This past weekend was my grandmother’s 85th birthday and people from all over came to celebrate with her.  My grandmother is an amazing woman of faith and she always says she walks by faith and not by sight.  As a child, I can remember waking up to the song ‘be grateful’ as she donned her Sunday’s best and  sung beautifully along with the record.  These memories are like pure sugar to me, so sweet, and at that point in her life she was (at least in my eyes) the epitome of an elegant church lady, hat and all.

The fact that she has a tremendous faith in God is evident through the many trials she’s endured throughout her life and more recently, some health scares .  Through all the testing she refused to accept negative reports from the doctors because, by the blood of Jesus she already knew she was healed, and guess what, she was!  I could only hope to become that full of faith and reliant on the word of God at some point in my life’s journey.

My relationship with my grandmother isn’t a typical one as she isn’t a typical grandmother, she is a sassy little firecracker that can (and will) tell you off if she wants and refuses to mince words for the sake of feelings.  She says what’s on her mind and makes no apologies for it.  She  is a strong woman that taught me a lot about life and relationships, be it wrong or right.  One thing that she instilled in us all is that family is one of the most important things in life.  And at her celebration amongst all the hugs, kisses and tears I found myself being so utterly grateful for the family God has blessed me with.   I am truly happy that I can call most of my best friends family as well.   Many of us find these relationships outside of family in the form of friendships and these bonds can be just as tight.  But however and whenever you find the gift of pure acceptance, kindness and joy be grateful for the experience, it’s God’s way of saying you are loved.

I found this quote from Michael J Fox that sums it up pretty well:  Family is not an important thing,  It’s everything.

Be light, Be love, Be blessed
Court