Too Late: Faithful in the End
The “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
— 2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT
Kathy and Kelli
Philippines — If anyone had a good excuse to go home, it was Kelli Williford. But that was before Covid. Now the choice before her felt impossible. She had promised her mother, Kathy—whose recurrent breast cancer had spread to her bones, lungs, and brain—that she would be with her in her final days. But she had also said yes to God’s call to the Philippines to work for Him and the hurting and healing children at Happy Horizons’ Children’s Ranch (HHCR). Now, thanks to Covid-19, it was impossible to do both. She had to decide quickly: the window for travel was on the brink of closing.
Covid protocols in the Philippines were unusually strict, especially as related to international travel. After checking and rechecking both governments’ websites and with every airline, she realized that she would not be able to return to the Philippines once she left for the USA. “If I decided to go and be with Mom, there was no way of knowing when I could return to my husband and children in the Philippines,” Kelli explained. “If our entire family traveled to the States, we would be stuck there, away from our work, for an indeterminable amount of time. Additionally, things at HHCR were very difficult because of pandemic protocols, so we really didn’t want to leave our staff and children to struggle without our help.”
Kathy called to reassure her daughter that she didn’t expect her to come home. After much prayer and consultation, Kelli made the heart-rending decision to stay at HHCR.
A few weeks later, Kathy was put on hospice. Kelli thanks God for a “miraculously” strong internet signal that allowed her to be virtually present with the family until her mom took her first breath in heaven.
Grieving from the other side of the world has been tough. Although she Zoomed into her mother’s funeral, she wasn’t able to hug her dad and sister.
Kelli was too late to see her mom one last time. But she was just in time to see what God accomplished through her faithfulness and sacrifice.
“I have no regrets about my decision,” Kelli says. “My husband (John) and I have helped carry the burden of running HHCR during the pandemic and during a devastating typhoon in 2021. The children living at our home often have a hard time trusting people or believing that anyone truly cares about them. When the kids realized that I wasn’t going back to my mom—that I was choosing to stay with them—it solidified that our family genuinely loves them. They grieved along with us, and they saw how God gave me unexplainable peace.”
Because Kelli Williford remained faithful to God’s call, offering no excuses even when her mother was dying, she will need no excuse when, one day, she sees Jesus face to face—and hugs her mother once more in heaven.