Grandma's Bible

My Grandma was a gem. A true Southern lady; soft-spoken, kind, generous, with a fantastic sense of humor. Everyone who knew her loved her. And if I'm being honest, she was my favorite person in the whole world.

As a little girl, I'd climb up in her soft lap and stay there for hours. I just loved being with her. She died when I was in the eighth grade after a long, difficult battle with Parkinson's disease. But the mark she left on my life only grows as I get older.

(I'm adding this pic of my grandma and grandpa back in the day, just because it's just so 1930's fabulous! Check out that cool old camera grandpa's holding and that car. What a couple! )
The legacy she left with me isn't of baking cookies, playing Rummie Cube, or other "grandma-ish" fun memories. But it's that of faith and trust even when it's not easy.
The disease made her thin and terribly sick, and she was that way for most of the years I can remember her.
But she was still my sweet Grandma, and I could never wait to see her. Even when I got a older we spent tons of time together, since my mom helped my Grandpa care for her many days after school. As soon as we'd get to their house, I'd run to her room. The radio'd be humming with the Christian station she played day and night, as she'd smile and hug me tight with shaking arms. She'd want to hear all about my day. I'd sit on the edge of her bed and we would talk and talk.
I'd tell her all my pre-adolescent issues and she'd assure me she prayed for me every day. And then we'd get out her worn-out Bible and I'd read her a Psalm. It amazed me that every single page had something written on it or underlined. Really, every single page.....I checked. Even Deuteronomy! She had a wisdom and confidence about her that only someone who's walked closely with God and knew His Word thoroughly could have.

She told me she wanted me to have her Bible when she died. And I do.
It sits on my bookshelf as one of my most precious possessions. It's familiar musty smell takes me back to those afternoons in her room when with the light streaming in, we'd read it together.
I've left it just as it was. With bookmarks, pictures and some of the most random newspaper clippings tucked into it's pages. Even tho I have no idea why she kept some of the stuff in there she did, I still can't get rid of one piece of it. Because it's a piece of her. But here's the whole reason I'm writing this post: to share something amazing I found in that Bible long after she died. I think of often. On a page in the front, she had written this in her trembling, shakey hand:

If you can't make it out, it says this:

1. My Lord knows all about my circumstances
2. Determined to stand firm.
3. If things change, He will see me through

There is such a story in those three almost illegible points. Such faith, wisdom and strength.
It makes me miss her and admire her even more. I am blessed to have such a heritage.