Prayer Changes Things
We, sat quietly, tears making their way down our cheeks. Her stories always touched my heart, but this one was especially poignant. For we are grandmothers together now, my sister-of-the-heart and I, and we understand the depth of love.
Her mother had fought a long painful fight with cancer many years ago. In her final days she became troubled and asked to see her Pastor. Her son and his wife had walked away from faith, and she was concerned about her little two year old granddaughter.
When the Pastor arrived, he sat by her bedside and gently took her hand. Leaning in he listened carefully to the tear-filled words.
“I have prayed fervently for my granddaughter – that she would find the Jesus who loves her. I’ll soon be gone, and I’m afraid of what will happen to her now that there is no one to carry on the prayer.”
The Pastor quietly assured her the Lord had heard her prayers and would not fail to answer them.
Twenty years later the little granddaughter came to stay with my sister and her husband – all grown up and ready to work on her graduate degree. In all those years she had not gone to church or heard the message of salvation, but she readily agreed to accompany them to church.
For the first time she heard about the Savior and her heart was drawn to Him. My sister gave her the Bible she had treasured for so many years – her mother’s Bible – with all of the handwritten notes filling the margins and a Grandmother’s prayers tucked into every page.
In her hunger to know more, the granddaughter read and asked questions and in a glorious answer to prayer invited Jesus into her heart.
We, each of us, have family members in need of our prayers. The difference those prayers can make in the lives of our loved ones can never be measured. They may not be answered in our way or in our time, but we can be assured the Father always hears and answers our prayers.
“I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen I will pray as long as I have breath.”
Psalm 116: 1,2
Linda, thank you for sharing this touching testimony of God’s redeeming love and grace. I have a similar story in my life about a praying great grandmother who never saw the fruit of the vast majority of her prayers. Thankful for you.
Ah, Linda! Such a beautiful story and so beautifully told. Thank you.
Thank you for this blog I have a son that is not living for the Lord at this time, I pray every day for his soul and I speak to him about his need to come back to his relationship with the Lord, this blog gave me hope, Blessings Gloria
You are so right, Linda. Prayer changes everything. Thank you so much for sharing the story of your sister.
A beautiful testimony of the power of prayer. I too am praying for loved ones. I am trusting the Lord with their salvation as I live out my life of faith in front of them and love them and pray for them.