On Her Knees

"Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”
Joel 1:3 (NIV)

I remember being nine years old and spending a couple of summer nights at my grandparents' farm in the country. My seven-year old sister Jan and I were city kids who loved playing with our cousins at Granny and Papa's house. We'd spend hours riding bicycles up and down country gravel roads, playing games of kick-the-can or Hide 'n Seek, or walking through the woods to Papa's fishing hole at the pond. I loved my grandparents’ farm- in the daytime. Night times, however, were a different story. I readily confess that I was a Type A, certified scaredy cat. Laying on a sleeper sofa in Granny's large living room, listening to the unfamiliar night sounds of owls, frogs, crickets, and who knew what else, I wanted Mama and home. And Jan, though two years younger, was always much braver than me. She could usually talk me through staying the first couple of nights, but I never managed our full week's stay. 

Oddly enough one of my sweetest memories from our time spent on the farm was listening to my Granny and Papa pray for us. And not just the prayers for Jan and me, but prayers for other members of our extended family. I can still close my eyes and see the light shining under the big crack of my grandparents' bedroom door. I remember opening the door a bit to see both Granny and Papa praying on their knees. I remember Granny telling us to get back in bed before she returned to praying. I remember hearing their muffled voices as they prayed. And their voices were usually the last sound I heard before finally falling asleep.

I've thought a lot about my Granny's prayers through the years. My Daddy was 71 years old when he finally realized he needed a Savior and not just a church membership or religion. One of Granny's prayers was answered with that decision. One by one as my children realized that they could never be good enough to get to heaven on their own, Granny's prayers were answered. Through the years of having children and now grandchildren, I've purposed to pray like my Granny. To intercede personally on each child's behalf, one by one, name by name asking God to work in each one's life. To do what only God can do: change a heart. A couple of weeks ago, however, Granny's prayers hit home for me in an unexpected way.

Our daughter Meredith had taken her girls, Julia (age 5) and Caroline (age 3), to the public library. Julia is learning to read and Meredith wanted to check out some age appropriate books for the girls. While Meredith was checking out the books, Julia found a craft table with some pieces of red paper that read, "I resolve to...." Julia interrupted Meredith's checkout by asking, "Mama, what does "resolve" mean?" Meredith responded, "It means to make a commitment or a promise." Meredith continued checking out books, but Julia returned and interrupted again. "Mama, I need some help."

Meredith left the books and went to the craft table. Julia had painstakingly written "love" so that the red paper now read: "I resolve to...love." Moved to realize that Julia's New Year resolution or promise was to love others, Meredith gently asked Julia what other help she needed. Julia responded, "I don't know how to spell "be kind" and "be generous." Needless to say, Meredith helped Julia spell both words so that Julia's New Year resolutions, written in her own handwriting, now read "I resolve to...love, be kind, be generous." 

With those words, it wasn't just Julia's heart being changed. Mine and Meredith's were changed as well. And Granny's prayers continue to be answered across the years and four generations of Muirs, Evans, and now Hamblens. Throughout Scripture, the effective transfer of truth is always intentional and relational across four generations. (See Psalm 78:2-4, 2 Timothy 2:2, Joel 1:3) And if the four generational principle holds for the transfer of God's truth, should we not expect for the prayers of His saints to do so as well?

Julia is only five. There are no guarantees that a tender heart for God at age five will also be a tender heart at age fifteen or fifty. So we pray for God to "work in us that which is pleasing to Him." (Hebrews 13:21) We pray for Evans children and grandchildren- those born and those yet to be born- that will know, love, and serve Him to the third and fourth generation.

I had a Granny who prayed for me. And I want to pray like my Granny, for the good of others and the glory of God!