Lisa Barry: For those of you listening who are in your thirties like I am, you may feel like you've experienced a whole lot of life by now. While that may be true, there are certainly those around us who have experienced more. Elisabeth Elliot is one of those people. She's been a widow twice, a jungle missionary, a single parent and a granny. Today on Gateway To Joy we're going to continue celebrating our 10^th anniversary with reflections of a granny. Here's Elisabeth.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, talking with you today about reflections of a granny.

I'm called Granny by my eight grandchildren, and I love it. In fact, it was actually my idea. I know some women who really deplore anything that would indicate that they are old, and so they think of all sorts of substitutes for words like "grandmother" or "granny" or "grandma."

But you know, I used to wonder why grandparents were so nutty. Now I know. I couldn't love my grandchildren less than I loved their mother. I pray for those grandchildren. I pray the prayer of Amy Carmichael:

"Father, hear us, we are praying; hear the words our hearts are saying; we are praying for our children. Keep them from the powers of evil, from the secret, hidden peril, from the whirlpool that would suck them, from the treacherous quicksand pluck them; through life's troubled waters steer them; Father, Father, be Thou near them. Through life's bitter battle cheer them; from the worldling's hollow gladness, from the sting of faithless sadness, Holy Father, save our children. And wherever they may bide, lead them home at eventide." By Amy Carmichael, who was a single woman, but she mothered hundreds of children, Indian children, whom God gave to her to mother.

I've been making albums for each of my grandchildren-picture albums to give them some idea of their heritage, because I was fortunate enough to receive a good many old pictures that go back a number of generations. I think the oldest picture that I have is that of my granddaughter Elisabeth's great-great-great-great grandfather, whose name was Abijah Howard, a picture taken in 1788.

So in Elisabeth's album, that's the first picture in the album. I have pointed out to her that Abijah Howard would only be one of 128 grandparents in that generation. Have you stopped to think about that? If you think about the fact that your father represents a generation and you've got one father, but then you've got two grandfathers and you've got four great-grandfathers. If you follow the progression, you're going to have by the fifth great-grandfather 128 grandparents in that generation.

Think of the genes that each one of them contributed. Think of the mystery of personality, of the DNA, of the uniqueness of that child. I look at Abijah Howard's picture in Elisabeth Shepard's album and I think of the mystery of personality, of DNA, of uniqueness.

Then one of her grandfathers was born in a shack in Stonington, Connecticut. His name was Henry Clay Trumbull and he was a chaplain in the Civil War. Then his son-in-law was Philip E. Howard, who was a writer and an editor. His brother-in-law was Charles G. Trumbull, also a writer and an editor. And so it goes, etc. Genes passed down. I think I've counted up about seven writers in my background.

The Bible says that older women are to teach the younger. That means obedience. That is a holy assignment and a privilege. Reflections of a granny. I think a lot about my responsibility to teach younger women.

I'm very greatly blessed in having a daughter who still wants my advice. She is over forty and she asks my advice. Even my son-in-law asks my advice. I have granddaughters who are willing almost literally to sit at my feet.

I remember one time when I was staying in their home, Christiana and Elisabeth, the two teenagers, asked if we could just have a talk time in the evening. The parents were out. I was there to be baby-sitting. It was fascinating to watch the ten-year-old brother, who didn't want to miss out on this girl talk time.

He was racing around, pretending that he wasn't paying any attention to us, but he was hanging over the banisters, he was turning somersaults behind the sofa, and he was just sort of in and out and round and round. He didn't want to miss even his granny's advice to those granddaughters.

Think about this holy assignment that God has given us and what a privilege it is and be thankful that God has given it to you.

Your letters indicate that many are willing to listen. I have here a letter on grandmothers. She says, "I have wanted to write to you for so long and thank you for your wonderful ministry, etc. I address you by your first name only because to me you are a dear friend who encourages me daily.

You also have been the answer to my prayer for a godly, older woman as an advisor. There are so few who are visible. I only discovered your radio program last year and I love it. It's so good to hear godly advice that is shared from a consistently biblical approach. I'm 37, married to a man who loves being a family doctor in a rural area. We have five beautiful girls, ages 8 to 6 months. We homeschool through ATIA. I am learning so much about God and life than I ever did while earning a BA and an M. Div. degree.

It took me a long while to come home, as I had been deluded by a lot of false ideas and was searching for myself. I had no idea of the absolute joy of being a mother. The more rights I have released to the Lord, the more rich and full my experience as a believer. We want so much to have a Christ-centered, peaceful home and to minister as a family.

This has been difficult, as we have grown in some commitments which cause us to say no to certain things and curtail some church activities. There are so many who want family members involved in 101 different activities that are all age-segregated. We are realizing ministry as having families into our home for meals for encouragement, having singles in for meals, visiting older people, etc. You have encouraged us that this is the right direction for us to take."

Thank you so much for that encouragement. I can't even read the name, but I do want to be the kind of woman who does encourage that sort of hospitality, and that is a ministry. Don't let anybody tell you differently.

Now about grandparents who leave in the winter. "Dear Elisabeth Elliot, listening to you today with your conversation about grandmothers, I was so glad someone was talking about us. My husband retired quite a few years ago. He decided we should retreat from winter here on our mountain and spend the winter, November through April, in Arizona.

Since we are parents to five, four of whom are married, and we have twelve grandchildren, it was difficult for me to go along with this. Our children all live here in Colorado or close, and it just seemed so wrong not to be close where we could help out now and then. When we arrived in Arizona, I found that I was only one of hundreds of women who had gone along with their husbands, but were feeling very useless and displaced and yearning to be home with their grandchildren close, and their friends and churches nearby.

Eventually we learned to find a niche where we can be of use, most of us. But it takes a while each time. It seems to me that we have brought on this situation, partly by being so busy with church activities, friends and children, that our husbands, needing us to be more interested in and available to them when they retire, seem to need to get us away from all those things.

But the big picture seems to show a big waste of fairly healthy, wise and capable people, many doing nothing more important than playing golf, swimming, tennis and craft work. Perhaps I am too concerned about this, but I do see a lot of them becoming unhappy, drinking too much, wasting away, and not living very long. What could we do to turn this around or should we?"

Well, I do thank you for that letter and I applaud that woman's suggestions. I have some suggestions, if you can't change your husband's mind about going to Arizona. Take this time to write letters, not just to make phone calls. Letters are in a totally different category. They're savable. They can be a keepsake. You can send books. You could give a phone card to your grandchildren.

In Psalm 66 it talks about both trouble and praise. You must have some stories about troubles in your life and ways in which the Lord turned it into praise and showed you the good that came out of the evil.

The psalm begins, "Shout with joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name. Make His praise glorious." But then in verse 10 it says, "You, O God, tested us. You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison, laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads. We went through fire and water."

How about telling your grandchildren some of those things in letters so that they can save them? Let them know your stories. Keep up with their interests. Perhaps this may be easier to do when distant than when close by. It's my experience to be on one coast and have all my grandchildren on the other one--we live on the East Coast, they live on the West Coast.

I do call them occasionally, but I write a lot more letters than I make phone calls. I try to keep up with their interests, and they write to me and that is a treasure. You can believe I have saved every single letter that any one of those children has written. Of course, a good many of them were required by their mother, because I had sent them something or done something for them. Their mother makes them write thank-you notes. But as they grow older, they write quite long and very interesting letters.

Reflections of a granny. What are you thinking about these days as to your responsibility for your grandchildren?

Lisa Barry: Well, if you're listening today and you happen to be a granny yourself, I have a video by Elisabeth to tell you about that you'll love. It's called FORGET ME NOT: A GRANDMOTHER'S INFLUENCE. In it you'll learn how you can leave a legacy of love for the people who mean most to you. The cost for the video is $24.

For information on either the video or the original tape series that today's program came from, you can call us toll-free at 1-800-759-4JOY. Or you can write to us at Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Our Internet address is gatewaytojoy.org.

Have you thanked your radio station for carrying Gateway To Joy? Why not drop them a note of thanks during this anniversary time and let them know how much you appreciate them as well? Gateway To Joy is a listener-supported ministry of Back to the Bible.

Tomorrow Elisabeth talks about heirlooms and junk. Find out more next time as we continue finding our Gateway To Joy.