drive us. I remember one day it was snowing, not really bad, but it was snowing and to tell you the truth, I just didn’t feel like getting up, going out and scrapping the car, shoveling the end of the driveway to go to church. Well my grandmother came in and told me to get up for church and I told her that it was too snowy to go to church and that I was going to stay in bed. Oh, she said, and turned around and left the room. About 15 minutes later I heard the backdoor shut. I looked out my bedroom window and sure enough, there she was heading off on the mile long walk to church in the snow. At first I lay in the bed grumbling, but then got up, hurriedly tied my tie and ran out the door. In case you are wondering, she had already scrapped off the car and shoveled the end of the driveway. Well I got into my car and drove off after her. After she got in I said to her “Nan, it’s pretty cold and snowy, surely God wouldn’t have minded if we took this Sunday off.” Then she said to me “JD, when your grandfather died and my two girls were relying on me to find a job, make money to pay the bills, keep the roof over our heads, keep clothes on our backs, keep food on the plate and run this household, who do you think I relied on to keep me going? God gave me what I needed to be strong for all of us and He gave me hope to keep going even when it looked hopeless. I needed Him and He was there. So it will take a little bit more than a little walk in the snow to stop me from going to say thank you.” It is then that I learned the power of faith, the power of gratitude and the hope that God gives. My grandmother lived in times of World War, through Great Depressions and brought up her children as a window during a time when women generally didn’t work outside the home and when there was no social safety net to fall back on. Yet despite the wars, the depression, death ad the crushing responsibility of raising her family on her own, my grandmother never lost sight of the fact that she was a child of God … a woman of God; she never forgot the words that no matter how bad things look on the outside that God had plans to prosper her, not to harm her … plans to give her hope and a future. She also never forgot that when things got too much for her bear that called on God … that when she prayed to God … that He would listen to her and that if she sought God that she would find Him. My grandmother was a woman of God and her faith and her hope shaped her life and the lives of all those who relied on her. Indeed, after God, I owe everything I am today to her.” Rev. James D. Kennedy Many of us today may encounter situations that cannot be changed, no matter how much we would have wanted things to be different. We are older. The churches are emptier. More and more responsibility are falling on few and older shoulders. It is easy for us to become weary. It is understandable when we start feeling overwhelmed … yet the words of God are still softly and tenderly calling … I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Don’t get so caught up in the mess that you forget that you are not alone … that we live in God’s world … that He seeks to work in us and others by the Spirit … to reconcile us and to make us new. God’s plan for us is more amazing, more exciting, and more freeing than you could ever imagine.