Sunday
Dear Elsie
Today we rested from the beach. We remembered your Great Grandmother, my Ma, who passed away on this day 20 years ago today – 28th January 2004. She was loving and kind; she was joyful and had a wonderful sense of humour. She was intelligent and a great conversationalist. She loved crosswords (the cryptic ones) and passed her love of word games onto me. In her 6th decade she came to know the Lord and enjoyed a wonderful 11 years of being a Christ follower. She had loads of friends and finished strong. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s never too late to make a change in your life. I remember in about 1992, Ma (who lived in Johannesburg) coming to Cape Town at short notice. Her husband had been abusive and Julian booked her on a flight almost immediately. She came to stay on a Thursday, I think and on Sunday morning we went to church. It was the Baptist Church in Fish Hoek (when it was on 2nd Ave). We took our seats as usual and I remember we were sitting towards the front on the right. Pastor John stood up to preach. Here was my dearest Mother, not a Christian, sitting in church hurting over her broken marriage, feeling bruised over how she had been treated. I was sure the Lord had a special message for her.
Pastor John preached fervently. I squirmed in my seat. Inward sighing, not daring to look at my Mom.
The message: God hates divorce.
At the end, I didn’t say anything, but got up to leave. I was speechless. I really didn’t know how she would respond. I’m sure after the recent trauma, she was planning on divorcing her husband and we would fully endorse it. How would this influence her?
As we left, she turned to me and asked, “Did he know I was coming?” She wanted to know if I had spoken to Pastor John and told him her circumstances & then he had designed the sermon for her! “NO!” I replied, “He knows nothing about you. You only arrived on Thursday.” She answered, “It was as if I was the only person in the church & he was speaking directly to me.” I was stunned. The Lord was surely at work.
Ma returned to Johannesburg. The family went to collect her from the airport, taking bets as to how long it would take before she moved back to her husband.
You know what? She never did. She never went back to live with her husband, but she never divorced him either. And she started going to church. At the age of about 60, my Mom came to know the Lord and the next almost 12 years were spent getting very involved in church, Bible study, ladies meetings and ministry. It bought me much joy. I had been praying for her since I was 14.
On this day in 2004, we gathered around her deathbed and I read Psalm 23 to her. It’s also the psalm that comes up on my Bible reading every January 28th.
Psalm 23:1-6
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Always remembered, always loved, my dearest Ma. We will meet again!
One of my favourite photos…
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂
