My visit with Grandma

One relative of my husband, I call her grandma. She had stroke three months ago. We have not visit her so while we were there near her town, my husband brought her up suddenly. We decided to pay her a visit. I knew that her stroke was severe, but how severe I was not aware. I was not even thinking straight. I was not planning to lecture her. I just wanted to visit her. She has a very special gift of healing and massaging people-curing infertile and pregnant women (who may be on the verge of losing their babies due to miscarriage). She massaged me when I was pregnant with my last baby girl. My baby was in the wrong position and caused much uncomfortable pain. She turned my baby back to the rightful position. I was very grateful, so I brought little Elizabeth with me so she can see the product she saved.

While we were visiting and chatting, I asked her how she was feeling and she said she felt like her life was not worth living but she couldn’t die. She was upset about her son’s divorce. She said, “I’m sad that I don’t have a good looking son to take away her breath, so that she would not look at another man and treat him worthlessly.”

“Grandma, that’s wrong thinking. His looks and his features are out of your reach. You may have given him birth, but that’s all you did. God was very satisfied when he made your son. He said, ‘it is good.’ He created you just the way He likes because He enjoys you. You are who you are and he is who he is because God likes it that way. Don’t criticize God by saying that your son is not good looking. God made your son that way because he brought God satisfaction as His masterpiece. Be happy.”

She smiled, “I supposed you’re right.”

I couldn’t help, but noticed how she kept on holding onto a hand-knit hat with her right hand as though she was trying to hide her right hand. Every once in a while she’d move her right hand with her left over her lap then it would move back by itself. I watched her as we conversed, and I finally asked her, “Grandma, why are you holding on to the hat, is your hand cold?”

Grandpa had just walked by me as I asked the question. “Her whole right side was paralyzed. Recently, she’s regained some mobility with her right arm, but she doesn’t have total control of it yet. Sometimes, she would grab onto something with her right hand,” he demonstrated by holding on to the chair in front of me, “but then she wouldn’t be able to let it go, so she’s trying to control it by holding on to the hat and not let it hold onto anything else,” he said.

“I am so mad at my right hand. Sometimes, I yelled at it because it won’t cooperate with me. Sometimes, I slap it and tell it that it’s not good because it doesn’t listen to me. But, then I looked at it, and my heart cries out with love for it,” grandma said.

“Grandma, do you really want to be healed?” I asked. “Do you pray for healing?”

“You know, my daughter told me to have faith in God and pray, but I told her that prayer doesn’t seem to make a difference these days. God doesn’t answer prayers anymore,” said grandma.

“Grandma, if you really want to be healed you have to believe. There’s a big difference between believing that God can heal and believing that God will heal. God loves you and He would love to heal you but you must first believe that He can and He will heal you. Don’t be disappointed. You know, I heard that there was a woman who was predicted by doctors to only have a few weeks to live, but she was determined to live so she walked around her house declaring God’s healing power and memorizing Bible verses, and now it’s been more than 20 years and she’s still alive and well. Do you read your Bible?”

“A little, it took me so long to read a few paragraphs,” she chuckled. “Where do you find those healing verses?” she asked curiously.

“I’m going to go home and do some research and send you some verses to listen to and read. You must memorized them and claim them to be your promises.”

Her eyes were staring at me with great sparkles of hope. She shared that her brother, who is a great gospel singer, was disappointed that she didn’t show much faith. She didn’t understand it. She felt that God doesn’t care about her anymore.

“Grandma, God loves you. He wants what’s best for you. How do you think you healed so many people with herbs and your massages? You saved so many women from having miscarriages. You practically gave lives to many people who had no chance without your help. Do you think that that came from you or was it God’s gift?”

“It was God’s gift,” she said as she smiled at me.

“You must change your thinking. You must hold on to your faith. You must view yourself as an important being. God said that we are His masterpieces. He has a very important mission for each one of us. He loves us and He enjoys our presence and praises. Grandma, you are His masterpiece. There’s only one you. You are a child of God, a citizen of Heaven. You are not of this earth. You were chosen by God out of millions of human beings. John 6:44 said that no one can come to Jesus Christ without God drawing him or her. You accepted Christ as your personal Savior?”

“We accepted Christ before we were married,” grandpa interjected.

“Oh, I think I was only about your daughter’s age,” said grandma, eyeing for my 13 year old daughter who went outside with Elizabeth.

“That means that God loved you enough to draw you to Jesus. And you made a decision to accept His invitation. You are His child. He loves you much more than you love your son. He wants to heal you, but only if you really want to be healed. You must believe in His greatness for your life. Instead of yelling at your hand, caress it and tell it that God is working and healing it. Tell it that you love it.”

“Pastor’s wife, I have heard many teachings, but it has never pierced me like it did today. I thank you for sharing His love with me. May God bless you for sharing His words of truth with me,” she said as she laid down on her bed. “Today, I finally understand His massage.”

“Praise the Lord! His goodness never fails. I’m believing that He wants to heal you.”

As we were getting ready to leave, I asked my husband to come and pray for her. She confessed to my husband that she didn’t believe that her prayers would make any difference so she didn’t pray and she didn’t read the Bible as she should. When she’s well, she will be God’s witness for His glory. And grandpa asked my husband to record some sermons for him to listen. Then we prayed and said our good-byes.

I felt happy that she understood me. Instead of being upset for lecturing her, she thanked me for sharing God’s love with her. Her eyes were filled with hope. My heart was satisfied that I was not rejected for being preachy-although I went unprepared to lecture, the opportunity was there and I took it. There was hope for both of us: Hope that she will be healed and hope that there’s a place for me to serve God. God is, indeed, good.