Over and Above All That We Could Ever Hope For

Devotional for October 29, 2010



BOBO...

I have been personally blessed to have had a godly Grandmother in my life. Until I was thirteen years of age, I was blessed to have a godly Great Grandmother in my life as well. She is who I want to talk about this morning.

Her name was Dorothy, but we all called her “Bobo”. Somehow my brother had begun calling her that when he was very little, and the name stuck. Bobo had a live in caregiver that used to care for her needs, but every once in awhile this lady would leave for a weekend to go and visit her own relatives.



These became some of my very favorite times, as I was able to “stand in” for her while she was gone. I would go and stay with Bobo for the weekend. Since she wasn’t able to walk very well, a hospital bed had been placed in the living room for her. All day long we would watch television together, and read, talk and share. That was so much fun and I loved it. My very favorite time though, was bedtime.



I used to sleep beside Bobo on a little loveseat that was positioned next to her hospital bed, and each night we would say our prayers together. Mine, of course, were not very long and no matter how hard I tried to think of everything that I should be praying for, they were over quite quickly. This was when Bobo would begin her prayers. I used to lay there in the “dark” and listen to her. She would first pray for one person, and then she would move on to the next. All I knew was that for being in the “dark”, that place became one of the very “brightest” places in my young life.


I would listen, and wonder at the love that I could sense and feel, as it began to permeate and fill that tiny little room. I would snuggle myself down under the warmth of the blankets, and the comfort of my great Grandmother’s prayers would fill my heart. Any worry or concern of mine would soon be forgotten in the comforting sense of love that Bobo’s prayers would bring. I listened as long as I could, but I know that not even once was I ever able to stay awake until she ended. The peace and comfort in that room was just too great, and it would “lull” me to sleep even when I fought it.



It has been a long time since my great Grandmother went on to be with the Lord, and over the years I have forgotten things. I have never forgotten that room, or her prayers though, or the sense of peace that I had come to be familiar with at that young age. What took me time was to realize and understand is that what I had been feeling in that room was the love of Christ and the peace of the Holy Spirit.



As women in general, and for some of us as mothers, a lot of us are probably very familiar with pulling the covers up over our children, or loved ones, as they settle in for sleep. It is something we do quite naturally, and most likely one of the very last things we do at night before allowing ourselves to retire. We must first “tuck” everyone else in. That, in a very real sense, is what Bobo was doing for me through her prayers. She was “tucking” me into and under the “covering” of the Lord. What a beautiful picture that brings to my heart. Although it may not have been possible for her to tuck me in physically, she perhaps, was doing it in a way that would cause me to never become “untucked”, even when, as I grew, I began to “toss” and to “turn” in so many different directions.



Bobo, in her great wisdom and through her simple act of love, was doing something for me that could never be undone. She was lifting me, and my life to the Lord. She was taking the time to ask Him to care for me, to lead me, to guide me, to keep me in each and every area of my life. She was asking Him to do what she knew that she, herself, would never be able to do. My great Grandmother’s years in my life were limited and I did go on to have a lot of “twists” and “turns” in my life. However, over the years and through the circumstances, I did turn my life over to the Lord. Bobo never lived to see how I turned out, or to see the result of her prayers in my life, but nevertheless, the results are there. They are there for others to see, and for the Lord to see.



As I look back over my life, I know that I desire to be like Bobo. I want to do the same for my grandchildren, and someday great grandchildren, as she did for me. I want to “tuck” them into the Lord’s love, as one of the last things I do, before I “retire” to my place in Heaven. I can only marvel at all the Lord has done through one woman’s prayers. I pray that each one of you will be inspired deeply, just as I have been, to pray for those whom the Lord has entrusted to you. You know who they are, and you know what to do.



Today I pray that you will be encouraged, just as I am now, to continue on in the legacy that has been “built” before us, the legacy of love and of prayer. Perhaps you didn’t know your great Grandma, or maybe she wasn’t a praying one, like Bobo was. That is the one of the greatest gifts in all of this, is that it truly doesn’t matter. Now that I have shared Bobo with all of you, you are able to “see” the example that she has set, not only for me, but for all of us. All of this is only one of the ways that the Lord causes us to bear good fruit, and to cause the good fruit that we have labored for to multiply, and to touch others and to use it for good in their lives.



There is no way that Bobo could have ever known that one day I would be sharing all of this. Again, that is the beauty of what the Lord does and will continue to do in our own lives, if we are faithful to do what He has called us to do. He will always remain true to Himself, and to do whatever it is that He has promised.



In ending, I would like to leave you with these verses from Ephesians 3: 20 and 21 from the Amplified Bible: “Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the (action of His ) power that is at work within us, is able to (carry out His purpose and) do superabundantly, far over and above all that we (dare) ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams). V.21 To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).



Written by Beverley A. Napier