Between the Lines

Historically the headliners in genealogies have been men rather than women, but as is true with the numbers of all genealogies, we can read between the lines.

While still studying my father’s ancestry, several memorable bits of information have come to light. My great-grandmother, Anna Stina Johansdotter, lived an interesting and full life, though she certainly had her share of woe. Born in 1827, she willingly married a man 8 years her senior who was already a widower with two children under 5 years old. He needed a new wife, and Anna Stina committed to him, eventually giving him 6 more children.

According to genealogy birth and death dates, though, her first daughter died one month before her first birthday, and her fifth child, a son, died shortly after delivery. Such heartbreak surely drove her to the Lord for sustenance and encouragement, but do we know for sure?

Of her 4 remaining biological children, 3 left Sweden for America in their late teens/early 20’s, knowing they’d probably never return. Surely this, too, was difficult for Anna Stina. But God blessed her with 8 grandchildren through her step-daughter alone, all of whom remained close-by.

Death notice, Anna Stina

Her husband, Johannes Andersson, died after just 24 years of marriage, leaving Anna Stina a widow for 31 years. We get a glimpse into the heart of this strong woman, though, by reading her death notice, translated from Swedish:

…that our dearly loved mother, Anna Stina Johansdotter in Hol Berget, after patiently bearing suffering, peacefully went to sleep with her faith in her Savior, Nov. 13, 1913, at an age of 86 years, 1 month and 24 days, deeply mourned and missed by children, grandchildren and many other relatives and friends. It is our sad duty to make this known.    

In the words of her obituary we see how she was able to cope: it was her Savior. Her personal Savior. His name was Jesus Christ, and she trusted him in life, in death(s), in disappointment, and through her own final illness.

Carl Johansson and bride, 1898

And so the journey through my father’s father’s father’s father’s side of our family ends, though much more could be told. To see God’s maneuvering of events and relationships in order to walk alongside them was deeply satisfying. And it’s something he eagerly does for anyone willing to let him be involved.

Linking up with the Father, Son, and Spirit didn’t guarantee my ancestors worldly prosperity or protection from hardship, but it did promise both prosperity and protection in the living they would do after dying.

Today all of them have taken delivery of those things. No more babies dying. No more children leaving without returning. No more youthful widowhood, no hardscrabble lives. Because they lived with the Savior back then, now they’ll live with him forevermore.

“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8)

Spirit-filled Ancestors

All of us have heard testimonies of people with difficult pasts who’ve somehow, against all odds, turned their lives around. They might have had a history of dreadful choices or even a rap sheet a mile long, but for many of them the turnaround came after connecting with Christ.

As often as not, their testimonies include a statement like this: “My grandmother prayed for me for decades, and God finally answered.”

If we could piece together our family trees for many generations back, all of us would probably find that God’s representatives had been placed in strategic places all along, to pray for their families. Some even prayed for “those yet unborn,” which would include us.

My sister has done an excellent job as our “Family Historian,” keeping memorabilia safe and well categorized in labeled storage bins. She’s amassed everything from diplomas and photographs to wedding gowns, jewelry, infant-wear, and letters.

Ancestor albums

Several years ago a family friend, Sally, offered to go through Mary’s bins and condense everything into two 9” x 12” albums, one for Dad’s side of the family and one for Mom’s. She scanned or photographed everything so that even bulky items morphed into crisp, flat notebook pages. She also typed up old hand-written letters, some over 100 years old, to place alongside originals, which in some cases included translations from other languages.

Sally also added official census records rewritten from hard-to-read official documents to legible charts. These pages take account of birth dates and all known addresses, emigration and immigration dates, occupations, marriages, children’s birth and death dates, causes of death where known, burial locations, and an all-inclusive family tree.

Recently I’ve spent time with my distant relatives via these two family albums, going on a hunt for God-sightings through the 5 generations represented. And what I learned is God establishes his Spirit somewhere in every family tree.

Youthful Carl Johansson

For example, my paternal grandfather (Carl Johan Johansson) came to America in 1886 as a 19 year old laborer with a homemade wooden box of tools, and he brought Jesus Christ with him. By the end of his 68 years, he’d married, fathered four children, had become a building contractor and finally the vice president of a Chicago bank. He died 10 years before I was born, so we never met, except through these albums.

Taking in the details of his life, which of course include my own father’s 1899 birth, has been a satisfying exercise that’s made me grateful for God’s involvement in this “old world” family, my family. Sally’s charted numbers have told a non-numerical story of personal lows and highs similar to the lives of today’s families. And God is in the details.

Older Carl Johansson (Johnson)

But most importantly, when Carl Johannson’s death date had been written into the record books, God’s Spirit lived on within him.

(Tomorrow: the life he lived)

“Remember your Creator… before the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)

Memories are made of this.

  • 3 cousinsMake new friends,
  • And keep the old.
  • The one is silver
  • And the other gold.

The week just past has been golden. My sister and I are close-in-heart to three cousins (Gloria, Patti, and Jan) who live 2000 miles away. In addition to being our relatives, they’re also our friends. Old friends, gold friends, of 60+ years. And they were just here for a visit.

In the last few days we’ve shared one adventure after another. For people our ages, ordinary living can escalate into excitement without too much trouble. Take electronic tasks, for example. Buying tickets on line, hooking a computer to a TV, and transferring photos electronically all led to good memory-making and sometimes even success.

Electronic wizardsBattling file transfers

Throughout the week we’ve been stockpiling memories, not because we’ve spent lots of money, filled the agenda with events, or pursued unique thrills. All we did was come together with a loose plan to learn the latest about each other.

Anyone can successfully make good memories with relatives or friends if they’re willing to do two things: spend time and expend effort. If we expect to grow closer to our favorite people, we have to commit to those two things.

This is true even with God.

If we want to steadily become closer to him as a Friend and Relative and make fresh memories with him, it requires the expense of time and our making the effort.

Gloria, Jan, and Patti put forth a major effort to travel across the country for this visit: clearing busy schedules, making arrangements to be absent from their homes, paying for plane tickets, and adjusting to the changes of three time zones. Mary and I do the same when we visit them in California. Are these memory-making trips worth it? All 5 of us nod simultaneously.

Pedestal

The loftier question is how much arranging and adjusting are we willing to do to make fresh memories with God? Are we content to merely put him on a pedestal and worship from a distance? Or are we so excited about his invitation to be his friend that we’re willing to carve out time and make a wholehearted effort to pursue that?

Gloria, Jan, and Patti left for their homes today, and after a week together, we’re now up-to-date all-around. Our memory banks are full with new understanding of what each is thinking and what specific challenges each is facing. During scores of hours we shared our hearts with one another, which included current hopes and dreams. As a result, now that we have all the new info, each of us knows how to better connect with the others, as well as how to pray more effectively.

Cousins

But are we just as eager to connect with God on such an intimate level? He’s got the time and will make the effort, if we will. And when we’re willing, the result will be pure gold.

“A friend loves at all times.” (Proverbs 17:17)