My Grandma the Missionary

This is what I shared at my Grandmother's Memorial today.  I hope it brings inspiration and encouragement to you.

Good afternoon. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jillian Wellman and I am Joyce’s granddaughter.

How many of you, at some point in your encounters with my Grandma, heard about the love of God from her - either directly or indirectly? (I think everyone raised their hands)

This is my greatest memory of my Grandma, and the legacy I hope to continue: She was always sharing about the Lord, his love, and his work in her life. And not in a judgmental way, either. If she didn’t share the same beliefs or opinions as someone, it didn’t diminish the way she treated that person with love and acceptance. We just saw pictures in the slideshow from when Grandma served the Lord in Nigeria. But the amount of hands raised earlier indicates that Joyce Hale was a missionary no matter her location or occupation.

Now, my Grandma wasn’t perfect. She’d be the first one to tell you she was a sinner who struggled to live rightly, just like you and I. However, she didn’t live from her status of imperfection, but from a place of grace. She had experienced and received the grace of Jesus in her life, and it impacted her so greatly that she lived from a place of grace toward others. That is what I mean when I say she was a missionary in her very essence. It wasn’t a job title she held when overseas. It was who she was.

My Grandma taught me so much about having a real and living relationship with God. She taught me that being in a relationship with God means serving him by serving others in love. Her relationship with God was lived out in all she did. Grandma taught me that no matter what life throws my way, God is WITH me. When my brother, Jeff died, she was the rock in my family that reminded us that we weren’t going through this grief alone, but that Jesus really was with us to comfort us. He wasn’t a distant or unavailable god. He was a good God. A God who cared for us. Grandma also taught me the power of forgiveness. Her life could have been a recipe for bitterness, burdens and reclusiveness. But because of forgiveness, her life was one of joy, freedom, and many wonderful relationships. 

Now, some of you will recall the two things in her life that taught us to pray the most: Her cooking and her driving. Yes, she was a terrible cook and a worse driver. But... often she was cooking for family and friends or driving to go shopping for baby clothes for a family at church, or to go visit her friend, Betty Jane, or to help lead a Bible Study. You see, even in her terrible culinary and driving skills, we saw her heart to serve and care for others.

I was so blessed to spend August with Grandma this year. We ate meals together, went shopping at Walmart together, went Garage Sailing together, and we had some great conversations... about life, love, work and the Lord. Some of my most treasured memories with Grandma were made this summer. We have always been close, ever since she lived with my family and our rooms were adjoined. But this summer, we were more than Grandmother and Granddaughter: we were friends. I will miss my Grandma greatly. I am changed... different... better because of her influence in my life.

And now, her prayers have become my prayers: that her family and friends would come to know the peace, hope, joy, and love that is found only in Jesus. And that those of us who do have relationship with Jesus would live like it: that we would be missionaries, that we would exude peace, hope, joy, and love, in all that we do, for the glory of God.

There are tulip bulbs in the foyer for each of you to take, to plant and remember Grandma.  The verse from 1^st Corinthians talks about each of us doing our part, but that ultimately, growth is up to the Lord.  Grandma did her part and found great joy in doing so.  Now it’s our turn.

 

Thank you, God, for the gift you gave us in Grandma.