Hebrews 13:5-8
My grandma handled the family’s relationship with money. She was a godly woman; she did not love money, but seldom had enough of it. She had many health problems and medical bills were a constant source of stress. My grandfather worked as much overtime as he could get, but he was in a low paying job. Once a week grandma would sit down and figure the finances. Grandma had a speech impediment and if you asked her, she would say she was “fittering the bills.” She believed that everything she had belonged to God and the first check she wrote each week was to support the work the church. After that, she would prioritize the other bills and write the checks. There were times she wrote checks for partial amounts, but with God’s help and her faithfulness, they fought their way out of debt.

My grandmother loved missions. She would have loved to be a missionary, but that was not God’s plan for her life. Twice a year her church would receive an offering to support mission work around the world. They took the offering every Easter and Thanksgiving. A few weeks before the offering, the church would ask for pledges. My grandmother would pledge to give amounts that seemed impossible. I can remember her scrimping and saving to be able to give a good offering. Time after time in unexpected and surprising ways, money would become available so that she could meet the amount she had pledged. She believed wholeheartedly that God was helping her to spread the gospel around the world.

When I was 17, my grandmother died of cancer. The doctors thought they had gotten it all, but after several years, it came back. In her final days, it was all they could do to control the pain. She died with a testimony and praise for God. Considering the outcome of her life, I seek to imitate her faith and her faithfulness. The same Jesus that walked with her walks with me.