A Precious Jewel To Me

The ladies of our local congregation just had a tea party to celebrate and share about the lives of some amazing women in history.  Some of the ladies of interest were: Sarah Edwards, Fanny Crosby, Corrie Ten Boom, Amy Carmichael and Priscilla Mullins.  These are all well known women in Christian history and worthy to be remembered and honored, yet there are some women that will never be famous as these are. Women like my Granny.  

My great-grandmother, Granny, recently went home to be with our Lord, and has been on all of our minds a great deal lately.  She, as well, is a woman worthy to be honored and remembered. She served the Lord diligently from the time of her conversion at age 16, to the time of her death at age 98.  And over the course of her 82 years of Christian service touched and ministered to countless lives. Hers was a life of self-sacrifice. At her funeral there was a great deal of rejoicing, and there was a great deal of remembering. Most of the memories had a common theme: "Granny loved me. Granny prayed for me. Granny showed me how to live for Christ". 

Granny and me in 2009. She was 95.

Granny was always reaching out to people. You could not come into her home without her trying to feed you physically and feed you spiritually. If you sat down to her table, you were going to enjoy some delicious food and hear about the one true God who provided it. Whenever Granny would share her personal testimonies of what the Lord had done for her--that was my favorite way to learn about the Lord from her.  Sitting at the kitchen table, twisting a napkin all the while, she would tell me and everyone else stories of how the Lord had performed miracles in her life, given her peace or dropped a verse on her heart for her to meditate upon.

And if you needed prayer, she was the first one you went to. She would pray for you immediately, wherever she was. Many times friends would call her and have her pray with them right then over the phone. She never doubted that the Lord was listening to her, and she never doubted that He would answer. She was the kind of prayer warrior that I want to become.  

Granny loved the Lord. She loved hearing praises sung to Him. She loved being with His people. She loved telling other people about His goodness. She loved quoting His word to you.  She loved talking to Him. She loved the life that He had given her and she loved that one day she would be with Him forever.  

We loved her, and she caused us to love Him more.  

I want to be like my Granny. I want to be someone who is hospitable, caring, always sharing the love of Christ, always seeking His face in prayer, always telling of His goodness, never living a day without thanking Him. I want my life to be a life lived for Christ.

Do you?

Granny's verses: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God". Colossians 3:3