My Granny

Incredibly, today my Granny would have been 115 years of age! She lived to be 92, then went to Heaven.

My Granny had a second grade education. She had to leave school at the age of eight years. From that time until she married, at the tender age of fifteen years, she raised, farmed, picked, slaughtered, prepared and cooked the food for her “Papa” (a Civil War veteran), their family, and all the sawmill hands.

She and my Grandpa had 10 babies, six of whom survived. They lived the realities of “The Grapes of Wrath” when they packed all their possessions and moved from Oklahoma to California during the dust bowl days.

My mother was 4 years old when they trekked across the southwestern region of the United States settling in the Oildale area of California.  For a while they made their home in a box car. They were migrant farm hands until Grandpa was hired by an oil company and Granny found steady work in a canning factory.

Throughout the miles and in all the trials their family endured, Granny just kept going.

I began this tribute by stating at age 92, Granny went to Heaven. How can I make such a confident declaration? Not because of all the good things she did in the midst of her circumstances–which were many–but because she knew Jesus.

She found Jesus as a young woman and determined in her heart she would introduce her family to Jesus and do all she could so her family would also know Him. She would have her family in church at every opportunity because she desired that each of her children would find, experience, and know the precious peace in Jesus Christ she had come to know amidst the tribulations of life.

As one of her many granddaughters, I can attest we never left her home without having a time of prayer with her and Grandpa. We each took a spot by a chair in the living room and knelt to pray; each praying for God’s protection over the travelers and other known needs.

Everything in Granny’s life was obviously not perfect but she trusted the One True and Living God and His perfect goodness to get her through each situation. My Granny’s faith in God enabled and empowered her to do what she did and to endure to the end.

It is a joy for me that I can rest in the knowledge that I will see her again. She left a legacy of trusting in the Lord for everything.

Like my Granny’s life, God has a plan for each of us He determined long ago.  Knowing this brings a set of questions to be answered. Have we chosen to take our place in His Kingdom? Have we determined to walk with the Lord throughout this life and all the circumstances that present themselves? Are we leaving a legacy of faith, trust and joy in the Lord? Is the legacy we are leaving leading others toward God and into His Kingdom?

“God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT

My Granny’s reward is she is now with our Lord, living eternally with Him, never having to experience again any lack, loss, or tears of sorrow, grief or sadness. Now and forever, she has complete joy!

May I walk out my life in a way that leaves a legacy of glistening love and sparkling joy found only in the Kingdom of God through Christ Jesus.