Giving an Inheritance

My grandson liked his jacket so much that he put on a tie for the occasion.

I have always enjoyed collecting things.  When I was a child I collected ceramic horses, dogs, and cats and Beatles pictures.  As an adult I have collected pigs, pottery, and always books, books, books.  When I started missionary work in 2010 I began collecting flags from all over Europe.  I also began collecting patches from each country I visited.  I didn’t have any idea what to do with the patches, I just liked collecting them.  Then in 2011 I became a grandmother, and now I have two grandchildren.

Last year my grandson (now six years old) began to show some interest in all the countries that I’ve visited.  We talked over the Europe placemat that I had given him, and marked the countries I’ve visited in dry erase marker.

Detail of the back of the jacket.

So for Christmas I got him and his little sister a jacket and poncho, respectively.  I began to put the patches on them, but had to stop because of a severe eyestrain headache.  I suffered eyestrain because I was putting reading glasses over my glasses—an imperfect but cheap alternative to bifocals or progressive glasses[1].

The jacket front.

The next day I removed my glasses to sew the patches, but then my right hand began to go all carpal-tunnel-numb from all the sewing.  So again I had to stop.  But Christmas was coming, and I needed to finish their presents.  So I asked a friend to pray for me.  I didn’t specify what the problem was, I just asked him to pray for my hand.  He did and the following day I was able to finish both the jacket and the poncho.

Detail of the back of the poncho.

When I prayed about these gifts, the Lord gave me Isaiah 54:3[2]:

You shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited, (NKJV, emphasis mine).

Suddenly I understood why I had been attacked with eyestrain and numbness in my hand: the defeated enemy didn’t want me to get these gifts done because they represented my grandchildren’s inheritance.

The front of the poncho.

Now, most children don’t like gifts of clothing.  They would rather receive toys.  I did give them each a small toy, but they were thrilled with these gifts—far more than I had dared to hope.

God has sent me on assignment in Europe, and my work there is producing an inheritance for my descendants.  Simple gifts that I had thought might be more for me than for them turned out to be important keys to my investment into their future.  God is good!

[1] I can’t wear bifocals anymore because I kept tripping over curbs and stepping in dog mess.  Progressives are just bifocals without the line, so that wouldn’t solve the problem of not properly seeing where I’m walking.

[2] The entire chapter of Isaiah 54 was given to me as a rhema word in 1992 when God reclaimed me.  I often re-read it, finding fresh understanding of my inheritance—and that of my children and grandchildren.