Unexpected Legacy / Set in Stones

The chapter on unexpected legacy was tough for me because it is close to my heart, as this example shared is exactly what my daughter is facing in her life.   Just a few weeks ago she was deemed by her doctor as being “infertile”.   Here is a link to my daughter’s story if you would like to read it…

http://bethpensinger.com/the-hopefuls/not-a-baby-story-matt-kelly-edition/

Kelly has so much strength in God and I know that my God can do what He desires no matter what the doctors “deem”.   She has grown so much in the past 5 years that the legacy she and her husband leave for their children will be amazing.   Reading this chapter truly helped me to deal with my hurt concerning Kelly’s health issues but it also helped me to ‘”see” the legacy I left in her path that she picked up and followed and I am so thankful that I get to see and experience her picking up the stones.

As I began to move over into the chapter “Set in Stones” I noticed on Pg. 258 of our study this little but big sentence that said:

“This heritage must be carried on”.

And then I got to thinking, have I been dropping those stones, setting them in place for my children to see and learn from?  And as I was skimming through my Bible, God powerfully showed me YES you are my child, just look in this Word you have in your hands and see what one day your children will get to read   (prayers you have lifted up, notes you have written, words of wisdom God has taught you as he chastened you in your life, instructions of obedience He wanted you to follow over the years) and on an on.

So I took this picture to show you “YES” I indeed am not only leaving this legacy example in my Bible but many more as I sit and look around my bedroom just in the areas my eyes can see,  I see photos galore, journals on my dresser, so many books to help me learn God’s Word, trinkets given to me from my children, a hope chest full of memories from our life).

And then these three things came to my mind about how we should leave a legacy (set some stones out) and they are:

LET’S  TELL IT –  don’t expect schools and churches to raise our children, that is our job! Let’s teach them what the Bible says…be honest, trustworthy, have integrity, depend on God, be Christlike.

Deut 6:5-says: “Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your homes and on your gates.”

In other words, always be telling it. Tell what the Lord has done for you. You may not have God’s Word memorized fully but you know what God has done for YOU in your life.

And don’t just tell our “children”. We must tell our husbands, friends, neighbors, co-workers, other family members….everyone we come into contact with, let’s….TELL IT!

LET’S LIVE IT– Let’s show our legacy of faith by how we act, how we respond, how we handle situations. Let’s show where we go when we need help….and that is to God in His Word and on our knees!  Let’s be Christ’s example…a living Bible for others to read. We are also God’s hands and feet on earth….so let’s LIVE IT!

LET’S DOCUMENT IT – Record our spiritual journey. Our beliefs make up who we are. Let’s desire our children and grandchildren to know the prayers we’ve prayed, the blessings we’ve received, the lessons we’ve learned, how God has worked in our life and how He can work in their lives too.

Don’t we want our children, grandchildren to know what we believed, what we did, how we reacted to life? What our thoughts were, our victories and our battles? What our hobbies were? Did we have a relationship with God? Did we depend on God and live for Him?

In order for them to know of the legacy we have left for them we must gather stones and set the stones in places they will “see them” and “pick them up”.

“The lessons we teach today will be the legacy’s we are leaving for tomorrow”.

Let’s Pray:   God, You have called on us, Your children, to be reliable in giving a solid witness of our faith in You.  We are to live godly lives so that we faithfully model that which we also teach to our children and all whom we are privileged to influence.   Fix our eyes on Jesus so that we fulfill the calling to be faithful and influence others for the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Reminder!!!    Our next Women’s Online Bible Study starts next week on October 1, 2012!!  We will begin an awesome study by Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller, “Winning Him Without Words…10 Keys to Thriving in a Spiritually Mismatched Marriage“.  We are excited about this study!!  This study will end on December 13th.  I hope you will join us!!

To sign up for this study, please email us at:     WOMENS@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

We will send you all the details to get registered.  To being you will need  a copy of the book (you can purchase a hard copy of the book or download to an e-reader device), a pen/pencil, your Bible, and a journal (if you like).  Each day, Monday through Friday, we will blog about this study RIGHT HERE on our website!  Then you will go to our Facebook Discussion Group, where we have set up a PRIVATE Facebook Group, so you can share your thoughts privately with just the women in that group.  The Facebook Groups are an awesome way to let your hair down, be yourself, be real, and not have to worry about the whole world reading your thoughts!  Plus, it’s a GREAT way to meet other Christian like-minded women and build friendships all over the world!  Sure hope to see you join in with us!

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