PRAYING GIRL, PRAYING GRANDMA

The best I can figure, it was 48 years ago today, September 17, 1972, in Omena, Michigan, when Jesus Christ became so real to me that I surrendered my life to Him. I’ve never been the same since.

There were many people involved in the process that brought me to that day, & ultimately to this day. But I want to talk about just 2 of them.

"Gram" Higgins & our son Allen

My grandmother, Rachel Juanita Higgins, had been a believer as a child. But she made some wrong choices & her life took a different direction because of them. Over most of her adult life she was a working mother, raising 4 sometimes challenging daughters. But late in life she returned to the Lord & prayed faithfully for her children & grandchildren. She saw me come to the Lord & went to heaven just a few months before I graduated from Bible college in 1980.

Deborah's senior picture

My wife Deborah came to know Christ at the age of 12 & has never wavered from the path of discipleship. She is the most generous & sincere person I have had the privilege of knowing. Shortly after her conversion, she was encouraged to begin to pray for her future husband. Part of her prayer was for someone tall, with blond hair & blue eyes. She obviously didn’t get that. But she also prayed for someone who loved the Lord & was called into ministry. She got that. But it took 6 years before she saw the answer.

In my rebellious, self-absorbed teenage years, I would never have listened to what either of these 2 women might have to say about God. But I am eternally grateful that God listened to their prayers for me.

You may be a parent or grandparent, burdened for your children or grandchildren who are not where they need to be in the relationship with Jesus. I’m living proof that you can still pray & expect God to hear & answer.

You may be a child or teenager who just wants to make the right decisions & be what God wants you to be. But you’re not sure it can happen, because you’ve seen too many relatives or friends go off the rails. I’m living proof that God will listen to your prayers & guide your relationships if you’ll just ask Him.

He wants to hear the heartfelt prayers of girls & grandmas. I know, because I’m one result of their prayers.