Stories from my childhood

In my last post, I lamented the impersonal nature of our contributions to Steemit and claimed I could just google the information I needed. I asked for more personal stories and own opinions. You can read it here:

I have Google too

In an attempt to find out if this is viable on Steemit, I'm going to relate some of the stories from my family history. These are stories I grew up with and heard often.

The above picture is of my grandmother. She got married very young and gave birth to seven children, five daughters and two sons. I never knew my grandfather who died while his children were still young, leaving my grandmother widowed with seven children to raise, one of them my mother. It was not a time when this was an easy endeavour for a woman. (First half of the 20th century, my grandmother was born in 1903.)

It was a difficult life but my grandmother was a strong, even formidable woman. Even if there came a suitor willing to take seven children, I think even such a courageous man would have been intimidated by the lady in question. She was not a Christian and paid mere lip service to the Christianity found in her cultural context.

One day a local pastor came to visit. He walked from one house to the next visiting everyone in the street. He was offered tea and all the children made themselves scarce as was the norm of the time. Children were to be seen but not heard.

However, my one uncle kept interrupting this conversation over tea, tugging on my grandmother's sleeve and whispering in her ear. He was a small boy at the time and since I knew my grandmother well when I was a small boy, I know this took a lot of courage and determination.

After a couple of interruptions, the pastor asked my grandmother to rather respond to whatever the boy wanted. She admitted with embarrassment that he was feeling sick and that he wanted the pastor to pray for him, adding that she did not believe in such nonsense. He smiled and prayed a gentle prayer. My uncle, the little boy, jumped up with joy and announced himself healed.

In the conversation that followed between my grandmother and this pastor, my grandmother committed her life to the lordship of Jesus. She served her Lord faithfully the rest of her life and inspired many, including myself, to do the same.

I never knew the name of the man who visited my grandmother's home on that day. He is a faceless, faithful servant who did a small thing that resulted in someone like me serving God today. When I today say, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' it is the result of his life!

Every one of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren today serve God. She came to stay in my parent's house when I was three years old until the time of her death. One of my fondest memories of my childhood is hearing her pray for hours late at night. She interceded with a great passion for each of her children. But I remember being fascinated by the love she poured out to God. Who is this person she loves so much? Who is he to evoke such love?

Her prayers started my own journey of discovery and I'm grateful!

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
Psa 37:25 NIV

I have many more stories of my grandmother before I get to my own. Please let me know if this will interest you. It is really ok if it is not. I just want to know.

@reonlouw