Record Breaking Granny: 1,400 Relatives

I heard this story while driving to the gym yesterday on K-Love. I'm sure some of you heard this story as well. Here is an excerpt from the article.

Rachel Krishevsky was 19 when she married her cousin Yitzik from within the ultra orthodox Haredi community in Jerusalem. The young couple then set about following the Jewish commandment to be “fruitful and multiply.” And they certainly succeeded.

By the time she passed away last Saturday in Jerusalem aged 99, Rachel had according to her family, no less than 1,400 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren. She and her husband had seven boys and four daughters. Among the ultra orthodox jewish community large families are seen as a blessing. Each of their 11 children followed in Rachel’s footsteps, resulting in 150 grandchildren. In turn these descendants had 1,000 children of their own and in the last few years several hundred great-great-grandchildren started to appear.

According to one unnamed grandchild Wednesday, “grandma knew all of her descendants by name.”

This really amazed me. She had 1,400 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren and she knew all of them by name. WOW! That seems like an amazing feat to me. As amazing as it is here on this earth, that cannot even hold a candle in comparison to God and the love He has for His children. My mind instantly went to our one and only Father who knows all of His children so intimately that He even knows the number of hairs on our head! I don't know about you, but that brings me such comfort. He loves me and cares so much about me, that He knows the number of hairs on my head.

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God--You're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration--what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day."

Psalm 139:13-16 The Message

I thought it would be neat to read this verse in the Message translation. How comforting that the Lord not only formed me, made me, and knows all about me. He watched me grow from conception to birth! He can see all the stages of my life. All the days of my life were all prepared before I had even lived one day. I want to live all of those days to the fullest for my Maker. I thank you God for making us just how you have fashioned us to be. I give thanks to you today, for Your love endures forever!