A MOTHER IN ISRAEL

Mrs Elizabeth Tallach, widow of the late James A. Tallach, passed away in Inverness on Saturday, the 25th August. The following appreciation of her has been put together by her youngest son, John. Further details, particularly of her experiences in connection with the illness of her son Fraser, will become available next year when a book, based on material written by Fraser, will, God willing, be published by the Banner of Truth Trust.

Mother was born in Glasgow on the 12th of February, 1911. When she was still a toddler her parents moved north to Strathpeffer, where her father established a draper's business. Before her father bought a car, there was no transport to take the family in to attend the Free Presbyterian services in Dingwall. In that situation they normally attended the services in the Free Church in Strathpeffer. It was on one of these occasions that Mother heard the Rev. Kenneth MacRae, who was later to become minister in Stornoway, preach on "He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" [John 3:36].

Mother was only twelve years old at the time, but she could remember the details clearly when she recounted that experience as recently as January of this year: "He pressed on us so powerfully the duty of believing in Christ. 'Are you willing to have Jesus?' he asked. 'He is willing to have you.' I cried when I got home from that service." "What was upsetting you? Why were you crying?" I asked.

"I think it was with longing to have Christ," she replied. "Probably I was converted then, but I went through a long period of questioning, and did not find peace until years later. My question was, 'What does it mean to believe?' One day, as I was washing dishes, I got help from the words of Acts 16:31: 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.' Light shone into my heart and I realised the simplicity of the gospel. But things did not become completely clear to me until after that, when I read a chapter in a book by Spurgeon entitled, "Faith: what is it?"

As we grew up, one of the features of life in the Manse was the sound of her feet as she sped round the house, getting stuck into her chores, from 6.30 am onwards. She was devoted to her work as a minister's wife. In fact, before she agreed to marry our father, she was cycling one day along a country road when she felt urged to seek God's will for her life and she found a quiet spot to do so. While she was praying about the fact that our father was asking her to marry him, she realised that one reason why she was attracted by his proposal was that this would give her an opportunity to share in his gospel work.

One of the forces which drove her was, her insatiable appetite for Christian fellowship. Within ten days of her death she was recalling with great pleasure the details of a car journey from Dingwall to a Strathy communion in 1959. One verse which opened the door to a lot of lively and edifying discussion during that journey was "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that 'is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Mother's comment on this was,

"That whole journey was over in a moment". On the day before she died, she was withdrawn into a world of her own at one point but suddenly a bright smile spread across her face. It faded, then she smiled again in a completely natural, warm way and her face settled into an expression which was relaxed and happy.

My brother Cameron noticed the same thing when he was with her that evening. He said it seemed as if, in some sense, she was meeting friends with whom she had had sweet fellowship in the past and whose company she was delighted to have now. She was slipping beyond our reach, but not beyond the reach of the Spirit who is the author of all real fellowship between believers.

She had compassion for people who were passing through a difficult time, and she had the strength to identify with them in their suffering, however much it might take out of her. I remember taking her out briefly from Ballifeary Home during the last period of her life, when she was confused and had great difficulty in understanding why she was staying where she was rather than in her own home in Dingwall. Yet, when she caught sight of a friend who had recently suffered a bereavement, she was able to focus with total clarity on this other person's situation, to sympathise with her and to respond in a supportive way.

My brother Cameron remembers listening as a young child outside her bedroom as she poured out her heart in prayer. He remembers also her prayers with us when we were small.

On one occasion we had inadvertently come across a nest with young birds. Someone said to us that the mother bird might not come back, because we had been near the nest. Cameron remembers how mother prayed about that with us, and asked God to care for the young chicks. This made quite an impression on him.

Her experience of the effectiveness of prayer became part of how she sought to commend the gospel to others. She would seek openings in conversation with people who were suffering, share with them the fact that God had helped her through her difficult times, and would encourage them to seek his help in their time of need.

She had deep personal appreciation of the preciousness of God's word. Towards the end of 1959 she was dusting a door in the manse in Stornoway when the thought came, apparently without reason, into her mind, "If James (her husband) were to be taken away, you would be utterly useless and helpless." Then words came to her from Psalm 23:

Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me.
And in God's house for ever more,
My dwelling-place shall be.

She took comfort from these words in two ways. She felt sure that the goodness and mercy of God would come behind her to support her, and she felt that God would also go before her to provide for her in a way which could never be taken away. "Think of the security in that," she said. "Sometimes we do not lean on God's promises as we should, and we are the losers for that. But on that occasion I was enabled just to take God's promise and to lean on it." It was not long after that strengthening experience that mother suffered the loss of our father in January, 1960. During the last full day of her life, though she was very weak and at times confused and withdrawn from the scene around her, there were also times when her faith in Scripture shone out clearly.

At one point she commented, "We don't realise the power of God's word". She said of the Lord, "He's a fail-me-never. He never lets you down." When her sister Helen read some Psalms to her, including Psalm 84, she repeated several times the words from verse 11: "The Lord will give grace and glory".

That weakness crept up on her with surprising suddenness during the last week. Outside her bedroom window there was the noise of activity as builders put up an extension to the home. But, inside the room, the temple of her body and her mind was coming down.

I felt a reaction against this process which was apparently going to take our mother away. Why should death take away this person who had shown such immense courage, spiritual strength and practical commitment; who had always been there for all her family, in selfless love and in earnest prayer?

Then I thought "There is something going on here which we cannot fight. In any case, the character of death has been transformed by Christ." In this I was following what Dr Hugh Gillies, a close Christian friend of the family once said, "Death holds no terror now for the believer. Rather, death says to the believer, 'Come this way to glory'."

When Fraser died in November 1998, Mother expressed the wish that all who had carried us as a family in prayer to the throne of grace during that difficult time would receive a blessing for themselves. The same point applies now, for those many dear friends in Christ who supported her, and us all, in prayer during her last days. Friends like Don and Chris Robertson in Vancouver, who loved our mother and who were loved by her, and who sent this message after her death:

"Thank you for letting us know of the departure of your loving mother who is now with her Saviour and loved ones gone ahead. Your dear mother was not just your mother but "a Mother in Israel". She showed deep affection and spiritual concern for so many, including ourselves. We have been so very grateful for her ministry to us and we are thankful to hear that her illness was short and without severe pain or discomfort. We praise God for his goodness and grace."

The above is taken from The APC NEWS, Issue no 79, October 2012 by permission.