Is it Possible to Change Lives Without Leaving Home?

Image by Yerson Retamal from Pixabay 

AUDIO LETTER

Is it possible to change lives without leaving home_

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WHEN THE PHONE RANG every Friday afternoon promptly at 4:00 pm, I always knew who would be on the other end, though I often had to strain to hear her.

“Hello, dearie!” came the soft voice, pausing to pull air into her lungs. “I know you’re busy, but how are all the children? And you and Pastor? How may I pray for you this week?’

Now well into her 80’s, the caller was simply known as “Grandma Sue.” Other than Pat, her loving daughter-in-law with whom she lived, Sue had no relatives in our 150-year-old church on Cape Cod. Congestive heart failure and failing eyesight prevented her from attending weekly services, yet practically everyone in the congregation knew Sue.

Or knew of her. Fragile health usually kept Sue at home, but her fervent ministry of intercessory prayer kept her connected to the life of our active church.

My husband and I had five teenagers at home at the time.  Monitoring their many needs and myriad of activities along with caring for our church family left us exhausted. When Sue would call, I’d slump in relief against the kitchen wall, treasuring the conversation that I knew would soon be interrupted.

Always sensitive to the frenzied pace of our lives, Sue would brush off inquiries about her own health in order to focus on our family’s needs. Since her eyesight was deteriorating, Sue wouldn’t write down prayer concerns but rather committed them to memory. In her Friday call the following week, she would follow up on each item I’d mentioned, never forgetting a single detail. Each call ended the same way, with Sue exclaiming, “Oodles of love!”

Those regular prayer-calls were a lifeline to a pastor’s family who couldn’t keep up with the many demands upon our lives.  We were stretched in every conceivable direction, but Sue’s faithful prayers lifted us up to the one place we most needed to be —the throne of God.

“How fortunate we are to have someone in our church family like Sue!” I would comment to my husband. “How many pastors have a member who dedicates themselves to praying for their family?”

But the day came when Sue’s weakened heart would no longer support her unflagging spirit. Just as we had often visited Sue at her home, we kept vigil with Pat at Cape Cod Hospital as Sue’s breathing grew increasingly labored. Now nearly blind, Sue could not focus on our presence, but it was obvious she continued to keep company with the God who had been her lifelong companion.

When the call came that Grandma Sue had gone to be with the one whom she loved and served, our teens cried with us.

“Can we skip school and come to her funeral?” one asked. “She hadn’t been to church in so long. There might not be many people at her service who really knew her anymore. We want to be there for her.”

Permission granted. Our family of seven would fill an entire pew in remembrance of the woman who had been an honorary grandmother and, even more importantly, our personal prayer warrior.

We were surprised, then, to see the sanctuary begin to fill and then swell to several hundred in attendance by the time the service began.  After Sue’s favorite hymns and the gospel message she had asked my husband to give, he lifted the microphone from its stand and invited anyone who wanted to share a memory of Sue to come forward.

The steady stream of people resembled an altar call. One after the other, church members, neighbors, and friends stepped up to the mic to pay tribute to the woman whom they, too, called “Grandma Sue.”

“She prayed for me every Monday.”

“I always looked forward to Thursdays when Grandma Sue would call to ask me how she could pray for us.”

“Saturdays were when we always talked to Sue. She was like our prayer-grandmother!”

Astonished, members of the congregation gazed at one another. Unknown to any of us, the little lady shut in at home with macular degeneration and congestive heart failure had the most far-reaching ministry of anyone in our church. Each of us thought that we were the only ones Sue prayed for, while in reality she had hundreds on her list.

Only God knows how many lives were changed because of the persistent intercession of one faithful, loving woman. The telephone was her ministry tool. Prayer was her superpower. 

And all of Sue’s calls concluded in the same way: “Oodles of love!”

IN MEMORY OF SUE LANGLEY, 1919-1998

IT"S YOUR TURN ~ Have you had someone in your life whose prayers have sustained you? Please honor them by leaving a comment below.

• "Changing Lives Without Leaving Home" by Maggie W. Rowe will appear in the upcoming collaborative gift book Moments of Grace for Women releasing summer 2025, from Christian Art Gifts.