Trust, Delight, Commit

Anna Daisy Suderman Siemens grew up on a farm in central Kansas, born July 4, 1907. She worked beside her Dad in the fields growing crops – plowing, harrowing, planting and harvesting. Anna had a love for the beautiful that included colors of flowers, the Evening Star in the night sky and the sounds of music. On her bedroom wall hung the painting of the guardian angel caring for the two children on the bridge.

Were all her experiences full of beauty? No. When she was five years old, her baby sister, Hilda died, and four years later at the age of nine, her little brother, Paul, died. When Paul was very ill, Anna’s father took Anna and her older sister, Alma, into the barn where they knelt and prayed. Gerhard Suderman believed in prayer, he trusted God. That night he asked his daughters to pray for the life of Paul. He and his wife, Anna, had lost three children already and he could not bear to lose another.

That night Anna Daisy learned the power of prayer and trust in God, for after a season of prayer they left the barn. Her mother met them crying in thanksgiving, Paul’s fever had broken. Later, Paul died, and Anna Daisy learned that sometimes Jesus says, “No.”

Mother was irrepressible in her enthusiasm and willingness to do good for others. She gave thanks to God and delighted in his love for her, of

ten saying, “God spoils me, just like a little child!”

It is no wonder that her favorite verses in Psalm 37 delighted her and affirmed her faith in God:

Trust, Delight and Commit. Those were the words she lived by. Anna had eye surgery in Oklahoma City, and I was given her silver wedding rings to hold. She often circled the rings around her finger, remembering her love for her husband, who had gone to meet Jesus. I began to pack her belongings and took her home. As we ate the evening meal – I suddenly looked at my bare fingers. I ran to check everywhere and called the hospital. No wedding rings appeared. As Anna told a friend, she reminded her of the verse – Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

About a week later, I received a phone call – God led her to look one more time in her bag and she found the wedding rings. Before Anna died years later, she sent her rings to her youngest grandson, Matt, for his new bride. God is faithful.

How often I have thought of the words – Delight yourself in the Lord! When I think of those words, I see mind pictures of Anna skipping in delight (even after 80 years old) and wonder, her blue eyes sparkling with deep joy. Always it happened when a precious flower bloomed, fruit ripened on a tree, a row of canned fruit and vegetables lined the ‘Siemens cellar’ shelves, she was able to play a

difficult song without a mistake, she finished sewing a garment, she held her grandchildren and great grandchildren, her piano student played for church services, her home Bible Study group, or the words of her latest poem fell into place. Anna Daisy delighted in the Lord, for she knew Who blessed her and guided her each step of her life’s journey.

Was Anna Daisy committed? Commitment extended from her heart to love God first, and she loved her neighbor as herself by pouring herself out for others. She loved her family – her three children, her parents and her five brothers and sisters. The family was united in loving God. The love story of my parents provided much joy for me through the years. They were totally committed to each other in trust and they delighted in being together up to the moment God separated them in death.

When I read Psalm 37, not only do I hear Anna Daisy’s voice in my heart, my Mom, but I see how her life lived Psalm 37. The three words – Trust – Delight – Commit – I saw lived in Mom’s life. When Mom lay in bed with her last illness, she said, “I just hope I can be decent about it.” Decency for Mom was trusting God and she learned that from her mother, Anna Suderman, – when moving to the nursing home, said, “I just hope I can be decent about it.”

This is what I pray, no matter what God allows to happen to me, “I hope I can be decent about it.”

Trust – Delight – Commitment spells a full life of deep joy in Jesus Christ. And I pray I can do this:

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him!