I spent a lot of time with my grandmother growing up. We called her Oohma. She was a wonderful mix of sweet and spicy. I have wonderful memories of playing in her backyard with my sisters and cousins. She told us stories, read us books, hugged us, played games like “Find the Button” with us (not an official game, we’d just look for a hidden button), taught us Scripture memory verses, told us that she loved us and said a variety of very funny things, some of which we still remember and laugh about to this day.

But there was one thing, that if you spent any amount of time with my grandmother, you were pretty much guaranteed to hear, The Lord loves you!

In fact it became somewhat of a joke between some of her grandchildren. Looking back, I’m so grateful for what she chose to tell us. It was the one thing she really wanted us to know – that Jesus loved us.

I don’t remember my grandmother doing anything really glitzy or “big.”  She was always just living her life. She was emptying the dishwasher in the morning, because if she did it at night she’d be too tired and drop the dishes. She made my grandfather a lunch to take to work with him. She put out red, blue, and yellow sleeping bags for us to sleep in when we stayed over at her house. She cut grapes in half to take the seeds out and make sure no one choked. She made dinner, carefully showing us how she did it and sometimes wearing underwear on her head to make sure no little white hairs got in the food. She put her coffee grinds into her garden and fed the birds.  She walked around the block, and stopped to say the pledge with us when she saw a flag.

But everyday, in all the things she did, she praised the Lord. She let us know of His love for us. I really believe that she was foundational in the faith that I have in our Lord today.

There have been times in my life that I have struggled to understand God’s ways in my life, but there has never been a time that I did not know deep down that He loved me. It’s what I know she wanted all of us to know. It’s what I tell my children.

It was simple really and also so amazing.Oohma chose to tell us every time that she saw us that the Lord loved us. She lived her life knowing that truth and sharing it.

Because she chose to follow Jesus and share His love in that simple way, generations have been affected.

And my prayer is that they will continue to be affected. It is my hope, as I’m sure it was hers, that my children will grow to know the Lord loves them and that they will love Him.

I will choose, like she did, to live my life, praising Jesus and letting those I love know that the Lord loves them.