I remember sitting next to my grandmother and hearing her sing the traditional hymns. I loved hearing her sing. Her heart was so filled with the love of Jesus and it was so apparent not only in her singing but in her actions as well.
Each time I visited my grandmother she would have an open Bible next to her favorite chair in her sitting room. She had Bible verses framed and hanging on her wall. On the wall in her bedroom, she had a picture of three crosses hanging. When she would pray, she prayed on her knees.
My grandmother’s beginning wasn’t the easiest. She was born in 1897 to a single mother. In that day, being a child born out of wedlock was a scandal. In her early life, she carried the shame her family and society put on her for being illegitimate. She didn’t totally release herself from the shame until she met my grandfather and her future mother-in-law. Through her mother-in-law, she found God’s acceptance of her and she turned to her life over to following Jesus.
Grammy’s faith and her determination to be the person God wanted her to be no matter the trials that were put in front of her or what was behind her is what makes my faith and belief in God so strong. No matter what judgments seem to come my way, in the end it is my relationship with God that matters.
So this Mother’s Day, I not only honor my own mother, but my paternal grandmother as well – Floetta Mae Beistline Clepper.