Backward and Forward

I've shared in previous posts about my interest in my family's genealogy. I love to link the present to the past...to see where we came from...to see God faithfully showing Himself and drawing sinners to Himself.

One of my favorite stories is of my great-great-grandfather. The story goes like this:

My great-great grandparents, Thomas & Elizabeth, married in England in 1878. They and six children immigrated to America in 1888. Five more children (including my great-grandpa) were born in America.

Thomas didn't drink alcohol before coming to America. But here, he befriended a group of guys who often bought him liquor. He made the choice to accept it. His friends got a kick out of my grandpa getting drunk, singing silly English songs, and dancing the jig.

In the midst of this, two traveling evangelists visited my grandparents' church. The pastor requested that they pay a visit to my grandparents' family. It was at this time that my great-great-grandpa received Christ as his Savior. He never drank again.

Later, he became friends with an area pastor. Together they became involved with the Women's Christian Temperance Union. They worked to dry up their small town and close the bars. I find it interesting that, to this day, there is not one bar in that small town.

Thomas and Elizabeth are buried in that small town's cemetery, along with many of their offspring. As I walk among the headstones of that cemetery, my heart overflows with joy and thanksgiving. Life for Thomas and Elizabeth wasn't perfect, and just because they walked with God does not mean that all their offspring immediately made Jesus the Lord of their lives. As Noel Piper says, "You can't bequeath God to your children." But we can help them know who He is and testify to His work in our lives. We can reflect His love and put Him on display for the world to see.

While I don't know for certain, I like to think that Thomas and Elizabeth were praying that their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren would walk with Jesus. Perhaps they even prayed for a great-great granddaughter like me.

Looking back and seeing God's faithfulness throughout the generations spurs me on. How I desire to testify to our boys and coming generations all that God has done. I want to tell them, from a genuine and sincere heart, that God has transformed my life. How I pray that my testimony will spur them on, too...that they'll desire to follow passionately after Jesus.

Written in Thomas' Bible: The Lord came into my heart on January 25, 1910 (signed Thomas...)

"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children---how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God...the Lord said to me, 'Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.'" Deuteronomy 4:9-10