They called the young mother to say that her daughter was well enough to go home.  To their delight and surprise, the young mother told them she thought the baby would have a better life living with them than with her.  She made it clear, however, that she was not abandoning the child; the young mother was adamant that she needed a relationship with her daughter and wanted to be able to see her whenever she wanted. 

The great-grandparents quickly agreed.  This covenant, too, was one that they kept, for as the girl grew up in their home she was allowed to have an open and loving relationship with her mother, and the mother was never denied access to her.

This young child's life was wonderful with her great-grandparents.  They loved God with every fiber of their being, and they led the little girl to Christ – she gave her heart to the Lord as a four-year-old.  They took her to church all the time, where she especially learned to love the hymns that were sung there.

Sometimes the girl and her great-grandfather would play "Prayer Meeting."  They would pray long "prayers," and "read Scriptures," and sing, sing, sing.  One of the great-grandfather's favorite songs was this one:

I shall not, I shall not be moved;
I shall not, I shall not be moved;
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
I shall not be moved.

The little girl kept this in her memory.

A Dark Closet

There were occasions when the girl was taken to her mother's parents to stay for a while at their house.  On these visits, her granddaddy loved her, played with her, took her to movies and the park, gave her rides on the train, and even took her shopping.

But it was much different with the grandmother, the woman who earlier had refused to let this child live with her when she was a baby.  After the grandfather went to work, the grandmother would shut this little girl up in a dark, smelly, insect-infested closet to sit out the rest of the day, with no food or water or conversation.  Just before time for the girl's grand-daddy to return home from work, her grandmother would bring her out from the closet, clean her up, and act like all was well.

The little girl did not know why she was put in that closet; her grandmother told her it was to keep the iron from falling on her (likely story).  But the little girl had been taught to obey adults, so she went into the closet upon demand. 

She was scared in that closet.  She had nothing to do in that closet.  All she knew to do was to sing, because of what she had learned in church and from playing "Prayer Meeting" with her great-grandfather.  Sometimes she had to make up words when she couldn't quite remember them all, but she did her best to sing the songs of the church, like "Throw Out the Life Line," "Nearer My God to Thee," "Rock of Ages," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "The Old Rugged Cross," "Amazing Grace," and "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know."