We Can All Have a Godly Heritage

This is the month I love to curl up with my children and read November by Cynthia Rylant, a cozy book which encourages thoughts of gratitude. In addition to giving thanks, my mind often wanders to thoughts of legacy and heritage during this month of pumpkin pie and family gatherings.

I was blessed to be raised by godly men and women. I have many happy memories of times spent cooking, harvesting, and working together on our family farms. I remember my grandmother with her wrinkly hands teaching me how to sew and to piece a quilt. Many Sundays after church, we would all gather around a table and eat a ham or chicken with all kinds of yummy sides. There would be laughter, funny stories, and even the occasional fight or hurt feelings.

I was raised by this family to trust a God who controlled the rain, provided for our needs, and wanted our souls.

What about you? Does this season mean joyful thoughts and family times? Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it brings pain instead, but here is the good news:

[Tweet “We all have the ability to claim a heritage of godliness and a chance to leave a legacy.”]

Galatians 3:29 tells us that if we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s descendants and heirs according to God’s promise. We are His; we are in the family. Our brothers and sisters in Christ can be the family we may not have had biologically. When we need a grandmother to teach us, a mother to cry with, or a brother to lean on, we can have it. Right there in the body of Christ.

I confess, I’ve had some pretty dark and lonely times. Times spent far away from the family that encouraged me as a child. What can you do when you are desperate for a family to pull up to the table with you? You can seek out the people God has placed near you and allow them to become part of your heritage.

As an adult far from family, I’ve often had to seek out a woman to be my encourager. Someone who would mother me in spiritual matters. The friend who would call me up and ask me when I was going to forgive the person who’d hurt me. The seminary sister who would call me out about how I spoke to my husband. And the older lady whose sofa would become my place of rest and comfort when I had nowhere else to turn.

Do you have these people in your life? It may take some effort on your part, but I encourage you to build yourself a foundation of Christian family, a godly heritage. In every season there can be someone you lean on and draw strength from as together you seek the Savior’s face. It’s a beautiful thing. Our biological families may be dysfunctional, but God has provided a community for us if we are only willing to seek it out. A community we will spend eternity with.

This month, take some time to find people you can add to your Christian family. Maybe it’s the lady at church who offers a cup of coffee. Perhaps it’s the couple who invites you to dinner. Do you have a pastor who will enter into the muck of life with you? Let him. Find your people, and give thanks for the heritage time will never erase.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV)

Gina Grizzle is a wife, mama, and aspiring writer who has a passion to share her life with other women in order to encourage them to be the best they can for the kingdom. At home in East Tennessee, Gina loves to fluff her nest, squeeze her sweet kids, and read books. She blogs at ginagrizzle.blogspot.com.

Photograph by, Karolina Grabowska.