Faith, Hope, & Love: An Inspirational Story of My Nana and Our Journey Together

Twenty years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery only to find that I was left completely blind.

And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you.

Because, friend, if you are still searching for your purpose, still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right path to take, well, consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

What's up, my friend, and welcome to episode number 200 here on Grit Grayson Inspiration.

Oh my goodness, I am so glad to have you here today.

In case this is your first time, my name is Kevin Lowe, host of the podcast, as well as a transformation coach.

But for my old timers, guys, welcome back.

We did it, we made it, we are at episode number 200.

Now, there was a lot of pressure for today's episode.

A lot of pressure on what to do, how to celebrate, how do I kick off the 200s?

And well, a lot of ideas started floating around.

A lot of good ideas, a lot of bad ideas.

And then there was the idea, the one idea, the thing that had to happen.

Now, some of those good ideas, well, they were to invite somebody awesome onto the podcast.

Some celebrities, some people who I admire, some people who I follow, some people who I would love to have on this podcast one day, people like Tim Tebow, people like country artist Granger Smith and his wife Amber Smith, who I followed their YouTube channel and love them, or maybe somebody else big.

I don't know who it would be, but somebody, somebody huge, somebody who would be worthy of having on for episode number 200.

But then I started thinking who really would matter?

Who really matters to me?

What really would make this something special?

Because even though I think Tim Tebow is awesome and would love to have him on the show, even though I think Granger Smith and his wife Amber Smith are amazing, the fact of the matter is, is that they don't know me.

I don't really know them.

So what does it really matter?

And that's when the only choice became crystal clear.

And that was a woman who has had one of the greatest impacts on my life of any person I know.

A woman who cares about her family more than she cares about herself.

A woman who is absolutely incredible, a woman who I am blessed to call Nana.

Yes, I have my grandmother, my mom's mom, my Nana here on the podcast today.

I have her on to share a little bit about her, but more so to share about me and her's relationship.

Because, well, I have been lucky enough to get to go from being just a grandson, having a relationship with his grandmother, to me becoming best friends with my nana.

She's literally a woman who I call every single night, somewhere between 7:30 and 8.

Yes, I know her schedule and I know the best time to call her.

And I talk to her, filling each other in on what's happening that day, maybe hearing what's going on with her favorite soap opera, or just to simply say hello and I love you.

It can be as simple as that.

And today, I am so excited that you're gonna get to hear from her.

Going to get to hear her story, but more so our story.

And well, I just am beyond blessed to get to bring that to you today.

And I hope you enjoy it, I hope you love it, but more than anything else, I hope that it maybe inspires you to look at the relationships you have in your life, to look at your family members, not just as family members, but as friends.

Because I can tell you one thing there is no greater gift in this world than to get to become best friends with your family members.

And that's a blessing that I have been blessed with, and I am so thankful for it.

And I hope and pray that you can experience that for yourself.

Now, before we get to that interview with Nana, real quick, I do want to remind you if you are interested in my free event happening on July 17th called Blossom and Arise, registration is open.

All you have to do is head on over to gritgraceinspiration.com slash challenge.

That link is inside of today's show notes where you can sign up for free.

It's a five-day event designed to help you to create, to embrace, and ultimately step into your next best chapter of life.

Remember, link is in the show notes, or just head on over to the website grantgraceinspiration.com slash challenge.

With that said, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the woman of the hour, none other than Nana.

Nana, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you.

I'm glad to be here.

Oh, are you really glad to be here?

No, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_00: I love it.

I love it.

Well, well, Nana, first question for you.

I would love for you to share with my listeners what was your reaction when I called you to ask if you would be the guest on today's 200th episode.

SPEAKER_03: No.

Why would you possibly want me to be on your podcast?

I don't think I have anything really to say.

SPEAKER_00: And why why do you feel like that, Nan?

SPEAKER_03: Well, all I've ever done is take care of kids.

So if you want to hear about that, I can tell you how to do that.

SPEAKER_00: Well, well about it.

Well, amazing.

Well, well, people, I promise it will be more exciting than just talking about taking care of kids.

So, um, well, Nana, I mean, my reason for having you on is as I told you that night, is that there's no one that's had a more impactful place in my life than you.

And one of the biggest things that you've done for me is that you brought me to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

And I want to get to that story later, but for right now, I'm kind of curious if you would take me back and let me understand how did you begin your faith journey?

How did that begin?

Did you grow up going to church all the time?

How how did that begin for you?

SPEAKER_03: No, I really didn't start until I was about 10 years old.

And we had some uh, they they actually had a church come into that the area where I lived.

It was in a little old house, crouched the railroad tracks, and I decided to go over there.

I I don't remember my whether my mother went first or whether my brothers and sisters, but I know I went.

And it was there that I came to know Jesus as my Savior.

And uh it really impacted me and made an impression for the rest of my life.

I mean, God has always been there with me, and uh, Jesus has always been there.

And um, you know, it started there, and my faith is probably, no, I won't even say probably, is number one in my life.

Because without faith, you can't move forward.

And I it just made it made it so good when that little church, East Side Baptist Church in Douglas, Georgia, moved to my area and I was able to just walk there.

And um, I went to Bible school there, I went to Sunday school, I was involved in the church, and eventually my mother, my father, and my brothers and sisters all were too.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03: So it it was really a family church back then.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, that's pretty special.

Not only the fact that that you did, but you really got your whole family involved.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, yes.

Yes.

All of us were deeply involved in the church for many, many years.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.

Well, well, that's amazing.

Well, well, while we're kind of talking about your your childhood, I I thought it was kind of only only fitting since I'm sitting here with you, my grandmother.

I wanted to ask you, is there any stories that you can think of about like your grandparents that that you could share with me, just uh, you know, whether of just a funny story or something about them, or maybe even just what your kind of relationship was like with your grandparents?

SPEAKER_03: My mother's father and mother were deeply religious people.

I was very, very close to my grandfather.

He was one of my heroes.

He was really good to us.

Stern man, but very good.

Now, on my father's side, his father died when I was very young.

I don't remember how young, but I was young.

His mother, though, was always there, always cooking, always taking care of us.

And they didn't have any money, never had a dime.

But when we would go visit, she would take an old cold biscuit, stick her finger in it, fill it up with either some kind of old cane syrup or sugar.

That was the best treat we ever had to this day.

But I I tried doing it a couple of years ago.

I thought, I'm gonna see if that'd be any good today.

No, don't even go there.

SPEAKER_00: That's so funny.

Now, what what did you call your grandparents?

Like, I call you Nana and then you know Papa.

SPEAKER_03: Well, uh Daddy's was Papa and Little Granny.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

SPEAKER_03: And uh the other was granddaddy and and grandma.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: So granny, granny.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: Nobody I knew had nanas.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

SPEAKER_03: Or anything back then.

SPEAKER_00: Why did you have us call you Nana and not Granny?

SPEAKER_03: I didn't like Granny.

That that sounded old.

I didn't want to.

I didn't want to sound too old.

I said, let's let's do granny and papa.

That sounds better.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is so funny, so funny.

Now, now, would you say, like, did you get to spend a lot of time with your grandparents?

SPEAKER_03: Yes, I did.

Some of the best times of my growing up years was going out to my little grannies and all my cousins every Sunday, they all got together at her house and they cooked, and that was just a wonderful time.

We had to eat and shifts at her, she had a little bitty house.

All the um men got to eat first, then us children, and then the women would come in and eat whatever was left over after all of us got through.

But we had the best times out there, and then they'd split open a watermelon and give us all a spoon.

They'd never thought to slice it, I guess.

But give us all a spoon, and we'd all get a big spoonful of watermelon.

That was our dessert.

And uh, and then my other grandparents, they lived in town.

I spit, I almost every day after school, I went over there just to see them, say hello, hello.

I loved them dearly.

All both sets of my grandparents were wonderful.

I just had real good memories, good times with them, and with my cousins too.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.

Oh my goodness.

So, something that you tell a lot of people, you you you you referenced it earlier at the beginning about you just raising children, is you you often tell people that that you've been raising kids all your life.

And I I would love for you to expand on that.

What do you mean when you tell people you've been raising kids all your life?

SPEAKER_03: Well, one of my earliest memories is sitting on a porch rocking my sister in a little rocking chair while my mother took lunch to my father.

And I was only, I forget about two years older, three years older than her.

I've just took care of kids all my life.

I took care of all my brothers and sisters.

I mean, by taking care of them, I mean, I would uh sit with them, play with them, do things just to make sure that, you know, they were do they were okay.

And I had two brothers and two sisters.

And so, you know, I I helped my mother with the kids and the housework too.

And uh we all we did.

That that was expected back then.

You were supposed to help.

When my kids were born, I mean, I took care of them.

I've I've said, would my husband have changed a diaper?

Yeah, but I never even thought to ask him what was my job.

Yeah, so I raised my kids, then my kids started having kids, and I just jumped in with them, helping to raise them, take care of them, while my daughters or um whatever worked.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: So I've I've always hang here, kids, and I feel like that's what I was born to do.

I was born to be here to help take care of children.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: And I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to do that.

And my husband, by working and making enough money to support us, I don't mean in abundance, but but it we may do with it so I could stay home and take care of my children and my grandchildren.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: So I just feel like that's what God put me on this earth for was to take care of my children and the children in my family.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, well, I must say I think you've done a mighty fine job of it, Nan.

SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you very much.

I hope so.

SPEAKER_00: Well, well, so uh getting back to to kind of the the faith aspect of of your life, there was a time period, I think it was when I had just started middle school.

So I was in sixth grade, and I remember mom would drop me off at your house every morning on her way to work.

And uh I loved it because you made me the best breakfasts ever.

Do you remember you do you remember some of the breakfasts that you would make for me?

SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, I'm sure I made you plenty of uh pancakes, French toast, whatever you said you wanted, you got.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my favorite, I think, was the uh was either your homemade fried donuts.

SPEAKER_03: Oh yes.

I made a plenty of them out of biscuits now.

We just don't get too.

Open that can of biscuits, stick a hole in it, fry them up, and Kevin was in hell.

SPEAKER_00: Yep, I can remember always eating breakfast at your table and we'd be watching the Today show.

Oh, yes.

Um, you know, and before before it was time to end the fun and have to go on to middle school.

But there was a period during that time when I remember I had to help you study.

You used to always would would help me study for that quiz or anything happened in that day.

But there was a time period when when I had to help you study for a program you had signed up for at church called called Faith.

Yes.

Tell me about that and what made you sign up for that program?

SPEAKER_03: God.

It was because I had no intentions whatsoever of doing that, because it I it just made me nervous to think about it because we had to do it, and then we went out visiting people and used what we had learned.

And I thought, uh uh, I can't do that.

But when they had the people come forward at church to sign up, I'm telling you, I felt God just pull me.

I could not sit still.

I had to get up and go front to the front and say, I will do this.

I had always wanted to be able to share my faith better.

And this was one great program at that time.

And every morning Kevin would come over, and especially the day where I had to go, I think it was on Wednesdays that I had to go and do the presentation and go out and visit people and stuff like that.

And so Kevin said, Well, I'll help you.

You help me, I'll help you.

So he started working with me every morning.

We would work on that because I would learn the Bible verses, learn how to present it.

Our pastor at that time had actually helped write the pamphlet that we were using to go by.

So anyway, Kevin was just, I kept watching him every week, week after week.

I forget how long it was, probably about a six-week program, but I'm not sure.

But every time we did it, I would watch Kevin.

And finally one day, I just felt it's time.

And I looked over at him, and I'll cry now, but I looked over at Kevin and I said, Kevin, would you like to accept Jesus as your savior?

And he just said, Yes.

He was ready.

And I presented it to him just like it was supposed to be presented.

And Kevin accepted Jesus as his savior.

And that has been one of the most wonderful things in my life that I led my grandson to the Lord.

And he was ready.

And ever since then, I can truly tell you he's been a man of faith.

With all he's gone through, he's turned to God.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.

And I I said it's it's the greatest gift that I was ever given, especially knowing then what was to come only a few short years later, when I became blind.

And and that kind of leads me to that part of the story, because I feel like when when I found out that I had a brain tumor, then went in for that surgery, and kind of the whole world kind of quit spinning in an essence when when I awoke to be left blind.

I feel like at that point, I feel like our relationship had an opportunity to kind of even blossom because here I was, I a teenager, living a normal, you know, teenage life, high school, work at Publix, you know, enjoying time with my friends.

And now we've had the unthinkable happen.

And I'm now finding myself kind of back hanging out with Nana every day.

But but before we get to the after part, do you remember the day that mom came and told you that she got the results that I had a brain tumor?

SPEAKER_03: Yes, in a way.

And I and I just thought, can't be, can't be.

But it was.

But God had even planned on all that.

We've we've always said that if anybody in our family had to have this happen, Kevin is who God would have said, because he has the strongest faith of any of us.

I can tell you, I have faith, and it's grown tremendously.

But Kevin had a stronger faith from the beginning.

Knowing that that he had this brain tumor, well, none of us thought it was going to be what it was, where he turned out to be blind and have so many health problems, even then.

But we had faith that we were going to be all right because we were a family.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: And we were going to get through this.

But the day I knew that he was going to be okay, I was in his room and I think his mother had come in to uh take her turn.

And uh I been over, of course, and kissed him and said, told him bye.

And he said, bye, goat.

And I just burst out crying because he had always called me goat.

And he had not said that, even knew, acted like he knew who I was until that moment.

And I came out just bawling and said, he's going to be okay.

Kevin's going to be all right now.

Because I know if he calls me goat, he's okay.

That was a really bad experience.

But we're so thankful for the doctors and the nurses and all over in that hospital.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Arnold Palmer.

Yes.

Yes.

SPEAKER_03: Because they just took great care of him and they worked with us.

We were not even supposed to be back there, but they would let us take turns because somebody had to keep him from pulling all the wires out of him.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: And uh we would do that.

We'd do anything to take care of him.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.

Well, and and for a little bit of context, I had this brain tumor.

So had the brain tumor removed, and basically nothing had really gone right after that.

Had a lot of issues with my sodium levels, apparently were were had gone haywire, which turned me in the my family says to the incredible Hulk.

Yes.

And also kind of caused me to lose my mind.

That's why I was using Nana's finger as a toothbrush at times.

And so my family has so many funny stories of me while I was totally out of my mind for two weeks in the uh ICU.

There's still things that we reminisce about now, gosh, almost 20 years later.

I kind of referenced uh a little bit ago about how, you know, after becoming blind, I had, you know, obviously there was more than just blindness.

There were many medical issues.

And so during this time, you know, I would come to your house and for you to really be there to help really take care of me.

And I would end up not going back to school at all for my junior year of high school, eventually would make it back for the start of my senior year of high school.

But during this time, we had uh three women, teachers through a hospital homebound who would come to the house.

One who taught me my school subjects, one who taught me how to uh read Braille, another one who taught me how to, you know, uh get around with a cane and all that.

Those three women, I know that they hold a special place in your heart.

Would you mind sharing a little bit about those three teachers?

SPEAKER_03: They did.

If it had not been for them, I don't know, because Kevin did have down times where he was depressed.

And the fact that he couldn't go back to school, he couldn't drive, he couldn't do the normal things would at times get to him, even though Kevin is a very uplifted person and he uplifts all of us, but he would get down.

But the fact that he had them come and work with him, he had short-time memory loss.

And so it was hard.

Sometimes they would one would come in and we would go over something.

By the time they walked to the door, he had already forgot it.

But then I would work with him to get him through so he would be ready the next time and try to help and get that done.

Because I knew for his state of mind, that meant a lot to him.

And it had to be done for his own stability.

And so those three women know they hold a special place in my heart as well as his.

They were there, they helped us.

They not only helped Kevin, they helped me.

While they were helping him, if he wasn't getting something, I was like, oh gosh, what am I gonna do now?

They would look at me across that table and give me the look of knowing that we're gonna work on this, we're gonna get it, don't worry, he's gonna be fine.

And I would rely on that.

And those three women, I will always ask God to bless them because they were very special women in our life during that time.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I I agree a hundred percent.

Another person very special during this time that that I want to draw applause to for a different reason than the teachers was you.

And that was the fact that you brought so much joy and humor and fun to my life.

But at a time, and and I mean, I'm not talking just right after becoming blind, I'm talking about for years after.

Life was really hard.

And I got to spend a lot of time with Nana, and we got to do a lot of cool, fun, crazy stuff that Nana would come up with.

And Nana, do you remember times when you thought it was fun, like to hide from me or stuff like that?

SPEAKER_03: Oh, you shouldn't tell people that.

Yes.

Oh, I just I wanted him to laugh and have fun.

And I would do anything, just crazy thing.

But we would say, okay, Kev, we're gonna go now to the grocery store.

You get ready, and then I'd go hide.

Like I might get on my bed and just be real, real quiet.

And then he'd come, Nana, Nana.

Well, he didn't even really use a cane much then.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: You know, more than he had to.

And I wouldn't answer him.

I would not answer him.

And then when he'd get in my room, I'd slide off the bed onto the floor and slip into the hall and get down the hall.

And he's still, he's hunting me.

He's got that cane or whatever he can find going.

Now, where are you?

And I was just dying laughing.

SPEAKER_00: And and I'd hear her, I'd hear her slide off that bed.

And then all of a sudden, I remember one day I heard that bed creak and she's getting off the bed.

And so then all of a sudden I feel her pass by me, crawling on her hands and knees.

And then I hear her hit that wood floor and take off running.

And I remember then I thought to myself, I'm like, if anybody dared walk in and seen the two of us, they probably would have sent us to the loony bin.

SPEAKER_03: No.

But we laughed.

I mean, we've had we had so much fun.

We did so many fun things.

We went to Walmart one day and came out.

It was pouring rain.

I couldn't find the car.

We're walking all over the parking lot in the rain, him holding on to me, me trying to find the car, and I kept hitting the button, hitting the button.

I said, Kevin, the button's not working.

Well, it was working.

The door was going doop, doop, doop, doop.

You know, except I just couldn't find it.

Father Kevin says, I hear it.

And so we finally got up there.

SPEAKER_00: No, I mean, it was literally the middle of a torrential downpour.

SPEAKER_03: It was.

It wasn't just rain, it was a storm.

SPEAKER_00: And I believe at that moment, I literally said to myself, I wonder if my mom really knows who she's leaving me in care of, you know?

I mean, because I really don't know that this woman's qualified, you know.

SPEAKER_03: But we laughed.

I mean, everything we did, we laughed.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: We would take, I'd take off.

I'd go anywhere with him, anywhere he thought he might want to go.

He wanted to go up to Palm Coast and look for shirts sometimes, because he had a hard time finding shirts.

Well, I never went anywhere at Ormond Beach.

I didn't drive anywhere.

Okay, let's go.

We'd take off, and Kevin would kind of tell me where to go.

He had such a good sense of direction.

SPEAKER_00: I think the worst thing, Ann, was when you would take me to blind school and you'd get lost.

And I'd have to be the one to tell you how to re course correct and get us back on the right path.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, I know I'd get lost.

When I if I hit, came back and hit um, oh, that flight school, Emory Riddle, I'd say, Kevin, I'm in Emory Riddle.

We've come too far.

Yeah.

So he'd tell me, turn around, go back.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Always trying to calm you down.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, always.

And we're laughing.

And I'm going, Kevin, I don't know what to do.

Kevin, I don't know what to do.

We he even took me to see the manatees over in Blue Springs.

He took me now.

You got that, I hope.

Because he had always promised me when he was a young boy that he was going to take me to see the manatees because I didn't get to go on his school trip that they went.

I went on all his school trips.

But that when his dad went, and I was pretty upset.

And so he says, okay, now I'm going to take you to Blue Springs so you can see the manatees.

Well, little did I, because I tried to act like I was brave, but I was scared to death because I thought I will never be able to find that place.

Well, he led me straight there.

One time I turned the wrong way, and he immediately caught it.

And said, Nana, you turned the wrong way.

You turn right, you're supposed to go left.

So I turned around, went back.

We got over there, visited with those manatees for a while, and came back home.

With him, I felt fearless.

I always felt fearless with Kevin and had so much fun.

I cannot even begin to tell anybody the fun we have.

Even to this day, if I'm feeling down, Kevin's the one I'll call.

And his mother knows that how much he entertains me, and she'll bring him over if I'm feeling sad about anything.

And say, Kevin, you need to stay with Nana for a while.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: And our relationship is not only grandson and grandmother, his friend.

I feel like a true friend of his, and he's a true friend of mine.

And we work together to make the other one's life better.

You know, and I don't know, that's just what I feel like God put me on this earth to do was take care of all these children, these grandchildren, and my children, and then be there if they needed me.

And I I hope and pray that they realize I have been and it's what I wanted to do.

It was not out of necessity, it was because I wanted to do it.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Well, Nana, you're a pretty amazing woman, not just as my grandmother, but just as a woman in general.

And and you may think that that your purpose, you know, maybe was just raising children and whatever.

Well, I can tell you this much is that you mean a lot to a whole lot of people, not just your grandchildren, not just your children.

You're an amazing woman.

And that's exactly why you were the one to be on today's episode.

As I said at the beginning, no one has had a greater impact on my life simply by the fact that you brought me to know Jesus.

Nana, it it means the world to me to have you here today.

And I just want to thank you so much for stepping outside of your comfort zone and uh getting inside of the studio with me today.

I love you so much.

SPEAKER_03: I love you.