{"id":2973,"date":"2018-10-15T13:31:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T18:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=2973"},"modified":"2018-10-20T09:19:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T14:19:05","slug":"loving-god-and-loving-people-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2018\/10\/15\/loving-god-and-loving-people-at-96\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving God and Loving People at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On September 26, 1943, I was born to Laddie and Beulah Thornton as Frances Ann. Over these 75 years I have been blessed by the example of their lives and the lessons they taught me. For over 30 years, they served as pastors in the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. My mother never saw herself as a pastor but as my dad\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, she was \u201cchildren\u2019s pastor\u201d and taught children from infants to teenagers. I remember helping her make flannelgraph figures and object lessons. She taught songs with handmade signs and puppets, and pictures cut from magazines. To this day, the children she taught remember Sister Thornton\u2019s class. \u201cSister Thornton was an inspiration to myself as well as many others. She left big steps for us to follow in,\u201d shares Carolyn Preble, who now pastors with her husband. \u201cShe was always faithful, friendly, and supportive of whatever was going on at church,\u201d recalls Jennifer Savage, Carolyn\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2975\" style=\"width: 239px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2975\" class=\"wp-image-2975\" src=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/10\/Frances-Pike-All-Gen-1.1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/10\/Frances-Pike-All-Gen-1.1.jpg 175w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/10\/Frances-Pike-All-Gen-1.1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2975\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frances and her mother, Beulah Thornton<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Interestingly, at the age of 96 and with a diminished memory, she will\u00a0still sing children\u2019s church songs from memory. It is such a joy to visit her in the memory care facility and sing, \u201cJesus loves me, this I know&#8230;\u201d or quote Bible verses.\u00a0I can begin to pray with her and hear her say, \u201cAmen\u201d or \u201cHallelujah.\u201d She may not remember my name or where she is, but she knows the truths of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0Sometimes I wonder if she has purpose now with her limited state of mind, but\u00a0I know God has a purpose as long as He gives us breath.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mother has been a widow for 17 years and has lived in an assisted living home for 12 of those years.\u00a0\u00a0In this time, several different caregivers have cared for her and always, without exception, they tell me what a blessing Mother is to them. \u201cIn what way is she a blessing?\u201d I ask. \u201cShe always has a smile, never complains and thanks us for everything.\u201d Some days she will try to tell me that one of the residents is having a difficult time and she wishes she could help them. At 96, she is still loving people and loving God.<\/p>\n<p>Beulah Thornton is a blessing to me, my sister, Sharon Thompson, and my brother, Tommy Thornton.\u00a0\u00a0Our children and her grandchildren are blessed with a strong faith and confidence in God from her life. Her great-grandchildren are recipients of her example.\u00a0She has now influenced three generations to live as lovers of God and people.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Written by: Frances Pike<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credits: Frances Pike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[520],"tags":[521,580,579],"class_list":{"0":"post-2973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allgenerations","8":"tag-all-generations","9":"tag-frances","10":"tag-pike","11":"entry"},"title_es":"Dios amoroso y gente amorosa a los 96","content_es":"El <u>26 de septiembre de<\/u> 1943, nac\u00ed de Laddie y Beulah Thornton como Frances Ann. Durante estos 75 a\u00f1os he sido bendecido por el ejemplo de sus vidas y las lecciones que me ense\u00f1aron. Por m\u00e1s de 30 a\u00f1os, sirvieron como pastores en la Iglesia Internacional de Santidad Pentecostal. Mi madre nunca se vio a s\u00ed misma como una pastora, sino como la esposa de mi padre. En realidad, ella era \"pastora de ni\u00f1os\" y ense\u00f1aba a ni\u00f1os desde beb\u00e9s hasta adolescentes. Recuerdo que la ayud\u00e9 a hacer figuras de franela y lecciones de objetos. Ense\u00f1\u00f3 canciones con letreros y t\u00edteres hechos a mano, e im\u00e1genes recortadas de revistas. Hasta el d\u00eda de hoy, los ni\u00f1os que ella ense\u00f1\u00f3 recuerdan la clase de la hermana Thornton. \u201cLa hermana Thornton fue una inspiraci\u00f3n para m\u00ed y para muchos otros. Ella nos dej\u00f3 grandes pasos para que sigamos \u201d, comparte Carolyn Preble, quien ahora pastorea con su esposo. \"Ella siempre fue fiel, amable y apoyaba todo lo que suced\u00eda en la iglesia\", recuerda Jennifer Savage, la hija de Carolyn. Curiosamente, a la edad de 96 a\u00f1os y con una memoria disminuida, todav\u00eda cantar\u00e1 canciones de la iglesia de memoria de los ni\u00f1os. Es una alegr\u00eda visitarla en el centro de atenci\u00f3n de la memoria y cantar: \"Jes\u00fas me ama, esto lo s\u00e9 ...\" o citar vers\u00edculos de la Biblia. Puedo comenzar a orar con ella y escucharla decir: \"Am\u00e9n\" o \"Aleluya\". Puede que no recuerde mi nombre ni d\u00f3nde est\u00e1, pero conoce las verdades de la Palabra de Dios. A veces me pregunto si ella tiene un prop\u00f3sito ahora con su estado mental limitado, pero s\u00e9 que Dios tiene un prop\u00f3sito mientras nos respire. La madre ha sido viuda por 17 a\u00f1os y ha vivido en un hogar de vida asistida por 12 de esos a\u00f1os. En este tiempo, varios cuidadores diferentes la han cuidado y siempre, sin excepci\u00f3n, me dicen qu\u00e9 bendiciones es para ellos la Madre. \"\u00bfDe qu\u00e9 manera es ella una bendici\u00f3n?\", Pregunto. \"Ella siempre tiene una sonrisa, nunca se queja y nos agradece por todo\". Algunos d\u00edas intentar\u00e1 decirme que uno de los residentes est\u00e1 pasando por un momento dif\u00edcil y desea poder ayudarlos. A los 96 a\u00f1os, sigue amando a la gente y amando a Dios. Beulah Thornton es una bendici\u00f3n para m\u00ed, mi hermana, Sharon Thompson y mi hermano, Tommy Thornton. Nuestros hijos y sus nietos han sido bendecidos con una fuerte fe y confianza en Dios de su vida. Sus bisnietos son destinatarios de su ejemplo. Ella ha influenciado a tres generaciones para vivir como amantes de Dios y de las personas. Escrito por: Frances Pike. Cr\u00e9ditos fotogr\u00e1ficos: Frances Pike.","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/10\/Untitled-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-LX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}