Today’s blog is a tribute to a very special woman, Roberta Brown. Ms. Brown wrote for our Grace In The Wilderness newsletter for a number of years. She went to be with Jesus this morning. We love you and will miss you so much, Ms. Roberta!

Roberta leaves behind a rich legacy of faith, love and sharing the good news of Christ. The seeds she has planted will grow on and on. Enjoy her article from November 2012—An Uncloudy Day. It speaks for itself.

“My Grandma Perkins was such an inspiration in my life. I know we all think our grandmothers are the best ever.

Well, mine definitely was the most courageous, loving and humble woman I’ve ever known in my life. She raised six daughters and one son, mostly by herself. We lived far up on a mountain in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia in a small cabin. We had no bathroom, no running water and nothing else to speak of, not even the necessities of life. Back then, there was no welfare, no food stamps. And if they had been available, she probably would not have taken them.

At this time, our country was in the middle of a depression. A war was raging. The poverty was rampant everywhere, especially up in the mountains where we lived.

My grandmother raised me from the time I was 18 months old until I was 5. This was after my mother died at the age of 24.

This next part is not only embarrassing but very sad. Maybe I could have understood this if she was a bad woman. But everyone that ever had the pleasure of knowing this special woman loved her. I, and everyone else, would say we never heard her complain or say an unkind word about anyone.

Now back to the sad part. One day when all seven of her children were small, my grandpa went to the store and never returned until years later when he came back for a “visit”.

My dad had gone up north and worked, saved every dime he could and then came back to Virginia and bought and operated his own country store. He sold everything anyone would call for and he would credit them a year at a time until they sold their tobacco crops. He had known nothing but poverty so he said he wanted to give back as he had been blessed with making money with only a third grade education.

I had to go live with my dad and my new stepmother. They had married in 1948. Grandma Perkins was allowed to visit us any time. When she could, she would come, stay a week and then go home. Needless to say each time she left to go home, my heart and hers were broken all over again. However, I looked forward to her visits.

If I had been left with nothing to speak of and seven children, four of whom I had to bury in their twenties (one being my mother), I just know I would have lost it completely, but not her. There was something special about this woman.

She and my grandpa’s sister, who was our neighbor, worked from sun up until sun down in the fields and also doing cooking and cleaning, etc. That little cabin was void of most necessities but filled with an abundance of love.

Now back to my grandpa. I get all choked up when I think of how he just left her and his children. Years later he dropped by our store and asked my dad if he could take my picture. It was then that we found out that he had hitched a train and chased his dream of being a professional photographer.

My dad allowed him to take my picture. I was seven or eight at the time. He had this large camera on a stand and he put his head inside a black tent-like contraption. If I had been like him, I would have worn the black tent to hide my face. But he seemed proud that he was a photographer. After the picture was taken, he developed it right there and gave it to my dad. He didn’t even know that four of his children were dead in their twenties—sad but true.

Grandma had a cherry tree in her front yard. Every Spring it was a bright crimson red as it was always covered with cherries. I can see myself about three or four years old when I was still living with her. I was sitting on the front step with my cotton stockings and high-top shoes, Little-House-on-the-Prairie style. As she gingerly put her cherries in her basket, all the while she would sing so loudly that the neighbors could hear her. She sang, “O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies, O they tell me of a home far away; O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise, O they tell me of an uncloudy day.”

I didn’t have a clue what those words meant until I became a woman, a Christian woman. Every time I remember my grandmother, I think of all the trials she went through, and mostly alone except for her Lord and Savior.

Now when I’m down and feel like I can’t make it, I remember Psalm 90:10 as it tells us we are blessed for the length of years we have. I realize that this precious woman was really blessed as she lived to be 91 years old and never was in a hospital until she passed away. My grandmother is in a place where there are no cloudy days and no storm clouds rise. This lets me know that if she can make it, anyone can. Praise my Savior! One day I will be there too … where there are uncloudy days.”

Dear Lord: Thank You for the promise of an uncloudy day. We know that Ms. Roberta is experiencing that sweet day now with You and her loved ones who are already there. Please comfort her family and friends in the days ahead. Please shower them with Your love. And may sweet memories and the promise of a happy reunion one day bring peace that passes all understanding. On our darkest days, may we all look to that uncloudy day as Ms. Roberta did. Amen

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.  Psalm 90:10

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. Revelation 21:10-11

The Uncloudy Day. Written and sung by Willie Nelson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK6DRnWGBCQ

Please share your experiences and thoughts to encourage our readers, and please pray for this dear family.

Thank you for reading and sharing the blogpost today. May we continue our climb and to walk in the light of His face until at last we reach the land of cloudless days.