February 14th for me is not a day to celebrate a saint, it is to celebrate my grandmother. Since I can remember she always waned to make sure to teach her 4 daughters and 7 grandchildren as many life lessons as possible. I remember when I was little my family would go to Country Place and see my granny acting in her neighborhood acting group. (she never forgot a line and was always the best in show). One of my favorite things she would do is while telling a story or joke she would extend her arm and lean on you. Some things that will always remind me of my grandmother are: Kentucky Fried Chicken, her freezing hands, the look she would give out of the side of her glasses as she pointed her finger and you would immediately stop misbehaving, her love for chocolate, and the beach.
One of my hardest days on the race was the day my family and I skyped and they were all in the hospital with granny. It was the end of December and she had gone from completely independent to a operating room in a matter of 3 days. After about a week my parents told me surgery revealed she had stage four cancer in her colon that had spread to her liver. I simply just wanted to be back home to comfort my family. The previous month of ministry involved a lot of intercessory prayer. I quickly learned that praying for my family over 9,000 miles away was far more important. The Lord orchestrates things so well! It was the beginning on January and my grandmother requested to go home and be with PawPaw (who had died 4 years ago.) Something my granny always told me was that I would be a perfect nurse. She was a nurse and wanted every grandchild to be a nurse. I laugh because my ministry for the month of January was being a nurse to young children in Malaysia. Before my grandmother passed away I got to fulfill one of her biggest desires for me. As my family surrounded the hospital bed I got to tell granny that I was being a nurse in Malaysia and I got to pray for her. While praying I had this vision of my grandfather standing next to Jesus both arms wide open, welcoming granny into heaven. Such a moving moment. As I returned back to where we were staying for the month I grabbed my journal and found the card my granny had written me at my going away party before the race. On her card it said, "May you be in the palm of His hand." A couple days later we had worship and I randomly started singing about my granny dancing with her husband. At that moment, I knew she had gone to be in the palm of His hand. That same night I got a word from a squadmate that said, "you will carry on granny's legacy until you see each other again in destiny." My granny's legacy was the incredible love she gave. She loved well her entire life.
To my mom and aunts: You each are a reflection of the beauty that granny possessed. All four of you will carry granny with you each and every day of your lives. Each on you get to be wonderful mothers, just like granny. Be grateful for every moment shared.
To my siblings and cousins: Let us continue to be grandchildren. We all get the privilege to love well to those in our family and those around us, just like granny. Never let go of the great times shared with granny. I look forward to the day where we can all sit down with our own families and share numerous stories of our grandparents.
