Grandchildren Are the Frosting!
It was just over twelve years ago that my husband and I learned we were going to be grandparents for the very first time. We were so excited and could hardly wait. We had five children (four sons and one daughter) of our own and had also been given four more daughters through marriage.
When our first little grandson Ryan was born, our hearts were overwhelmed with love and delight over this new role of being Grammie and Pa!
The best way I can describe being a grandparent is: if having children is the cake, then having grandchildren is the frosting!
Grandchildren are: abundant love, abounding joy, instant pleasure, overflowing gladness, fun-filled enjoyment, and surprise amusement.
As Christian grandparents, we have the privilege and responsibility of passing on our faith as a living heritage to our grandchildren. I asked God twelve years ago to show me in His Word what my role as a grandmother should include, and this is a verse He greatly impressed on my heart:
"Take heed to yourself, diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart . . . and teach them to your children and your grandchildren" (Deuteronomy 4:9 NKJV).
Have your shared how you came to the Lord with your grandchildren (and made it a practice to tell them often)? Do you tell them how much you love God’s Word and want them to love it too? Do you pray with them out loud on impulse? Do you tell them about prayers God has answered for you? Do you sing songs of worship with them, telling them about God’s worthiness to be praised and adored? Do they know you love Jesus as your Savior and Lord by your lifestyle? I am challenged by these thoughts.
One thing I have noticed is that you really can begin to impart the truths of God, what He has done, and what He is doing, even if your grandchildren are small. We can trust God to give them the understanding of His truth in His timetable. (My personal experience is that they understand earlier and take in more than we think!)
Children are so absorbent and God knew this as He commanded to pass on the things God has done for you to your children and grandchildren. How wise of our Lord, because as we share with them, we ourselves are renewed and reminded of our awesome God. Proverbs 11:25 tells us that she who waters, is herself watered.
Any day now, we are expecting the arrival of our newest grandchild, a precious little girl. She will be our twelfth grandchild and all we can say is, our lives overflow with rich frosting! Thank You, Jesus, for this wonderful blessing of being a grandmother!
10 comments
Maggie | November 19, 2010
Thank you for this wonderful message. I hope someday we can have that opportunity with our estranged grandchildren. Our blended family has been struck with much resentment, unforgiving hearts, pain, disrespect, and most of all division. Now empty nesters, we pray that our great Lord will somehow bring us all together after uniting in Him.
Jeannine | November 20, 2010
Do not give up Maggie. I too have a broken family. Broken, but in repair with Jesus. Keep praying as nothing is too difficult for our God. Blending children from two different upbringings is difficult, but not impossible. I have 2 children of my own and was given 2 more when I married my wonderful husband. They have since grown up and have produced a wonderful bounty of 9 grandchildren (now ages 5-12 years). There are still some instances of strain between the one big happy family thoughts, but overall God has blessed us with a relationship with all of them. The relationships we are afforded are not all the same, but none-the-less... a unique relationship which brings our family together. It is not easy all of the time... but so worth all of the efforts. Keep praying God will provide you with that open window of opportunity. God never fails us. We have to remember His will is not always in our timing. Be patient, God knows the desires of your heart. I have watched my children go through so much pain and suffering, some of which our parental examples have caused through divorce. I have also had the wonderful opportunity to witness them reach for their own faith in Jesus which is what I have prayed for all these years. Keep praying and keep inviting them to everything, including church. My favorite request for my husband's or my birthday, Mother's and Father's Day is to request that my family be with us at church and have a meal together. They seem to always be interested in food, thank God. :) My grandchildren now love when they can come to Nana and Papa's and go to church with us. They love being together... well of course the normal children disagreements and side taking is bound to come up sometimes, but overall they know and love each other as a family. Our God is so good! He has blessed us with so much joy or should i say "ICING"! Have faith!
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Debbie | November 29, 2010
God is good! He will restore your family to make it right. We recently went through a very heartbreaking situation and my heart was broken and felt so empty. God filled my heart with His love. My marriage became better and our entire family became stronger in the Lord. My beautiful granddaughters are now home with their dad and we are so blessed. The hardest thing for me was time - 7 months. I had to learn about faith. Everything happens in God's time, not mine. The situation still has bumps - but God will take care of all of us and get us through it.
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Susan | November 19, 2010
Such a beautiful picture of three generations.
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Ronda | November 20, 2010
Amen, I totally agree that grandchildren are the frosting. My family almost mirrors yours, in the fact that we became grandparents 10 years ago.
We now have 9 beautiful grandchildren, 5 boys and 4 girls. We are Blessed with 3 beautiful daughters and 3 wonderful sons-in-law.
Praise the Lord that they all LOVE the Lord.
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Nicole | November 20, 2010
Icing on the cake, that is so right. We absolutely love our oldest who is 20, down to our 2 year old. We feel so blessed to have each and every one one of them. Five absolutely great kids. Of course, we worry and pray for each of them, from their health to their everyday things. We can't imagine life without these precious Grand kids. We have 4 boys and one sweet Granddaughter...what a delight to get a Granddaughter, she just lights up our life.
We are so thankful that they are all alive and with us. We had a rough go with our first Grandson and God continues to answer our prayers for his health and well being.
Great picture of the three of you...so sweet. Little Stella reminds me of our sweet Sienna.
You have a wonderful family, Cathe.
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Ofelia | November 20, 2010
Just had my first Grandbaby 2 weeks ago. What a blessing!!! I am overwhelmed with gratitude and joy to our Heavenly Father for such a beautiful gift... I pray that I would be able to impact his life with the wonderful love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...
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Mary | November 22, 2010
One of the best days in my life was when my precious little grandson was born...he was 6 wks premature (4lbs 8oz) he is now a 2 year old full of energy little boy... We are now waiting for our first granddaugther who will be here in January.. I thank the Lord each and every day. When I see my grandson's little face and he has such a huge smile on his face and he says Grammie, that just makes my day...
I totally agree they are the icing and decorations on a cake, cupcake and cookie....Thank you Jesus
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Elaine | November 22, 2010
I have two beautiful granddaughters, Rebekah Naomi who is 15 and Rachael Renae who will be 14 in January. They are the lights of my eye, especially because their father, Stephen, our son, went home to the Lord suddenly in 2003! When I hear your story of losing Christopher, I cry. Stephen was also 32 years old and he never woke up one day. We can suppose on what he died from (complications from diabetes) but we are really not sure. There isn't a day that goes by that something triggers memories of him. My oldest granddaughter looks just like him and that gives me comfort. I try to reach out to other parents who have lost their children no matter what way they died, sharing my story.
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Ana | November 22, 2010
I just love your illustration of the significant role of grandparents in their grandchildrens’ walk with the Lord. Thanks for sharing your thoughts…you are a wonderful grandmother!
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Margaret | November 27, 2010
I love what all this says and means. My husband and I teach our children about God, but their grandparents are not involved in their lives. My mother in law just doesn't seem to be interested in our children. When she calls to talk to my husband her son, she calls him on his cell phone instead of the house. I feel like she does it so she doesn't have to talk to the kids. Please pray for our family to grow in God's love.
Thank you for sharing. Blessings always..
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Sandra | December 8, 2010
I want to share what an awesome experience our grandchildren are in our lives! It is so awesome to teach our three-year-old grandson about the love of Jesus and to watch the excitement in his eyes as I tell him about all that God is at his level. When I ask the Lord to show me how to talk about it, He always is faithful in giving me the opportunity to spread the message. We now are blessed with another precious grand baby, and I can't wait to spread the news to him! I pray this message gets to my son and daughter-in-law as well. They are such amazing, loving parents.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts, your message inspired me to do so!
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