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Grandma’s Prayers

When Mickee was just a young girl her grandmother would often lean over to her and whisper. 

“I want you to know that I pray for you by name every single day. It is important for you to know and remember this.”  I loved that of her 21 grandchildren, she took time to pray for me specifically, by name, every day. It touched my heart and sank deep into my soul.”

As time went on however, Mickee grew up outside of Church activity, though she did go with her friends to the children’s meetings where she learned to love the stories of Jesus. 

As she got a little older, she continued attending the meetings of the youth, but still, she did not attend church. Pressure from her family kept her away, but so too, did fear. A young girl walking into the chapel all alone among all those people—it was enough to keep her away. She discussed this with her friends and all but one assured her that she could not sit with their families. Why? 

But Mickee really wanted to go, so, the following Sunday she walked in alone and made her way to where the family of her one friend sat. She described what happened. 

I smiled but she quickly looked down. As I approached her family, the father firmly set his books and jacket in the space next to him and glared at me. Message received! I was not wanted! But now what? I was twelve years old and alone! With tears springing to my eyes, I began to quickly walk up the aisle intending to run home and never come back when a gentle hand reached out and took my hand. It was Sister John. She scooted over and asked me to sit with her. She sat alone as her children were grown and her husband was on the stand. From then on, I would sit with Sister John. Looking back now I realize this was a blessing resulting from my grandmother’s prayers.

Mickee knew she was supposed to be there and notwithstanding it all she kept attending until one evening during a youth activity she overheard one of the leaders refer to her and say that she did not belong there—that she was a “bad influence on their children and would ruin them.” Mickee said she, “left the building and never returned.”

Through her high school years, she maintained good friends and didn’t do anything bad, but her faith waned and she was sure that the Lord “had given up on me.” 

Then came a remarkable experience in the fall of her senior year. She said, 

I was driving from work to the high school for a football game. The windows were rolled down and I was blasting music and singing loudly…. Suddenly a very loud, commanding voice shouted, “PULL OVER AND STOP THE CAR! ROLL UP THE WINDOWS AND LOCK YOUR DOORS!” It shocked me so much that I immediately did just as the voice had commanded! Still wondering what had just happened, I cautiously pulled back onto the road toward the driveway. I had just begun to feel a bit silly for listening to that voice when my car was accosted by a group of a dozen or more older boys. They were carrying beer bottles and were showing the effects of already having been drinking. They pounded on the windows, shouting for me to roll them down and talk to them. I kept my car in gear and continued moving forward even with several young men trying to stop my car. They were pulling on the door handles and I knew instantly that had I not complied with all the voice had told me to do, I would have been in serious trouble! I knew, too, that the voice could not have come from anywhere but from a heavenly source.

That experience had a profound effect on Mickee and she began to realize that the Lord had not given up on her, and that she had heard that voice on many occasions, and that it was the Spirit of the Lord. “My grandma’s prayers?” she said. “I have no doubts.” She went on to detail the numerous times Grandma’s prayers and the power of the Almighty had saved her. She shared this profound insight, “Through [Grandma’s] prayers I have been guided, comforted, protected and wrapped in the loving arms of my Savior, Jesus Christ.” 

Many years have come and gone and now, Mickee herself is a grandmother in the faith. And of course, she said, “I pray tirelessly for my beloved grandchildren that our merciful Heavenly Father will bless them as He did me.” 

Source: Mickee Mayo