Forgotten Memories

Have you ever suddenly remembered something that you didn't even know you had forgotten?  A certain sight, sound, or smell suddenly brings back a memory that has been safely tucked away for years.  This happened to me last week as I sat with my sweet Granny.  For those who don't know, I spent last week helping my parents take care of my grandmother.  She is nearing the end of her battle with dementia.

One night, after she was asleep in bed, I found her Bible and began to look through it.  The well-worn state of it was what originally attracted me, but as I began to search through it, memories began to surface.  Unlike me, who likes thing too particular to leave items loose and falling out of a book, my Granny had several things stuck in between the pages of this worn book.

A bulletin, a card, a note, a bill envelope, and then a nail file.  And suddenly I was picturing my Granny at her house instead of the assisted living facility, sitting in her recliner with the end table next to her stacked with word search puzzles, her Bible, the TV remote, and a dish of hard candy whose contents had been sitting long enough to become one big piece.  I never would have thought of it on my own, but when I saw the nail file, I remembered that she always had them sticking out of her Bible and word search books.

As I continued to look through I found a bulletin from a church my dad worked at 13 years ago and then a homemade card that I had sent to her.  The card I don't remember, but it has my name on it, and looks like the poor drawing skills of my childhood.  (They haven't improved.)

I was struck by how loved I have been in my life by not only my Granny, but the rest of my family who learned to love from her.  She taught us that faith is important and lived her life full of love for God and family.

As we have walked down this difficult path with Granny, I have found myself not knowing what to pray.  For a while I was simply praying for peace for her, but then a friend of mine sent me a scripture one day and as I read the context of it, I knew what to pray for:

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God!

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

My prayer now, is for Granny's victory.  She belongs to Jesus and I know she is all too ready to be singing His praises when she is victorious over the sting of death.