Pictured: Margaret Joyce Horsfall before she became Margaret Grace (circa 1955)
My father showed me a photograph of the young lady he fell in love with back in 1955-56. She was the cook in the kitchen at the Bible College he was attending in Sydney. Her enthusiasm and faith in God, her passion for life and missions was too much for the young man from a small country town in the central west of NSW. Not long after he completed his studies they married and trained to become missionaries. In early 1960 they embarked on an adventure serving Wycliffe Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea with two small children. My little brother Warwick was born there. In 1969 Mum developed a mystery illness and the Grace family were forced to return to Australia to seek medical advice. It took 7 years before doctors eventually diagnosed that she had been living with a brain tumour. Miraculously Mum survived the operation but it affected her quality of life in many ways. Despite her disability she lived every day full of faith and joy. She never lost her peace. She was an inspiration to many. In 1989 Mum went home to heaven and we have missed her ever since.
Some of the songs on the new ETERNITY album are there in memory of my mother. Songs that bring assurance and hope that heaven is very real and through faith in Jesus we live with its promise. That’s the hope of heaven. The hope of seeing our loved ones again in God’s presence forever. Other songs on the album were recorded at the request of elderly Aboriginal folks in remote communities who live with grief and sorrow constantly, yet never stop believing. I’m inspired by their love for the Lord and each other.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
– 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Thank you again for your friendship and support.
