A TRUE BUT ANONYMOUS STORY
God works in many unexpected ways. Through our difficulties, through our mistakes, he brings unimaginable good.
I am a young mom. When I was 18, I gave birth to my son, Mark. I was unmarried and unequipped to manage my own life, let alone a child’s. I spent much of the next five years living with my parents. They walked side by side with me in raising Mark. In order to live with them, my parents required me to go to church. It wasn’t what I would have chosen, but it was part of the package.
At the same time, I was suddenly confronted with the overwhelming privilege of motherhood and greatly desired to raise my son well. Needless to say, my mother had not planned on this chapter in her life either. However, she embraced this time and the opportunity to share her faith with her grandson. She taught Mark to say prayers and pay attention in church. Now, at age five, he takes the initiative in saying grace before meals. She signed him up for religious education and paid for his classes. Mark loves it! He comes home and tells me what he’s learned and retells the Bible stories.
My mother’s biggest impact on Mark has come from talking about her own faith, and not mainly from connecting him to classes and services. “Do you know how much we love you? Do you know how much God loves you? He loves you so much he has put all these wonderful people in your life to love you!”
Whenever she loses something, she prays aloud for help. If Mark loses something, she inquires, “Did you pray?” Now, when Mark loses something, he prays, and when he finds it, he says, “Thank you, Jesus!” They seem to have a common “lost and found” phase-of-life bond!
Why am I writing this story for Grandly? My mother, Mark’s grandmother, was one of the first to join Grandly. Its message of hope and the idea that she could be entering one of the most important times of sharing her faith struck her as true, but that’s her story.
My story is still developing but it certainly already has a theme in it for grandparents: don’t give up hope on your stumbling children. We might be stumbling over the rock of our salvation.
Written by a young mom with an awesome grandmother.
Copyright © 2019 Grandly: The Strategic Grandparents Club.