to for help, and that person was Jesus Christ. Through prayer and Scripture she had developed a very close relationship with Him.
She was not a beautiful woman in what today’s world would call beautiful, but she glowed, not only with an inner peace, but an outer peace and beauty that made one notice her immediately.
I loved her dearly and she taught me so much over the years including what to look for in a godly character.
In fact, she taught me how to make applesauce while I was on my honeymoon. That should give those who have read my past articles an idea about who this woman of faith was… Her name was Matilde Ann Broadbent Brodie, and she became my mother-in-law.
The son she nursed back to health from that dreaded polio disease was my husband Neil.
How joyful it will be when I get to heaven and see her again after all these years she’s been gone, along with my husband Neil, my daughter Karen, my dad and mom and so many other loved ones that have gone on before me.
Oh, what a glorious day that will be!
Come Lord Jesus, come!