Happy Birthday Anna!

1 John 4:4

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Today I am thinking about my friend, Anna, one of the most courageous women I know. Now she is not the kind of courageous that stands up to armed gunmen, though that is definitely courageous. She has never run into a burning building to save a child, though that would be very courageous. No, she is not even the courageous woman who would jump into a pool to save someone (she could not swim).

No, Anna epitomizes what I call a kind of ‘common sense’ courageous. She was just a young girl in Poland when her Mom died leaving an older sister who would take the place of her Mother, when her Dad went to work. She also had a younger sister they both looked after. By the time Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 at the beginning of WWII, Anna was 14 years old. As a family they were mandated by law to place a list on the outside of their home describing who lived inside, including ages. One fateful day the gestapo came to their home and took the girls. Each a different direction. Anna did not see her sisters or father after that day.

Her kidnappers took her to Germany. A farmer and his wife had no children and Anna became their housekeeper, cook and animal caregiver. Aparently this man was somebody important in the Natzi crime machine and he received special help. Anna was treated very well there. She became like a member of the family and always had food to eat and shelter. She cooked and cleaned for the family, and often did chores on the farm. One of the chores was collecting eggs from the chickens each day. On occasion the gestapo would stop by the farm to get their ‘cut’ of the eggs. When this would happen, there would not be enough eggs for the family and the help to have breakfast. Anna was not about to let this happen! One day when she knew they would be stopping by, she had already taken all but a few of the eggs into the home and hid them. Of course the gestapo realized there were more chickens than eggs and questioned this 14 year old girl. Quick on her feet with an answer she told them; “some of these are not chickens, but roosters, they do not lay eggs!” Now this one statement could have sent her straight to a concentration camp, or worse. What would make her do such a thing? Anna was a survivor! Since the gestapo did not know how to prover her wrong, they chuckled at themselves, grabbed the eggs and moved on. Anna continued doing that throughout her time on the farm. Very daring, but she chuckled as she told me.

That was how Anna survived many awful situations. Many she would not even speak of because the horror was to great for her to relive.

When the war finally ended she returned to Germany. She met and married a German man and they settled down to raise a family. Maybe things would be better now. Yet, her husband was determined to make a better life for them …in the USA! The two of them traveled to the US, with two young girls. They settled in NJ and rented an apartment. Money was very tight, so Anna would help out by making all the girls clothes, sewing for others, and even cleaning homes. She became very skilled at making friends who would like to help her. She took her family to church every Sunday, and always trusted that God would provide for them, and He always did.

At some point something like ‘welfare’ was given to immigrants from war torn areas. Anna took care of the family bills. She would get the ‘welfare’ of course. Then her neighbors would be very generous to her with food and sometimes clothes or shoes for the girls. Of course, her husband worked and got paid. One day, Anna told him it was time for them to get their own home. He questioned her about having enough money to buy a home. She said she had the money, and she did! She had been saving every penny she got from people, her job, and welfare living very frugally until she had enough saved to buy their American Dream home!

It was a home with 2 apartments. By this time a boy was birthed into the family, and the oldest daughter got married and moved into one of the apartments. Often the daughter and her husband struggled to pay the rent. Her husband wanted them to move if they could not pay. Anna, in her shrewd intelligence would give her daughter the money to pay the rent. When her daughter went to give it to her Dad to pay the rent, he could not take it from her! Once again Anna helped keep her family fed and sheltered.

Unfortunately, later in her life she was given a hard blow. Her husband passed away first. Then both her daughters died to cancer. She moved to PA, where I met her and became her friend and her Pastor’s wife. She lived with her son-in-law’s home in her own apartment. Later two granddaughters and a grandson died from drug related problems. Anna lived on! Then, her son-in-law died. She had to move into a nursing home. I wondered what made her so resilient after so much tragedy in her life. I asked her. Her one word…JESUS!

Anna would be celebrating her 96th Birthday in May. She went to be with her Jesus in 2019 at the age of 93. She was truly a remarkable human being and I learned so much from her, I will always be grateful for my Anna!

As we go through our own challenging times, let’s not forget, it’s only Jesus who will never leave us, and He will get us through.

Can I ask you; Is it Jesus you rely on when you are up against a struggle?