Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: New Patch/New Wine - Old Garment/Bottle (Matthew 9:16-17, Mark 2:21-22, Luke 5:36-39} (01/04/24)
-
TITLE: My Grandmother's Cross-Eyes | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
01/10/24 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“Always remember,” she would admonish with gentle sternness wrapped in an endearing sweetness, “everything on earth is either of God--or Satan--Period!”
She could quote Chapter and Verse from The Word. Make that the last Word.
Sometimes I protested, “But what is so bad about dancing, or movies? Other people drink and smoke, but I don’t. How does that compromise me?”
It was hard to defend my shaky stance while staring into her clear blue eyes that seemed to dare me to find a loophole while simultaneously loving me to the depths of her being. Nonetheless, I ignored a niggling suspicion that she might know whereof she spoke!
Many times, as we sat in the backyard swing on a sultry summer evening listening to the occasional far-off thunder teasing us with a promise of rain, she would continue quietly sowing those honest-to-God seeds into the garden of my obstinate, ignorant heart.
The best thing about those swing sessions was when she shared stories from the early years of raising seven children. There was no electricity or running water in their dilapidated rental. Grandfather was unable to work.
This amazing woman was lovely enough to have been a model and intelligent enough for college and beyond. How did she wind up surviving with such perseverance and grit while leaning on a belief system foreign to me?
During the Great Depression, she churned butter to sell in town to buy flour, sugar, and coffee. She washed clothes outside in a huge tub filled with water from the pump and heated by a fire underneath. The wet laundry was pegged on clotheslines to dry and later had to be ironed.
Gran cooked on an old wood stove. Vegetables from the garden, eventually canned for winter, several chickens, and milk from one cow provided sustenance. Didn’t anyone notice this weary woman worked from dawn’s early light until sundown? Where did she get the strength?
After stumbling around too long in the dark of worldly misinformation, I found the answer.
To make an open connection to God, we must offer a clean receptacle. Bodies and souls can be washed and managed, but the only way to present a forgiven spirit is through the cleansing blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
A connection that provides a perfect line of communication for us to receive blessings and Divine guidance and to return praise and thanks to our Father demands a spotless vessel.
For example, one night she dreamed that her teenage son was trapped in a deadly fire inside a vehicle. A large angel swooped down and pulled him to safety. When she woke from the nightmare, she gave thanks for his rescue, an event she had only dreamed about.
Before the others got to breakfast that morning, he had a painful confession.
“Uh, Mother,” he stammered, “You warned me to stay away from Joe for a good reason. I didn’t listen.”
She did not chastise.
“Last night we had a wreck in his car. It caught fire. He was thrown clear, but I was trapped in a roaring blaze. Suddenly, some huge, strange guy grabbed me, plopped me on the grass, and then disappeared. I was not burned one bit!”
Still shaken to his core, exhausted, and in tears, he rested his head on the table. She touched his face with great tenderness as she hurried to retrieve piping hot biscuits from the oven and stir the big pan of scrambled eggs. She had a house full of hungry people to feed.
“Straighten up, Son. We’ll talk later. Chores are waiting after you get some nourishment.”
Those stories were like divine arrows of grace and mercy shot gently into my unresponsive heart. Like many immature adults, I seemed to be immune to those genuine life lessons when I needed them the most.
The promised power in God’s spiritual wine will not survive in a polluted receptacle. Holy Spirit peace and discernment demand a clean place to fill.
My beautiful, sensible grandmother’s spirit was a pure vessel overflowing with obedience, thankfulness, and praise.
A truly righteous woman, she kept her eyes so firmly on the CROSS that talking to the Lord about everything (and listening, even to dreams), was as normal as breathing.
That’s the reason so many of her sentences began with, “I prayed…” and “…the Lord provided!”
_____
*Based on True events
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.