As I sat (in the front row!), I looked around at the family members who joined us. It occurred to me there were 4 generations represented. I thought about all the times my parents set the example and took us to church, twice on Sundays, Wednesday night prayer meeting. It was a small church of less than 75 people. Dad was the Song Leader and Sunday School Superintendent. Mom was a Sunday School teacher and herded us 5 kids.
It was the late 1960s/early 1970s and life was far from perfect in the world and in our family. But through the challenges of sick kids, homework and a busy household, my parents stayed focused on the Lord. They probably didn’t realize it, but they were building a legacy for Him.
By the mid 1980s, my first husband and I were married and had two beautiful girls who we also took to church. Our family was far from perfect, but we tried to stay faithful to the Lord by attending church and serving in choir and leadership. Our girls were deeply involved in the church youth group. Their youth pastor challenged and led them to dive into the Bible and truly follow Christ. We really didn’t realize it at the time, but we were continuing the legacy my parents started. I prayed—for years!—for our girls and their future husbands as well as their future children, that they would all know Jesus as their Savior.
Fast forward to today, our girls are married to two wonderful men of God and they take their children to church and serve the Lord individually and as families.
All of those unborn children I prayed for are now believers in Christ and three have been baptized! (Our grandson accepted Christ and was baptized In December 2019).
As I sat there watching my granddaughters get baptized, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I realized the Lord answered my prayer from decades ago! I am in awe of God’s blessings of faithfulness that began with the legacy Mom and Dad started. All people are imperfect and we struggle in life. Philippians 3:14 says “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. Through faith in Him and His grace, He will carry us through generation by generation. I wonder how many generations will continue?
Are you in the middle of a legacy journey? It’s never too late; you can start your own today.
