Here we go again! Another year about to end and a new one beginning! This past year has been a memorable one, to say the least. It's what one might call, an emotional roller coaster.
In March of 2008, the youngest of my three sisters passed away after fighting for six weeks with a rare disease called Guillian-Barre Syndrome. She always saw the good in people and she enjoyed getting together and laughing at our jokes and just having a good time together! She was 41 when she died suddenly and unexpectedly. Eventhough we didn't grow up together, we were still close. You see, my dad and mom were separated before I was born. He remarried and had four children with his second wife. My mom lost track of him and I never knew my father until I was 26 years of age. Twenty-two years ago, I found out I had three sisters and one brother! It was certainly something different for me. I had only known myself, my mom, my grandma and one brother!
Seven months later, my loving grandmother went home to be with the Lord at the ripe age of 99 years and 10 months! What can I say about grandma! She not only was a hardworking woman who never gave up and always had our best interest in mind. When my mom came to be alone with only my brother and I, she came to live with us and took care of us while my mom went to work. She raised me and became my legal guardian after my mom remarried and moved to California in 1967.
Grandma was a woman of prayer, a true woman of God and she learned to trust Him in all circumstances! She taught me what it meant to pray with faith and what it meant to trust God at His word!
I remember one of those moments when we had no food left for the month and the Public Aid check was still a couple of weeks away. The fridge was empty and I had no idea what was at stake here. All I know that grandma was on her knees once again praying before the Lord. She even prayed when her knees were swollen from her arthritis. On this particular occasion, she was praying fervently for our next meal when there was a heavy knocking coming from the outside door to our building. I ran to see who it was and to my surprise, it was our next door neighbor! She wanted to know if we could use some of the things she had brought back from a farm that belonged to a relative of hers! She gave us about three trays of eggs, about 2 gallons of milk, several pounds of tomatoes, onions, potatoes and even a few loaves of bread! It was all that we needed to hold us off until our money came! My grandma had not even finished praying, when God was already knocking at our door with the answer! Truly, it seemed like she had a direct line to God or something. or so it seemed! Whenever she prayed and asked God for something, it was almost a sure thing that she would get it!
Many times I remember finding myself in some tough and compromising situations that would have turned out for the worst had not something or someone intervened. I'm pretty sure it was because grandma was on her knees again, putting her request and supplications before the Lord! This is the woman my grandma was!
Everything I am today, I owe it to her! (Besides God, of course!)When she saw my interest in music and an opportunity came up for me to take organ and piano lessons, she took on a babysitting job to help pay for them at the age of 65! Sometimes she would take about 3 or 4 kids at a time in order to make a little extra cash! She did this for several years. I would take the "L" train downtown to the old Lyon-Healy building on Wabash and Jackson once a week for a $20 half hour lesson. Because of her sacrifice for me, and opportunity opened up in 1989 and I was hired by the Chicago Public Schools to teach band and choir at the elementary level. It has been almost 20 years and this job has been nothing but a blessing to me and my family! When things seem bleak elsewhere, my job security is still strong!
In these uncertain economic times we find ourselves in, it has pleased God to continue to bless me. It's not that I put my trust in the economy or my employers, but rather my trust is in Him! A trust that I came to know from my grandma!
I pray that you find yourself trusting God for your future. Not only your economic future, but more importantly, your eternal future! As Christians, we are not immune from hardships and the afflictions of this world. Jesus said, "In this world you will have affliction, but take heed, I have overcome the world!" If our trust is in Him, and He has overcome the world, then we have nothing to worry about!
If you find yourself going through a hardship of any kind, fall on your knees before God and ask Him to point you in the right direction. Trust Him and then watch Him do what He does best! It's what grandma would have done!!
12/28/2008
James B. Lopez
