I can still smell her Avon powders.  Hear her gentle voice sing, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking from you, just give me the strength to do everyday, what I have to do, yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine, Lord help me today, show me the way one day at a time.”

Her voice will echo in my ears until I, like her, take my last breath.  She doesn’t remember me, and hasn’t known my name for several years now.  She won’t remember how she held me in my darkest moments.  She doesn’t know she was the best mom a granddaughter could have and that she raised three of the most amazing women this world has ever known.  While she can no longer cherish her moments left with us, we will cherish her.  Her memory has faded exponentially fast and continues to fade everyday she is still alive.  Skin once soft is now wrinkled and worn. 

Beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  She is the reason I secretly like oldies, hymns, and The Gaither’s.  She is the reason I love the Word of God with an unwavering love. She is the reason I am addicted to coffee, porches, swings, Alabama football, and golden sunsets.  She is the reason I rock my babies no matter what others may say.  I will rock them as long as they want for as long as they need.  She is the reason I will gladly let my babies sleep with me.  Yes we play bed basket turn over almost every night at our house.  She held me, rocked me, and slept with me for nine years.  Selfless in all she did. 

Every morning you would find her at the kitchen table drinking scolding hot black coffee, and reading her Bible.  She and my grandfather raised three children of their own and then raised two of their grandchildren, after that she cared for her mother until she passed.  She spent majority if not all of her days caring and serving everyone else around her. 

Tonight, as I prepare my thirty-one day challenge post I am a bit teary eyed.  The rain continues to pour outside and the tears continue to stream on the inside.  Granny, my mother, a lady of grace, beauty, and strength is declining rapidly in her health. Tonight, I can hear the Holy Spirit in such tenderness remind me that I like her am redeemed from being overwhelmed. 

Granny faced more difficult days and losses than anyone I know.  Though the storms of life were torrential, Christ was enough.  HE. IS.  ALWAYS. ENOUGH.  She lived everyday ONE. DAY. AT. A. TIME.  Never, overwhelmed by the sorrows of life, she lived an example of what living in freedom everyday looks like.  Leading by example, treasuring her family, valuing life, smiling often, keeping her home tidy, loving the Lord, smelling the gardenias, taking walks, listening and understanding pain, she taught me how to be a woman who fears the Lord.  Teaching me how to live trusting our Savior and leaning in close to hear His voice.

Granny probably has only a few more breaths left in her weary lungs, and when those breaths are gone she will enter into an eternity of peace with Her Savior, mother, husband, daughter, and many more heroes of the faith.  When she does I will rejoice because she ran a good race, lived a full life, and fulfilled her purpose.  Because she is redeemed because I am redeemed from the overwhelming sorrows of life, I can sing, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking from you, just give me the strength to do everyday, what I have to do, yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine, Lord help me today, show me the way one day at a time.”