Sister Freda
When my mother, affectionately known as sister Freda among Christian believers, arrived in the City of Preston, north west England, from Jamaica, in the mid-fifties, the church of her childhood was unknown where she lived. Christians of other denominations graciously welcomed her but something significant was missing for her.
She was accustomed to celebrating the seventh day of the week as the true biblical sabbath. The fourth commandment was as crucial as any of the other nine for her. God had written on stone tablets upon Mount Sinai, all ten words of love. The first four was about love for Him and the last six, love for our fellow human beings. She regularly read Exodus chapter 20, to reassure herself of the legitimacy of her faith in a loving Creator God.
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work.
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
In it, thou shalt not do any work.
For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea
And all that in them is and rested the seventh day
Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.” (Exodus 20:8-10)
Mum was determined to help establish a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Preston, and it was not long before she discovered other like-minded members. Soon, ‘Sister Freda,’ was worshipping in the manner that brought her the most joy.
Today (2020), Mum leads a simple life in her walk with God. She claims her memory is beginning to fail, yet it takes little prompting to trigger reminiscences of how the eight-family-strong membership in Preston began all those years ago, and how the life of her eldest son evolved to become what it is today.
Although she would deny the fact, Mum is the acclaimed matriarch to her six children and her adopted nieces and their children. Eighty-plus years have etched their days upon her visage, but her eyes are as bright and her mind as incisive as it ever was.
She is content. All is well with her soul, for she has long placed her life in God’s care. Daily, and with devoted precision, she sings hymns, reads the daily lessons and her Bible, gets down on her knees and commends herself, her family, her friends, her church and the events of the world into God’s keeping.