The Story of Virginia Russell Hollowell’s Life

For Every Cross We Bear

1 Peter 1: 6-7

This song was intended to be a surprise for my mom. I originally was going to give it to her on her birthday, December 2, 2006 but decided to wait and surprise her with a special presentation at a scheduled Island Quartet concert a few months later. The words really are her life narrative; she withstood so many hardships. Her dad died of spinal meningitis when she was six; her mom died a year later when she contracted the same disease from treating her husband (mom’s dad). Mom was placed in a Baptist orphanage (Mill Home-Thomasville, NC) where she spent her next ten years. All of this happened in the height of the Great Depression that not only impacted our nation, but much of the world. She left the orphanage and went to college (Mars Hill-NC) just as WW2 broke out. She and dad married in February of 1947; that’s when she moved to the Keys. She lost a son between Juanita and I (1955)….he was stillborn. She lost her/our house to Hurricane Donna in 1960, and (again) to a fire in 1967. In 1973, my dad died of lung cancer one year after having had a portion of his lung surgically removed. Much of his last year was spent getting treatments and/or in Veteran’s Hospital. I remember asking her how she endured all these tragedies. She said, the ONLY thing that allowed her to survive them was her faith in Jesus Christ and she pointed to Him for providing the strength, comfort, and healing for each challenge. She added a phrase I had heard her say MANY times before, “For every cross we bear, our Father gives a crown!”

As mentioned, I wanted to surprise her and HONOR her by debuting this song and sharing her story at an Island Quartet concert in the spring of 2007. She called the afternoon of the concert and said she just didn’t “feel up to going.” We figured out later she had another mini-stroke. We nonetheless sang HER song that night and I shared with our congregation, the information I just shared with you. A few weeks later, on Friday, May 11, she passed her “final earthly test”….two days before Mothers’ Day. We played the video of the Island Quartet singing the song for her Homegoing service. I remember after the funeral, a friend suggested, “it’s too bad she never got to hear her song.” My response was, “trust me, she heard it, and was probably singing harmony to it.”

Verse One

I confess that there’ve been times that tried my faith

When I questioned the direction of God’s plan

But through every stormy gale, I’ve found His wisdom has prevailed

And I’ve emerged each time a richer, stronger man

Chorus

For every cross we bear, our Father gives a crown

That’s His promise to embrace each time we’re down

He reminds us that through all our pain, His goodness will abound

Yes for every cross we bear, He gives a crown.

Verse Two

Every day I hear from Christians in despair

And I try my best to comfort and console

I remind each of those friends that there’s a blessing in the end

That’s the promise from the One who’s in control

Verse Three

There’ll be a day for each of us to travel on

When our Lord will give His final earthly test

Then we’ll walk His streets of gold, dwell in the mansions He’s foretold

And that crown we’ll wear will be His very best