Yesterday was the anniversary of the day my Grandma went to live with Jesus. That was over 20 years ago, but I still remember it well. I was 10 when my grandma died. I didn’t get to see her often because she lived far away but those times I did were special. I was her only granddaughter after 5 grandsons. I was a little rotten. lol. We usually would visit her at Christmas time. She lived in Florida, so Christmas there isn’t like it is here. There is no chance for snow, and you will most likely be wearing shorts instead of coats and hats. She had the proverbial old person house. It had 70’s furniture and had that old person smell. She always had Pop tarts and Coke for me. She also always had orange slices, the candy. I still buy those every now and then and think of her. The other great thing about her house was that she had a grapefruit tree in her backyard. You haven’t lived until you have eaten grapefruit off a tree freshly picked!

One fun memory I have of my grandmother as I got older, was her false teeth. She would take the out for us, it was hilarious to a then 10-year-old. Sometimes when we were at grandma’s my mom and I would “escape” to Wal-Mart because her house was so warm. Older people like warm houses. She also had a spoon collection. She had spoons from every state and other places throughout the world. She also collected Precious Moments figurines. I still have some of those from her house. They are special to me.

My grandmother was special. The best thing about her, and what I remember her most for was her faith in God. She had some of the greatest stories about God’s faithfulness and love in her life. She attended church every Sunday, even when no one else went with her. One of my last memories of her was her lying in a hospital bed being very sick from cancer. She gathered me and my cousin over to her side and asked us if we had invited Jesus into our hearts. I think she knew that her time on this earth was short and she wanted to make sure that we had a relationship with Jesus so that she would see us again in Heaven. She was a great woman of faith and her life was evidence of that fact. When I have times in my life when I don’t know if things will work out and I can’t see God’s hand in things, I remember a story she told me or something she said and it always points me to God. I look forward to the day when I will see her again in Heaven. I look forward to getting to know her as an adult. But I know how blessed I am to have known her here on earth. She was a foundational person in my life and in my faith in God. Her legacy of faith lives on in my life and also in the lives of her other grandchildren.

Is there someone in your life that you can point to as your spiritual mentor? If not, seek someone out that you admire, spiritually, to mentor you. We are not all blessed to have believing grandparents in our lives, but there are many “adopted” grandparents I have had over the years. There may be someone in your life like that. Be thankful for that person. You might also be able to be that spiritual “grandparent” for someone else.