Eternity in Her Heart

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find 

out the work that God does from beginning to end…I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.

Eccl 3:11-14

This past Thanksgiving was very special and I will never forget it…it was at my house; dinner tasted great (thanks to my mom and Tiff); Joel, Tiff, and the girls were able to be with us this year; it was my first Thanksgiving having a boyfriend joining in; Dad, mom, and Nate were there; and the most special and memorable to me will be having my grandma with us one last time at the dinner table.  I tear up as I write this because it hurts so much but I want to take this opportunity to boast about my grandma before you all.  As a special touch to the Thanksgiving dinner table this year it was on my heart to have name cards at each plate setting at the table with scriptures on the inside.  So I picked out some scriptures, printed them out on the cards, folded them, mixed them up, picked up each one without looking at it and wrote a name on it.  I had prayed that the Lord would choose which scripture He would want for each person.  The above scripture is what my grandma’s name was placed on.   “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts…” My grandma passed away three days later with eternity with Jesus on her heart…she was one of His and He made everything beautiful to her when He called her home Sunday morning at 3:34 a.m.  Just in the past couple of weeks, before she passed, on a couple of different times I heard her going around the house opening doors saying "I'm here! I'm here!" and then she would find me and ask if I was calling her and each time I told her that I didn't call her - she told me that clearly she heard someone calling for her - I believe it was the Lord calling her. It’s a mystery to me as death boggles my mind how at one moment a body can be moving and functioning, full of life, and within a split second the heart stops beating and life departs – it’s a mystery.  The day before she passed she said she wished the Lord would take her and then that evening before bed – the last time I talked to her -  she reminded me how the Lord took my grandpa just like that (while snapping her fingers) and she was telling me that’s how she wanted to go.  She had eternity in her heart…she groaned to be with Jesus and to be reunited with my grandpa again.

My grandma was a prayer warrior.  When she had a story to tell it would always be about when she was a part of an intercessory prayer group at her church years back.  She would tell about how she and the other women would get together and pray and how she would see God move and work through their prayers.  My grandma would always tell me she was praying for me and I would always know to go to her and tell her what I needed her to pray for me on – I could count on her for that. 

My grandma loved to sing.  In the middle of the night I would wake up to her singing an old hymn – never figured out which one it was – but it was a climbing the scale hymn where it would start low and then she would climb very high on the scale – it would always wake me up.  I thought it was sweet at first but when I started losing sleep I started throwing the pillows over my head. One morning I heard my grandpa talking to her asking her if she heard some moaning noise in the middle of the night – she responded with “I didn’t hear anything”.  I laughed to myself because I knew he was talking about her singing.

My grandma loved reading God’s Word.  She frequently would stop me to show me scriptures or ask questions about the Bible.  She would spend hours on end reading on the porch swing or on the couch.

My grandma was a giver.  She always put others before herself.  We would have to always force her to sit on the couch because she would always take the hard, uncomfortable chair first.  It would always turn into an argument - some of the times we would win and other times she would be stubborn and win.  She also loved blessing others with money…countless times it was to her joy to buy us dinner and on many occasions I would come into my room with money left on my dresser.  She didn’t know it but she always left it when I needed it the most…the Lord knew and she was just letting Him use her.  She knew the joy of the use of money – which was to give it away.

I loved my grandma very much and I would give anything just to have a little more time with her.  I miss her presence.  I miss coming home and seeing her sitting on the recliner.  I’m gonna miss walking into the family room after getting dressed up and having her tell me how beautiful I look before leaving the house.  I’m gonna miss how I would tell her something and she would reply with an answer that had nothing to do with what I said.  I’m gonna miss her smile.  I’m gonna miss watching Wheel of Fortune with her.  I’m gonna miss waking up to the theme song of “Walker, Texas Ranger” (Chuck Norris was her other man).  I’m gonna miss her hug and kiss goodnight.  I’m gonna miss the “I love you’s”.  I’m gonna miss going to her closet and laughing as I find my pink shirt hanging up in there. I’m gonna miss decorating our Christmas tree with her.  I’m gonna miss going to Lowes and picking out garden flowers with her in the spring.  I miss her, the house is cold and empty, and I am so lonely without her.

A few verses up from the scripture I quoted it says “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; …A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;”  In this time of the physical death of my grandma, my family and I are in a time of weeping and mourning.  We lost a huge piece of our lives. While we do have the wonderful hope of seeing her again there’s still this time of weeping and mourning to take place.  We covet your continued prayers through this difficult time. I also want to take this time to encourage you who read this to slow down…take more time to connect with your loved ones and treasure the times you have with them – the good times and the irritating times.