During our time back in New York, Sarah recently spent an afternoon at the retierment home where her grandmother, Helen, lives. They worked together sewing a dress for our daughter. Sarah wanted to learn from her extensive experience in sewing, homemaking, as well as her time tested faith. It has only been in recent years that Sarah and I have really started to learn about her grandmother's quiet strength and deep faith. When Sarah was first saved she thought she was the only one who knew the joy of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ... unaware that there was already faith in her family.
As Sarah grew in her own faith she became aware that her grandmother also knew her Lord and Savior. Helen began to speak to Sarah about what it truly meant to be a follower of Christ often without words through her example: a steady faith in God and steely faithfullness to those whom God had put in her life. Helen's silent strength evidenced the real fruit of what it meant to be a Christian: humility, peace, paitence, kindness, submission, and of course, love.
As time has pressed on Sarah and I have had the priviledge to see her grandmother's faith steadily remain through trials such as the loss of her husband the day before the birth of our first child. Not only has Sarah began to connect God's gracious work in her own life to her grandmother's faith, but has sought opportunity to learn and grow from it. 
As the two women worked together, Sarah was learning more than just how to sew. She was also learning how to be a better wife and a better Christian. I hope we all can seize the opportunity to learn from those older and wiser than us. It would be the saddest of tragedies for us to try and make it through this life on our own. For all we know there may already be a much maturer faith in our familiy just waiting for us to ask the meaningful questions.
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