A Strong Hold

"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." -Nahum 1:7
This verse was my grandma's life verse. My grandma not only loved this verse, she clung to it, completely believing the truth that it holds. I can assure you that in her eighty-seven years on this earth my grandma experienced plenty a "day of trouble."

My grandparents during WWII

I'm thankful for the lovely example the Lord provided me in my grandma. My grandmother suffered a stroke when I was young, but made a wonderful recovery. She wasn't quite the same and wasn't able to do nearly as much, but she was able to live a fairly normal life for many years. But, when I was sixteen or seventeen she suffered another stroke. She ended up in a nursing home and over the course of a few years would have many "mini-strokes." Most of the time she was my normal, sweet spirited, fun grandma. There were times, after a "mini-stroke" when she would become a little incoherent and I'll admit, it was a little frightening to me. She didn't really know what was happening around her, but I remember her calling out to the Lord!

What an amazing testimony those moments have been to me! In her truly darkest, most troubled days, my grandma clung ferociously to her Savior.
I didn't like watching my grandma lose her freedoms slowly over the last few years of her life, and it was very difficult for me when she was relieved of her suffering when I was 19 years old.
If you knew my grandparents then you knew what it was to be in love. However, my grandma's greatest love was and is her Savior. My only solace at the time of her death was that she was with her true love, her Lord. The One on whom she called on her darkest days.
The Lord truly is good. He was good enough to give me the example of my grandma, and to give me nineteen years to learn from her walk with Him.
Even now, many years later, I miss her deeply, but I know that I shall see her again, because of the goodness of my Lord.




"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." - I Thessalonians 4:13&14