It was a mildly chilly day in April when we got the call, “I’m taking myself to the hospital.” My grandmother had been in pain for a while, but she finally reached a breaking point. We held our breath as we awaited her CT scan results that eventually would show the cancer that originated in her bladder had already metastasized to her liver and lungs.
It’s interesting how crises point us to what’s been important all along. When my mom told me, “Eden, Grandma has been diagnosed with cancer,” shock seeped down deep into my heart. But equally, I felt the urgency to share the gospel with her.
Grandma was a church girl. She had been a member of a prominent Baptist church in South Carolina for 37 years. She rarely missed a church service and would often talk about what women’s Bible study she was involved in. Also, I can’t remember a year of my life when Grandma missed an opportunity to invite me to a women’s event at her church.
Looking back, I can see how God used my grandma to inspire a love of women’s ministry in my heart. Growing up, she would go on and on about the Beth Moore or Priscilla Shirer Bible study she was in at her church. Recently, before Grandma began a new women’s Bible study at her church, she asked me to order her book from Amazon because she didn’t know how. She was always amazed at how it showed up on her doorstep the next day. I tried to explain to her the concept of Amazon Prime, but I don’t think she ever understood. She was just glad her book showed up.
But this past summer, all of those conversations came to a screeching halt. After trying an unbearable round of chemotherapy, Grandma knew her only option would be to finish her days under hospice care. I’ll never forget the call I got from my parents asking me if I would decorate the room at assisted living that Grandma would be in until she passed. So, I meticulously went through the decorations in her townhome, grabbing her favorite tea cups, vases, picture frames, and blankets. It was May 25, just a few months back, when I decorated Grandma’s hospice room. But the entire time I hung pictures frames up or decorated her end tables, one conversation was playing in my mind.
On a Friday in late April, before Grandma knew exactly what her diagnosis and treatment plan would be, and while she was still at home, I drove from Rock Hill to Greenville to be with her for the day. The whole way to Greenville, I prayed, “God, I know Grandma loves her church. But I don’t recall a time where I have heard her explicitly state she knows you as her Savior and Lord. Give me the boldness to share the gospel with her today. I want her to know she will see You face-to-face one day.”
At the opportune time that Friday afternoon, I shared the gospel with Grandma and asked her, “Grandma, when did you come to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord?” She took a while to respond. Eventually, she said “Well, I think I was 12 years old when I made that decision. Can we change the subject?”
I left that day completely unsettled about where my Grandma stood with Jesus.
Eden visiting her grandmother.
Fast forward to May 25, the day we decorated Grandma’s hospice room. After we decorated her new room with all her favorite things, my husband and I went to the hospital to see Grandma before we left to head back to Rock Hill that night.
After spending some time visiting, the Holy Spirit prompted me to share the gospel again with Grandma. And so I did. Then I asked her, “Grandma, do you know for sure that you know Jesus as your Savior?” She cried and said no. I asked her if she wanted to be sure. She said yes. I knelt beside her hospital bed, and I told her to repeat some words after me, knowing that there were no magical words in this prayer, but that she only needed to have faith and believe these words in her heart. After she prayed to accept Jesus in her heart that moment, it was like her entire countenance changed.
I know now that if Grandma could tell you one thing from heaven where she currently is, she would say, “Don’t miss this.”
You see, salvation isn’t found in how many years you’ve been a member of a certain church or how many Bible studies you’ve attended. Salvation is only found through believing in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross for your sins. If you have any doubt in your mind that you are not saved and will not go be with my Grandma in heaven when you die, reach out to another Christian you know and talk with them about salvation. We are never promised tomorrow.
If you want to know one of the primary truths giving our family comfort right now, it’s that we all know for a fact where Grandma is. A few days before Grandma died, I told her that she could go to Jesus and that He was waiting on her. She said she was ready to go see her God. That little bit of faith she had is now her plain sight. You see, though outwardly she was wasting away, inwardly she was being made new (2 Cor 4:16). Now, she is in her complete, healed body.
I’ll be honest with you — when all of this first started happening with Grandma, I was frustrated with God. I kept praying, “God, You do miracles. Why won’t You remove this cancer from my grandma’s body?” And now I realize that God had a greater miracle in mind.
He wasn’t just going to save my grandma’s body, He was going to save her soul. Through Grandma’s cancer diagnosis, she came to know Jesus as her Savior and Lord. Now she is ultimately healed. Is there any miracle greater than that?
When Grandma breathed her last breath here, she breathed her first one in heaven — because the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). What remains a glorious mystery to us about heaven is now plain sight for my grandma. What we see dimly through a veil, she sees clearly now (1 Cor 13:12). First Corinthians 2:9 says: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
My first thought after Grandma passed was, “How am I supposed to do this life without her?” If the Lord allows me many more years on this earth, will I become a mother, a grandmother, and even a great-grandmother before I ever see her again? That just feels too long. I don’t know who’s going to:
•Bring over the fruit for our annual Christmas morning breakfast, or
•Who’s going to bring the brown rice casserole and congealed lime salad for Thanksgiving, or
•Who I’m going to call around my mom’s birthday to plan Mom’s birthday cake with, or
•Who’s going to write me a card for every holiday
While I don’t have answers for that, there is one thing I do know — I know where my grandma is.
If you are reading this, ask yourself: Do you know that your loved ones are saved by the grace of God? Have they genuinely asked Jesus to save them from their sins and to be their Savior and Lord?
Jesus graciously warns us in Scripture: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matt 7:21–23).
You see, salvation is quite simple. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 10:9 that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul is clear here: There has to be a confession of the mouth. We are not saved by confessing our years of church attendance, what ministry we serve in, or how many Bible studies we’ve attended. We are saved by confessing that Jesus is Lord and asking Him to save us from our sins. Praise God that salvation “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9).
If the Holy Spirit prompts you to share the gospel with someone, even a close family member, follow through in obedience. Don’t be afraid if the conversation may feel awkward or uncomfortable, because the Holy Spirit is bigger than your fear, and He will fill you with the words to say. Praise God that salvation does not depend on us anyhow! I thank the Lord every day that He used me to lead my grandma to Christ. Now she is rejoicing with her Savior in heaven forever. I would encourage you to pray for opportunities to share the gospel with your loved ones, knowing that when they accept Jesus as their Savior, it is the best decision they will ever make.
— Eden Richardson is director of Women’s Discipleship at First Baptist Church, Rock Hill.