Granny

Please pray for my Granny (Ruby Snell). Last Tuesday (June 14th) Granny, my mom's mom, was taken to the hospital after falling and pushing the button on her Lifeline medical alert necklace. (You know, the old "I've fallen and I can't get up" commercials) Granny is 93 and still lives by herself in Florence, Alabama. After lots of tests they determined that she suffered a light stroke. She had weakness on her left side and, although most of the time she is very lucid, she experiences periods of extreme confusion and irrationality along with short-term memory loss. Granny is now in a rehab center where they will put her through physical therapy this week to see what kind of progress she can make. She has been regaining strength on her left side, and her long-term memory is as sharp as ever, but she is not quite herself sometimes.
I went to Alabama on Friday to see her. It was like a make-shift family reunion. I saw 7 of my mom's 9 siblings, and the other two had been there before I arrived. I'm glad I got to see Granny again. It was my first time to talk to her since getting back from Guatemala. I thank the Lord that I was able to see her again and give her a hug.
So I ask that you pray for Granny and for my family. It looks like she won't be able to live on her own any more, so finding a way to share the work of caring for her will be hurdle the family will have to find a way over. Granny is a Godly woman, and she and Papa have given a rich Christian heritage to their family. Nobody gets to choose into what family they are born, so I consider it a great blessing that I was born into a Christian home. And I am blessed to have Granny for my grandmother. Papa (Ralph Snell) died in 1982, when I was one year old. I wish I had known him, but even without knowing him personally, he has blessed my life by the way he led his family, the way he raised his children, and the legacy of a life of Christian service that he left behind. I look at my uncles, my mom's 4 younger brothers, and I can see what kind of man my Papa was - a man of integrity, humility, and compassion. A man whose presence commanded respect, but whose demeanor was gentle and peaceful. A man with a passion for Jesus Christ, His body, and the Word of God. And a man whose love for his family was surpassed only by his love for the Lord. And Granny is his matriarchal equal. For the last 23 years she has been a widow, living BY herself but not FOR herself. Although 93, she still keeps up with her 10 children, 34 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren. She raised her 10 children to love God and to pursue Godly lives. She has taught countless Bible classes and spoken at retreats for more years than you or I have been around. She always cooks something to take to the church pot-luck dinners (in fact she fell and broke her hip 2 years ago while trying to get her casserole dish out onto the front porch so she would be ready to go when her neighbors arrived to pick her up.) She lives a life of selfless Christ-like service rendered out of a heart of love.
I love my Granny and Papa. Please pray for her, for her recovery, and for our family as we care for her.