Beech Tree News Network

Recently, I saw a news story about a designer who had been badly burned as a child.  Linda Rowe Thomas was two years old when a kerosene heater exploded, killing her six-year-old sister and badly burning her.  She and her sister had been playing dress-up.  Linda was wearing a fur coat with the hood up, which saved her arms and torso, but her face and hands sustained third-degree burns.  The damage was extensive.  All the fingers on Linda’s left hand had to be amputated, as well as part of the fingers on her right hand.  “The doctors told my mother that I would probably not have a good quality of life,” Linda said (cnn.com).

               At age five, Linda Rowe Thomas began gathering scraps of material left over from her mom’s sewing projects in order to make doll clothes, using only needle and thread.  Her mother noticed Linda’s interest and began to teach her daughter how to sew on a machine.

               “The doctors’ prognosis was definitely wrong.  God placed a remarkable gift in these unusual hands,” Linda said.  Today, you can find Linda’s designs gracing the red carpets from the Golden Globes to New York’s Fashion Week (cnn.com).

               Did you watch the football game between Alabama and Texas A&M on the 9th of October?  My husband, Garey, is an Alabama fan, and like all other fans of the Crimson Tide, he expects Alabama to win every game.  October 9th was no different, especially since Alabama was going up against A&M, and Alabama had a one hundred game winning streak against unranked teams going into the game and seemed poised to make it one hundred one.  Not only that, but Alabama coach Nick Saban, had never lost a game to a team coached by one of his former assistant coaches, and A&M is coached by Jimbo Fisher, one of Saban’s former assistant coaches.

               At half time, A&M had an impressive 24 – 10 lead over Alabama.  In the third quarter, Alabama cut the lead to seven, when DeMarcco Hellams blocked a punt and pounced on it in the end zone for a touchdown.  A&M came roaring back with a touchdown of their own.  As the fourth quarter was nearing the end, the score was tied 38 – 38.  With two seconds remaining, A&M kicker, Seth Small, made a twenty-eight-yard field goal, giving A&M a stunning victory, and leaving Alabama fans to wonder what happened.  (I went to bed before the conclusion of the game.)

               The next morning, Garey told me that Alabama had lost the game by a field goal.  He was so disappointed and was conjecturing on what had gone wrong and why it had resulted in Alabama’s loss.  As I was watching highlights of the game, I laughed out loud.  I paused the highlight reel and went into the kitchen to get Garey.

               “Come here,” I said, “I’m going to show you why Alabama lost that game.”

               I rewound the game footage.  The camera panned to the stands, where the family of Seth Small was seated.  Actually, only one woman was seated, the others were standing.  They were anxiously waiting for Small to kick the field goal.

               “Now, do not be distracted by the beautiful blonde girlfriend on the right,” I told Garey.  “Focus instead on that little woman who is seated.”  As the camera stayed fixed on Small’s supporters, you could see his little mom, head bowed, eyes closed, lips moving as she prayed for her son to make that field goal.  When the ball went between the goal posts and the referees raised their arms to signal the kick was good, she put her head in her hands and sobbed with relief and joy. 

               “That’s why Alabama lost by a field goal,” I said.

               Garey laughed.  “You’re probably right,” he said.

                              Oswald Chambers said we think we have all the facts, but there is always one fact more, and that fact abides with God.  I have noticed this is true in lots of situations, and in some cases, the one fact more is the Mom Factor.  A mom is often the driving force or the praying force, but which ever one she happens to be, she is a force to be reckoned with.