Who Led You to the Lord?

Thursday, April 8, 2021 Hope Beach Who Led You to the Lord? My Grandmother in Law, Helen Beach Bible Verse: Psalm 119:111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

I met my ex’s (Mike) Grandmother aka Grandma Beach in the spring of 1986. She was everything you could ever think of or want in a grandmother. She was so sweet and kind with a cheerful laugh and smile. She was genuinely interested in you and what you had to say. She always asked questions that showed she really cared about you. At this moment in time, I had just started officially dating her grandson probably about 6-8 months. I think I was just so nervous to meet her earlier because it didn’t go so well when I met Mike’s mother – but that’s a whole other story! I remember Mike asking me if I would please come to dinner at his grandma’s house. Not only was I nervous but, I was also embarrassed for what we were going through…Mike and I had just found out we were going to have a baby. So here I was pregnant out of wedlock about to meet this very Christian woman, and hadn’t told any of our family our news. We were also only 19! So I decided to go as Mike had promised she would have no idea and would not question me on it. So, everything was going well then all of a sudden I looked at Mike with this scared look on my face and his grandma asked me if I needed to go to the bathroom. This sweet woman in all her infinite wisdom had to know but she never questioned a thing. She just helped me to the bathroom, brought me a washcloth to help me get cleaned up and just held me as she walked me back to the table. Needless to say we left shortly after that.

We finally let the family know we were expecting and that we would be getting married soon. She helped with all things wedding at Mike’s parents house. After that time, she would call me, pray over me, and she would also come and visit me just to see how I was doing. She even came over to give me a foot washing and then proceeded to give me a foot and leg massage! I had never experienced that and never even knew it was a thing. Because I grew up Catholic, I had never even read the bible or did any of the practices of a Christian church. She knew this and wanted to help me learn. On one of our first dates, Mike took me to a week long Revelation Seminar. Talk about immersing head first in the Lord! I received my very first bible at that seminar but hadn’t opened it since then. Grandma knew I went to that and offered to start helping me read it. She would come over or would call and go over things and to help me find my place in the bible. I had to tell her that I didn’t even know how to read it. The books, chapters, and verses she kept telling me to look up were foreign to me, as I had never even known what the books or numbers meant. She had her work cut out for her but she kept at it with me. She was so patient wanting me to not only learn about the Lord but to have a relationship with Him. She eventually started giving me lessons and other books that taught about their religion. She told me how very important it would be to bring up this baby and other children in the Lord. She not only taught me how to read the bible but she showed how she had the Lord in her heart in the way she was serving me. She loved me despite my flaws and never once judged me on how I became a part of their family. I could write a book on how much of a caring person she was.

It is just a couple weeks past the 13th anniversary death of this sweet saint of God and there isn’t a day that I don’t think of her. How could you ever forget the person that not only led you to the Lord but, showed the exact traits of walking with Him? Oh how I wish she could see how all the boys turned out. And how I would’ve treasured her advice during my divorce from her grandson. And how I can flip through my bible so easily now and more importantly, that I never stopped after she taught me how. She was so excited that we moved to TN because she and Grandpa lived here for a brief moment when he was stationed here. They wanted to come visit but she got sick and eventually was hospitalized. We made the long trek home to visit with her but she couldn’t speak or really move at all. By then, we had her first great grandchild with us and my son was able to put him on her hospital bed. She tried so hard to move and speak but nothing came out. My son just held him there and they locked eyes…wiping mine as I remember that day…I’d like to think that she was telling him how to get a hold of a bible and open it up and read and study Gods word because it will serve him well in his life. As my grandson got baptized last March on her 12th anniversary of her death, I’d like to also think that her prayers were answered from that day in the hospital. I have this picture of them hanging in my living room. I pray that she knew how very much of an impact she had on me and I can’t wait to see her again in Heaven! What a day of rejoicing that will be!!

For further reading: Psalm 24:6, Psalm 71:18, Psalm 100:5, 1 Corinthians 8:3, Colossians 3:14, 1 John 4:7, Proverbs 22:6

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you so very much for sending people into our lives that we do not even realize at the time will bring us closer to You. I know it was her wish to have me in the Word and now it is my prayer that my grandson, who sat and stared at her with such intent would know the value of opening the Bible and learning how very much You love us, no matter what.