Spiritual Spinach: Grandma’s prayers are like manna from heaven

Never underestimate your grandma’s prayers.

Ninety-year-old Gladys Ellis makes a habit of praying for her grandson, Brett, and his wife, Leeanna, before they travel from Fremont to her parents’ home in Durant, Iowa.

“If we’re ever going on a long road trip, she calls to let us know she’s praying for us and that God will be with us and protect us on our way,” Leeanna said.

Those prayers were

especially appreciated on Dec. 20.

Brett and Leeanna were headed to Durant that day.

Before they left, the two checked road conditions via a computerized map from the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Road conditions seemed fine. So even though it had snowed in Fremont, the couple set out at 7 a.m.

Everything was all right until they reached Des Moines and a portion of Interstate 80 where it joins with I-35.

To get onto I-80 involves traveling on a big curve.

They were in the left-hand lane and had just passed a semi, when the back end of the car slid to the right and they were suddenly going sideways on the Interstate’s curve.

Looking straight out the windshield they could see an embankment more than

100 feet down.

Brett remained calm, never saying a word. Leeanna braced herself and yelled, “Hold on!”

She thought for sure they were going over the embankment. And if that happened, she was certain the car would roll.

Even Brett was convinced they’d go into a ditch and was looking for a place that wasn’t so steep as he tried to correct the car’s direction.

Then he overcorrected and suddenly the car turned the other way �” again traveling sideways.

He corrected again and the car was headed the right way once more.

“Brett was so proud of himself �” that he got us out of a near accident �” and I’m sitting there bawling my eyes out,” Leeanna said. “The rest of the ride, we were pretty quiet.”

When they reached her parents’ home, Leeanna grabbed her mom and cried, because “I was just sure we weren’t going to get to see her for Christmas.”

Leeanna believes God protected them and she’s still amazed at how calm her husband was.

“He’s been in situations before where he’s panicked and put a car in a ditch. When I told my mom that, she was convinced that it was the Lord protecting us,” she said.

And maybe that’s where Gladys’ prayers come in.

Gladys prayed for God’s protection. I believe he answered her prayer and gave Brett the grace and sense of calmness he needed �” right when he needed it.

It reminds me of the Bible story in Exodus chapter 16. At this point, Moses has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. They’re in the desert and they’re hungry.

So one morning, God sends bread, called manna, from heaven. Manna is white, looks like frost on the ground and tastes like wafers made with honey.

The Lord tells Moses to have the Israelites gather as much as they need, but nobody is supposed to keep any of it until morning.

Those who do that find that it stinks and has maggots in it the next day. The only exception is when the Israelites are told to gather twice as much the sixth day �” because on the seventh day, they’re simply supposed to rest.

For 40 years, God provides manna. The Israelites get enough just for each day �” a continual reminder of their dependence on God.

Christian author Beth Moore shares a modern-day manna lesson in her DVD/workbook series, “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place.”

In it, she tells how distraught she was when her friend’s 4-year-old child died of leukemia. Moore, the mother of two daughters, cried out to God, telling him that she just couldn’t live if something like that happened to her. Then God led her to the manna story.

“He was telling me that a sufficient amount of mercy and grace would be set aside for me every day of my life, enough every morning,” she writes.

In the DVD lesson, Moore talks about sobbing at the child’s funeral. Then she noticed the grace that seemed to carry the child’s mother. And God spoke to Moore’s heart: “My grace, Beth, is given according to need. The reason you look on another situation and think ‘I could never bear that if I were them,’ is because you don’t have that present portion of grace �” because you don’t need it �” and when you do, it will be there for you �” as long as you gather it.”

Moore explained that while God provided the manna, the Israelites still had to leave their tents and gather it.

In the same way, God provides us the grace we need, day by day. But we can’t just sit in our slump and do nothing. We need to seek God. Moore says that means taking all our emotional stuff �” our anger, temptation or whatever �” to God to be treated daily by his “manna.”

Now I’ve never lost a child or had my car slide down an Interstate sideways, but I know what it is to fear losing a loved one.

And somehow the stories of Gladys and manna from heaven help me to trust God a little more �” and show me that I don’t need to be afraid.

That no matter what happens he will give me that day-by-day grace to handle it �” just when I need it.

Tammy McKeighan is news editor of the Fremont Tribune. She can be reached at (402) 721-5000, Ext. 1433 or via e-mail at tammy.mckeighan@lee.net.