Sharing a Pew with Grandpa. (Answered Prayer 2)

This is another story about answered prayer. Take it as you will.

Ma and I went to Louisville for Memorial Day weekend. It was my first time seeing my relatives since the New Year and since getting my job. On Sunday morning we made our way to the same church our family's been attending for decades, and since most of the cousins my age weren't there, I sat next to my grandpa. We shared the hymnal during the responsive reading, with me softly reciting the words on the page while he mumbled along, not allowing himself to get frustrated about his eyes not following as quickly as he wanted. And while the rest of the congregation rose to sing "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms", I stayed seated next to him so we could harmonize as a duo. It was such a sweet moment. 

Around this time last year my grandpa got so sick that we feared he wouldn't make it. Stroke, pneumonia, weakened eyesight, foggy memory, inability to walk. Yet here he was sitting right next to me. Before last year I would have never seen him cry, or if I had I probably would've pretended not to see it. On Sunday he got emotional during a hymn, and I handed him my tissue packet while smiling directly in his face. Last year we considered it immense progress for him to be able to move along slowly with a walker. On Sunday he hightailed it in and out of church with his cane like it was nothing.

Of course, we can't take the credit for his recovery. All we know is that we prayed, we all made adjustments for him, and he's still here. Even though he'll probably never be the Grandpa he used to be, he's still exceeded everyone's expectations. And he's taken his time doing it. Almost 80 years old, and he's re-learning the same lessons that I'm just now learning. How to not be hard on himself. How to honor and appreciate rather than scorn his limits. How to let frustration pass as quickly as it comes. How to make the best of the way things are now. 

Pastor Sewell once declared in a sermon that we're all the product of someone else's prayers. I know now that Grandpa is a product of prayer. 

(I'm bringing it all back to square one in the next post. Stay tuned!)

Answered Prayer 1