Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 2 John 8
Possibly the person who has had the greatest influence on my life is someone I have never met. She passed away before I was even born but her influence lived on through her children and now through her grandchildren.
From the time I was a little girl I remember hearing how my Grandmother, Flossie Williams, loved the Lord. One day I learned she had been raised in the home of a Baptist preacher. Her dad had started churches all over the low country of South Carolina. Flossie played the piano for these churches and for the church choir.
Around 1919, my grandfather, Mid Walters, began riding his horse and buggy nearly 10 miles on Sundays to attend their church and to court the pretty piano player. And there is nothing like true love to get a man singing because he even joined the church choir. My Aunt Lucy told me that when Grandpa Mid proposed to Grandma Flossie he promised to buy her a piano once they got married. They married November 12, 1919, and settled in Harleyville, SC, Mid’s hometown. And, as Aunt Lucy relayed, Mid stopped going to church and never bought the piano. Flossie quickly realized that Mid was an alcoholic.
Mid and Flossie had 11 children. Flossie had the testimony that she taught her children the Bible, took them to church alone and prayed for them faithfully. Flossie continued to love and serve God in her home even though her husband did not.
Sadly, at the time of her death from congestive heart failure in 1959 there is no evidence that any of her living children were living for the Lord or even going to church. Most of her boys grew up to be alcoholics. Flossie Walters never saw the fruit of her spiritual investment. She never saw her grown children loving and serving God . . . but . . . I did. Yes, praise the Lord! I saw most of them come to know and serve the Lord in some way.
When my dad would give his salvation testimony, he would say it was his mother’s voice he heard on the day he received Christ as His Savior. “Polly, just call on Jesus!” His mom had been gone for over 10 years, yet her influence and investment were present the day he fell on his knees receiving Christ into his heart and life.
My grandmother may not have seen the miracles I witnessed on this side of Heaven, yet her investment in teaching her children the Bible, the hard work of taking them to church alone and the labor of her prayers was not lost. It is an investment that continues in my life today.
In a world full of deception and lies, it is crucial I take a discerning look at my life for my Grandmother’s sake, for the sake of my godly parents and for the sake of godly preachers and saints who have made an investment in my life. Why? That they do not lose on their investment and that they receive a full reward.
My Grandma Flossie’s story motivates me to keep the investment going. By faith, we keep praying and keep sharing our Savior’s love so that we may receive a full reward.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6
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