She wasn't always a grandmother! Her story went `way back before that, back to her birth in a little cabin in Russia—back to her marriage to the man who was going to be "Grandpa," back to her long journey alone across the ocean to the United States after Grandpa, who came first, then sent money for her passage.
Life for new immigrants can be hard; Grandma found it so. There was little enough money for the two of them, but soon the first baby arrived, and another, and another—seven in all. Grandma took in boarders to help support their growing family.
Living in the "inner city" as they did there was little play space, but her children were not allowed to run the streets. No, every day that she was able, Grandma took them to a little park nearby where they could play under her watchful eye.
One day in the park she heard singing. It was in Russian. Instantly interested, she went closer to hear better. A group of people standing together were singing and speaking in her own Russian language. They were telling about the Lord Jesus Christ and the way of salvation, telling it as Grandma had never heard it before.
She listened intently. It was so simple, so sweet, so satisfying to a heart hunger she had scarcely known she had. Again and again she came to hear the preaching in the park and learned that "God so loved the world, the He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
Grandma did believe in Him; she received the Lord Jesus as her own Savior and found it true that "He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." Psa. 107:9.
Soon she was praying that all her family would find this wonderful Savior too. When she found a little Russian group whose simple little meetings gave her food for her soul, she began to go regularly. She took her children with her: on the street car, off the street car, on the street car, off the street car—two street cars going, and two more street car rides home. This she did alone; Grandpa just would not be interested.
She had never had the chance to go to school in the old country, and could not read. Now that she was a Christian she wanted so much to read the Bible. Studying the Russian alphabet, little by little she taught herself to read her Bible. What a joy it was to her to read and to pray—always, always to pray.
Her prayers were answered. All her children were saved. They grew up and established Christian homes and taught their children about the Lord Jesus. Many of these grandchildren are now saved, and some of the great grandchildren have also confessed the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
Only one prayer seemed unanswered: Grandpa said "No!" Still she prayed on through the years. At last, an old man listened—and understood—and in tears accepted the Lord Jesus for himself. Grandpa was saved!
Over the years many more of her relatives came to know the Lord: brothers, sister, cousins, each one in faith confessing the Lord Jesus as Savior and receiving "the gift of God, eternal life."
Someone may have been praying for you. Perhaps a mother, a father, a grandparent, even a great grandparent or a long-forgotten great aunt, perhaps only someone who knew you as a child and prayed for you that you might come to the Savior. What joy there would be in heaven if their prayers could be answered today!
If you feel that there is no one who ever prayed for you, no one who ever cared for your soul, then on your own just say "Yes" to the Lord Jesus when He invites you to "come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
That promise is for you.