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She Gave it All

Written on March 23, 2013, shared today in loving memory of Nancy Bryan, Sr., my sweet Mamaw who joined her Savior and husband in Heaven today:

From the outside and all appearances, she is an ordinary, Southern Belle turned grandmother. She is my father's mother, spends too much money on her grandchildren, and cried the day I told her I was engaged to marry my high school sweetheart. She is devoted to her church and family, and she, along with her late husband, my grandfather, has gone to great lengths to be at every crucial life event of every grandchild that is physically possible. Still, my understanding was that we lived a normal life in an ordinary family with a grandmother that loved us. My eyes started opening to her influence on my life as I started growing up and realized her example and encouragement of my faith was a huge source of fuel for me. However, I still had no idea...until she lost my grandfather, we moved closer so that weekend visits became more common, and we started having late night chats about her life, her thoughts, her perceived failures, and humble triumphs. And I had no idea. First of all, my egocentric mind had very little considered her out of the grandmother framework she came packaged to me within. I had spent little time considering what daily life looked like building a family of great faith, high morals, and fantastic love. I never even thought about the building blocks to build the marriage that had been an example and model for me all my life. And then, as the pages of her life story flew backward and she thoughtfully shared her sweet story over several different weekends together, I began to realize the amount of faith, the amount of love, the amount of commitment, and the amount of gracious wisdom it took to be the matriarch of the blessed family I have so taken for granted for so many years. She saw her family as the foreground of a life of ministry and as she sealed a letter and ended a phone call, I realized she still does. This is the woman that has prayed for me every day of my life. The woman whose most important social engagement while I was growing up was her Grandmother's-In-Touch prayer group. And as I have grown up, I have realized the power of other's prayers over my life; it has become something I have retrospectively treasured. And here sitting before me was the greatest prayer warrior I ever had. My beautiful Southern Belle turned grandmother has lived far from an ordinary life. She has given it all to her family, one that is now flourishing with life, faith, and love.

I love you more than words can say, Mamaw, and you look just beautiful today :).





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