Grandmama Roberson's Legacy
I have spent the majority of my day today with my Grandmama Roberson. As I type this, she is resting comfortably beside me. She is sleeping for the first time in 3 nights. We are listening to instrumental lullabies by Hillsong. What a precious, precious time this is. She is a shining example of hope, love, faithfulness, and determination. Grandma and I spent the majority of our time today talking about memories, our love of family, and our belief in God. Grandma is ready. She is tired and weak. She's ready to see my granddaddy, but most of all, her Lord and Savior. Her body is worn out. In her 92 years on this Earth, she has learned the value of family, the reward of hard work, the joy of children, and how the love of a Savior changes lives. I firmly believe that God heard the prayers of my faithful grandma when I was so ill. The love of a grandmother is like no other love. It's genuine and true. She told me this evening that I was the apple of my Granddaddy's eye. I always felt like I was. He was my hero. A greater man, I have never known. Grandma and Granddaddy complemented one another so well.
Grandma's life has been spent in pursuit of her Heavenly Home. When I was a child, I spent every day in the Summer with Grandma. They were spent learning memory verses, reciting the order of the books of the Bible, picking and canning vegetables, making dolls from ears of corn, playing bob jacks, marbles, and hopscotch, and a whole host of other things. I remember a summer when Grandma was teaching a quilting class at the Senior Center in Jamesville. Each of the ladies made a quilt square and stitched their names in cursive in the lower right hand corner. Grandma had those squares put together and made into a quilt. She gave it to me at my wedding shower. I was so overcome with emotion that day. I will never forget it. Those wonderful women made those squares for me. It's a priceless gift to me. Grandma spent months making a quilt for Megan very soon after she was born. I cannot wait to present it to Megan before she gets married. It's waiting for her right beside my Aunt Donna's wedding dress in a cedar chest that Mr. Richard Smartnick made. Grandma also said that there is a letter inside of it from her. What a treasure!
I am so glad that I am here beside her. It's given me a chance to say what I needed to say and this is something I will never forget. Last night, Grandma was very agitated. She was looking up at the ceiling and reaching for something we could not see. Daddy asked her what she saw. We got a chuckle when she said there were boards coming down from the ceiling. At one point, I asked her to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She did that and immediately asked, "What does that prove? All that proves is that I'm alive." Daddy asked her if she could see angels. Her response was, "No, it's boards." Some time earlier I had asked her what heaven was going to be like. "Beautiful, beyond words," she said. She shared with me tonight that one of her most fervent prayers is that I would find a mate who loves God and makes God a priority. She said that life was a journey better traveled by two people who are in love with God first and then each other. This is all I want. It's all I have ever wanted. It's what we all deserve.
Salty pools flood my eyes and stream down my cheeks. Not because of what I will inevitably lose here on Earth, but because I know what heaven will gain when God calls my Grandma home. A ruby, a heart of solid gold, and a soul on fire for the love of the Father. Tears of joy for what she will see and feel as God the Father wraps his loving arms around her and whispers, "Welcome home my beautiful daughter". I can only imagine the feeling of release that will overcome her as the old tent of her tired and worn out body falls away and she is given a brand new one. In Christ alone, we find this peace.
We all strive to leave a legacy. My grandma has done that ten times over. Each night, she calls the names of each of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren as she prays. What an example! What a legacy!
Psalm 91
1Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.a
2I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
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