Enjoy this devotional written by a FlourishWriter’s Student…
As a young girl of 12, I tried to commit suicide. I had been incarcerated for being incorrigible, or out of control and was about to get locked up until I turned 18. I somehow escaped that terrible fate. Perhaps my praying grandma had something to do with it.
Years later, on my grandmother’s birthday, I entered into the United States Air Force at the age of twenty-two. I called her collect from the processing station to wish her a Happy Birthday. She expressed her love to me by writing to me and sending me a care package.
Grandma Hazel’s love followed me to Alamogordo, NM where I would be stationed for the rest of my time in the Air Force. White Sands Desert was close by, only 20 minutes away from my base so I was in a pretty secluded area. The Sacramento Mountains could be seen to the east and often I would climb those mountains for a recreational challenge. Yet I was miserable!
As I mentioned Grandma Hazel was a very loving grandmother and filled my life with lots of fun. She planted tulips in her front yard just because I liked them; she took my siblings, cousins and I to Story Book Land and Great Falls. We would go on picnics and when she took me to church and after church we’d go to a bakery and get donuts. As a little girl grandma would have me spend the night with her and she’d fix pancakes and make pictures out of them. If she had a luncheon she’d have carrots because they were my favorite. She even liked to tell how I went from plate to plate taking all the carrots and putting them on my plate.
However, during my time in the the Air Force the old feelings of suicide never lifted from me and became more intense as I lived in this desert area of NM. Through this time I did stay in touch with my Grandma Hazel and had a coffee can filled with quarters so I could make phone calls. I loved my grandmother and called her when I could. During one of our conversations I told my grandma I wanted to kill myself. A couple of days later I received a called from the chaplain on base and he asked me to come and speak with him. My grandma Hazel had called him worried about me so he reached out. I went and spoke with him and rather than get me orders to a larger city he handed me a poem called, Don‘t Quit. It reads in part:
“When things go wrong as it sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and depths are high
And you want to smile when you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must
But don’t you quit.”
One night a few years later there was a blizzard in MD and Grandma Hazel had a heart attack. I had recently called her and asked if she wanted me to get orders there so we could have two years together. She thought that would be nice. She ended up dying at that base and I was devastated. However, it did cause me to give my heart to Jesus a little over a month later.
Sometime after getting saved I was reading in the Proverbs and I came across a verse:
“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor than silver or gold.” Proverbs 22:1
Immediately I thought of my Grandma Hazel. This kind and loving grandmother has forever touched my life! Not everyone has the “Love of Grandma Hazel” but everyone has the “Love of Jesus Christ” as that’s what Calvary is all about! Be encouraged no matter your situation and know you are truly loved!
My name is Wanda Faith Sewell and I live in Little Falls, NY. I come from a military family. My father and step-father were in the Navy, my brother was in the Army and I went to the Air Force. I gave my heart to Jesus on March
28, 1983, while in the USAF after my grandma who used to pray for me went to heaven. She didn’t live to see me walk with Jesus so I like to
encourage grandmothers out there with their beloved grandchildren who are not walking with Jesus just yet. I am a testimony that there is hope! I hope to share the Good News of Jesus Christ until my life on earth is complete.
What a lovely grandmother and what a beautiful legacy. People who speak life into the lives of others, inspiring them to not give up are a rare treasure. Thank you for sharing.
Dear Wanda, this story was a blessing. It encouraged me so much to keep on loving my family through thick and thin. Thank you for writing it. God Bless you.
I enjoyed your story. It reminded me of my own grandmother who also passed away. But mostly, it encouraged me as a grandmother of four now, to continue the legacy of praying for them as our grandmothers prayed for us! God bless you!