Memory Verse

“In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you!” (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Dear Grandchildren,

Something tells me that spring is just around the corner. The snow is disappearing, the air is mild, and the other day I heard birds singing as I walked to the mailbox. I felt like singing with the birds, praising our God for the warmer days ahead. Pretty soon, we’ll see flowers spring up from under the ground. Spring is always welcome no matter where you live, but especially in countries where winter months have to be endured and not enjoyed. Because of lack of proper clothing, food and heating, many people get dangerously sick, and many die.

It happened to our mother. We lived in the little hut that my mother built on the acre she managed to reclaim from her husband’s relatives. It was during the very cold winter months that, one day, after getting out of bed, my sister Olga and I were surprised to see our mother still asleep. She was up very early every day, so we didn’t know what to make of it. I was a little bit over five years old, and my sister was six.

When our mother didn’t get up for a long time, we began to cry. She asked us to place something cold on her head. She was so very hot that she felt like she was burning up. To try to cool her off, we held our hands to the cold wall and then placed them on our mother’s face. There was nothing in the house to eat, and it was very cold, because Mother was too sick to get up and make a fire in the stove.

There were neighbors who lived on the other side of our house. Whenever we had fire in the stove, they could tell that things were okay with us. But when they saw our house standing without smoke rising from the chimney, one man decided to come over and see what was going on. From then on he helped us a lot, and eventually this man married my mother. His name was Clemente Panasiuk.

After my mother recovered, she was weak for a very long time. It was that same year that we went to live in the orphanage. And it was that same year that my mother became a very devoted Christian. She always loved God, but she had never known before that Jesus could be her Savior. She believed on Him and gave up everything that she worshiped more than Jesus, for Jesus’ sake. She was willing to place us in an orphanage where they believed that Jesus is God.

After my mother brought us to the orphanage, she found work in Warsaw, not too far from Konstancin where we lived then. The new friend in Zaturcy where she built the little house looked after the hut and the ground. He planted wheat and rye in the field and saw to it that she got money from selling the grain.

My mother didn’t work in Warsaw very long—maybe a year or so, but while she was close to us, she came to visit in the orphanage quite often. She would have stayed longer at her job, but the neighbors began to make trouble for the man that was helping her out. She decided to go back and take over the responsibility herself.

My mother was a very brave woman, and no one could scare her when she knew she was doing right, not even her cruelest enemies. Her life was one struggle after another, and I don’t remember her telling us of any time that was easy for her.

When she was dying in Argentina in 1965, her last words were: “This life is so hard to live.” I was at her bedside when she died. She was 76 years old then. I guess it would be very hard to live if you were to make it all on your own, but we thank the Lord for our loved ones who care for us and make life easier for us to live. Aren’t you glad that you have such loving parents?

—Grandma Nadzia

Questions

1. Nadzia’s mother was so sick that she almost died. Have you ever been very sick? Do you know that in heaven you will never be sick or die?

2. What do you think about what Nadzia’s mother said at the end of her life? Do you think that sometimes this life is hard to live? How does God help us with the tough times?

3. Now that spring is coming, we start to think about new beginnings. Can you think how Jesus’s death and resurrection gave us a new life?