In 2003, married with a 3-year-old daughter named Jordyn, I decide to go on a trip to Grand Rapids to visit a few distant relatives just as I had done several times before. During this trip I told my wife that I wanted to show her where my spiritual transformation began. Of course our first stop was Mama Jackson's home on Thompson's Court. We drove over to the Thompson's Court but the house was no longer there. I started to tell my wife how special this place was to me, but at the time she was tired and seemed a bit disinterested in my attempt to walk down memory lane. My wife mentioned that it had been 26 years since I had visited the area and the likelihood of locating old neighbors or recreating memories would be difficult. While talking
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Once we were situated, I got out and walked to the house while my wife waited in the car with my daughter. I knocked on the door and a few moments seemed like an eternity. Suddenly a frail figure appeared from behind a partially locked door. With the chain still on the door and oxygen wrapped around her face, Mama Jackson answered the door and asked, “can I help you?” I said, “Mrs. Jackson it's me, Tony”. She opened up the door and asked me to repeat myself. Again, I said, “Mrs. Jackson it’s me Tony. You raised me for a couple of years”. She looked at me again and said, “Oh Lord, Son don’t you ever call me Mrs. Jackson again, I am your mother. Come in the house and bring your family!" As I turned to go retrieve my family Mama Jackson looked at me and said, “Before you go out there let me asked you a question.” She said, “Do you believe that the Lord answers prayers?” I responded that I did. She said, “You don’t understand. Do you believe that the Lord answers prayers?” “Son, I have been praying that the Lord would bring you home ever since you left me and here it is that I am about to leave this world and God has sent you home to me.” Mama Jackson died the following week, but in the short time that we had together she encouraged me and my wife. She blessed my ministry with her words, filled my heart with the joy of the lord and she handed me the baton of Christian service so that I could begin to run the next leg
Once we were situated, I got out and walked to the house while my wife waited in the car with my daughter. I knocked on the door and a few moments seemed like an eternity. Suddenly a frail figure appeared from behind a partially locked door. With the chain still on the door and oxygen wrapped around her face, Mama Jackson answered the door and asked, “can I help you?” I said, “Mrs. Jackson it's me, Tony”. She opened up the door and asked me to repeat myself. Again, I said, “Mrs. Jackson it’s me Tony. You raised me for a couple of years”. She looked at me again and said, “Oh Lord, Son don’t you ever call me Mrs. Jackson again, I am your mother. Come in the house and bring your family!" As I turned to go retrieve my family Mama Jackson looked at me and said, “Before you go out there let me asked you a question.” She said, “Do you believe that the Lord answers prayers?” I responded that I did. She said, “You don’t understand. Do you believe that the Lord answers prayers?” “Son, I have been praying that the Lord would bring you home ever since you left me and here it is that I am about to leave this world and God has sent you home to me.” Mama Jackson died the following week, but in the short time that we had together she encouraged me and my wife. She blessed my ministry with her words, filled my heart with the joy of the lord and she handed me the baton of Christian service so that I could begin to run the next leg