Monday, June 30, 2003
Monday, June 30, 2003
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him who loved us.
Anna loved to do needlework, but as she became older, her hands were stiffened with arthritis.
Finally, at the age of eighty, she could no longer handle a large needle to embroider, so she
decided to try painting. She found she could handle the paintbrush more easily and began
painting pictures--mostly farm and country scenes.
One day a New York City art collector passing through her small town saw her pictures in a
drugstore. The rest is history. Beginning after eighty years of age, Grandma Moses painted over
fifteen hundred popular paintings. Twenty-five percent of her paintings were painted after she
was one hundred. She developed an international following. Why? Because her hands were
stiffened with arthritis and she could no longer embroider.
Life has many twists and turns. Only those who learn to confront that fact and plunge on with
determination move from coping to conquering. God is with us in our testing, and God wants us
to rise above all things to honor him.
(Romans 8.35,37
NRSV)
Do you know the story of Grandma Moses? Anna Mary Robertson worked as a hired girl on a
farm. She met and married a hired hand on that farm. His name was Tom Moses. They moved
to a farm of their own and raised ten children.
Dear Jesus, help me to honor our Father in heaven by overcoming life's many encounters.
Amen.
