What is a Legacy?

Now that we've shuffled through some memories, let's define what is meant by legacy.

Legacy can be defined as money or property left to one by a will. It can also mean something handed down from one generation to another. If you consult the thesaurus, you would find synonyms such as heritage, tradition, vestige, transmission, and birthright.

A heritage is valuable or important traditions handed down from generation to generation.

Vestige implies a trace, remnant, records, or moments.

A person's legacy is often based upon the material possessions or money gained which is passed on to a descendant upon death. Just as the word vestige indicates, these things are remnants, what a person left behind.

Legacy, however, can imply much more than material possessions. The synonym tradition can include beliefs, values, morals, or even occasions and practices that a person might leave to heirs.

Jim Rohn says: "I truly believe that part of what makes us good and honorable people is to have a foundational part of our lives based on the goal of leaving a legacy."

To me this quote from Rohn implies that we not only live for today without the future in mind. Part of what makes us respectable people is that we think about those who will come behind us and leave them with something that will live beyond us.

As a Christian, I would desire to leave a legacy based on my faith in Jesus Christ.

How would you define Christian legacy?

A Christian legacy to me would include the traditions, morals, values, and truths outlined in God's Word. This is a Godly heritage as opposed to just passing on things that have no eternal value. This transmission is to ensure that those who come after us know and serve the God we've come to know.

What are your thoughts on leaving a Christian legacy? What would you add to the definition? Please let me know in the comments.

Tomorrow we'll get more specific, looking at examples of legacies.

Let's Get Started

The best way to start our journey to a Godly legacy is to answer some questions about our own legacy. Hopefully, this will stir our minds and hearts so as we study together, we can be poised to apply what God teaches us into our own heritage-passage.

Now I will admit up front that I am a spiral notebook toting woman. Please grab whatever you prefer and be ready to answer this quick survey. I will be providing the questions and then at the end of the post I will share with you my answers.

So let's get started.

Were your grandparents Christians?

Did they attend church?

Were or are your parents Christians?

Do or did they attend church?

As a child, were you taken to church?

Were you involved in church activities?

Did you play sports or were you involved in some extracurricular activity?

Was there prayer in school when you attended?

Were there secular things that interfered with church attendance (ex: sports practice or recitals)?

What kind of Christian legacy did your parents leave?

How did they leave it?

Do you have children? Grandchildren?

Are they involved in extracurricular activities?

Have these activities interfered with church attendance?

What do you do to ensure a Christian legacy in your family?

Please feel free to add any explanation you wish to these answers.

Here's mine:

Were your grandparents Christians?
Yes.
Did they attend church?
Yes. They continued to attend until my grandmother could literally not walk any more.
Were or are your parents Christians?
Yes, my parents are Christians.
Do or did they attend church?
They both teach and serve in the church I grew up in.
As a child, were you taken to church?
Yes, often.
Were you involved in church activities?
Yes. All the way through my childhood and into my youth, the church activities were what I was involved in.
Did you play sports or were you involved in some extracurricular activity? 
I wasn't into sports. All of my activity was centered around the church.
Was there prayer in school when you attended? 
There was prayer that morphed into the moment of silence.
Were there secular things that interfered with church attendance (ex: sports practice or recitals)?
No. I can remember that we didn't get homework on Wednesday nights because there was church.
What kind of Christian legacy did your parents leave?
A strong one in which I knew that God was priority.
How did they leave it?
We regularly attended church. You didn't miss unless you had a limb severed or you were throwing up. LOL Can I get a witness? I saw my mom study her Bible for her Sunday school class. I heard my dad talk about following Christian principles in his secular job. They modeled it. Their talk matched their walk.
Do you have children? Grandchildren?
I have one daughter.
Are they involved in extracurricular activities? 
When she was young, she was involved in ballet. But the ballet company was a Christian one, so I knew they wouldn't go against our standards.
Have these activities interfered with church attendance? 
Ballet didn't interfere but there were Christian friends who would ask her to do things during regularly scheduled church times. We didn't allow it.
What do you do to ensure a Christian legacy in your family?
I have always stood my ground in making church time a priority and making sure my family knows why. We don't attend church for attending's sake. We do this in obedience and to show God He is number one. I have also tried to "get caught" reading my Bible. What I mean by that is this, I try to practice the disciplines of reading my Bible and prayer so that I am modeling it more than demanding it.

So, did that little survey stir up any memories about your Godly legacy? I hope it might have whetted your appetite to dive into this study. Now more than ever I feel an urgency to make sure those I have influence over know about God and His plan of salvation and also the way in which God would have us to live.

I'm so glad you're joining me on this journey.

If something stirred in you about your legacy, please share in the comments. I love to hear from you.

Until tomorrow ... keep shining His light!

Godly Legacy - Am I Leaving One?

Anyone who has followed me for very long knows that one topic I often gravitate towards is that of a Godly legacy.

I want my family and those I have influence over to carry on the Christian heritage that began long ago in my lineage. But this task can't be accomplished through casual and unfocused transmission. This legacy is too important to just hope others will catch on to it.

No, passing on a Godly legacy takes concentration and being intentional. I don't want to risk feeling nonchalant about such an important task. This legacy involves life and death and eternity. Heavy, I know. But true.

Because I have spent many years studying scripture, focusing upon this topic, I feel the need to share with you what God has taught me, as well as deepen my knowledge.

Soon I will begin a series here entitled: 40 Days to Intentional: Ensuring a Godly Legacy.

I pray you might take this journey with me through scripture study and self analysis to discover how we might be more intentional about guaranteeing that our Christian heritage continues long after us.

I'm hoping to begin on Monday, June 19th.

Please join me and get ready to share in the comments about your legacy. I'm excited to take this journey with you!

A Reminder

Hey, Readers, I've had quite a year. Can you relate? I'm sure many of you can.

My part time job in the school system was taxing because the teacher I was working with had some family issues. She ended up retiring at Christmas. Ugh. Now who would they get to replace her?

Stress.

Then the publisher I worked with as an acquiring editor announced the doors would have to close.

Additional stress.

My mother was facing back surgery coming in January.

Yikes.

Something I didn't know - stress can cause some illnesses. I was awakened one night with a sudden pain in my left ear. It felt like someone had stabbed it with an ice pick. I had some swelling on that side and knew I better get to the doctor. I must have let it go too long and I had a bad infection. My doctor shook her head and announced: You have shingles.

What? No time for that.

As I stuffed in the strong meds for shingles, I started crying out to God - What are You doing? What is this?

I'm happy to report that the replacement teacher turned out to be a great fit. Another larger publisher acquired the imprints and editors from the closed publisher. The new publisher even turned out to be the one that published my first book. My mother did great with her surgery. She's tough. And I got through the shingles outbreak.

Recently I heard a song that perfectly expresses this time in  my life and what I learned. Please take a moment to listen and let the lyrics sink in. I'm sure there's someone else that might need to hear this message and hold on because this is gonna make you stronger. Let God use everything. There's nothing He can't use to make you stronger and teach you things.

Click here to listen to Mandisa's song, Stronger

Can you relate to the message in this song? Share in the comments.

Check out a new book from Delia Latham!

Please help me welcome Delia to my blog by taking the time to check out her newest release.

Dream on!

Let’s talk about dreams.

Let’s talk about prophetic dreams.

God used dreams to speak to folks, from prophets to kings to the average ‘blue-collar’ worker in the Bible. Joseph was a carpenter whose dreams led him to take an unwed mother as his wife. Later, a dream allowed them to escape from the evil Herod, who wanted to kill baby Jesus. Later still, Joseph was made aware—yes, in a dream—that Herod was dead and it was safe to return home.

Another Joseph—he of the coat of many colors—was also a dreamer of many dreams. Some  symbolic, some prophetic. But he dreamed…oh, yes, indeed he did! So did his father. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder to Heaven is famous even today. Daniel dreamed. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. Abraham. Samuel. Solomon.

It is my firm belief that the Book which relates all these dreams—The Holy Bible—can be trusted above all others.

So I’ll say it again: Let’s talk about prophetic dreams. Dreams that—

·        foretell a future event;

·        seem to provide warning or guidance for something yet to come;

·        come true.

Scientists dismiss the idea (along with Divine Creation, Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead, etc.). They say the dreamer self-edits her dream after the events happen. Dream recall is, in fact, often inaccurate, which makes for a strong argument. Science suggests that recall changes along with unfolding events. By the time a crucial occurrence takes place, the dreamer believes he dreamed the exact incident.

Also, we know that our subconscious works all the time—awake and asleep. Therefore, the sleeping mind is able to piece together current events and their possible outcome more quickly than the conscious mind. Therefore (says science) a dream that, in retrospect, might seem prophetic, most likely is a result of the dreaming mind having pieced together information you already had and producing a plausible outcome.

All excellent arguments…but I still believe in prophetic dreams.

No, they don’t happen as often as they did in Bible times, probably because we now have the Bible itself, which (based on 2 Timothy 3:17) fully equips us, revealing all we need to know as Christians. But God still speaks into the minds of men and women today, when doing so fits His purpose. If that means making them aware of future events through a dream, well…He is God. He can and will do as He pleases, with or without our belief or approval.

Just such a dream happens on a recurring basis at the beginning of Summer Dreams, Book 2 in my Paradise Pines Series. God uses that dream not only to save the life of the heroine, but to bring her together with the hero.

I loved writing the dream scene in this book…and the rescue scene—oh, I admit it, I enjoyed the “making of” this entire story. As readers, I hope you’ll be willing to suspend your disbelief (if you happen to not believe in prophetic dreams) long enough to enjoy reading it. You may find more than one blessing tucked into the pages of this seaside romance.

Yes, I said ‘blessing.’ And unlike dreams—which can be good, bad, or totally awful—blessings are always wonderful. Undeserved, unmerited, freely given gifts with no price tag and no payback date.

Let’s talk about blessings…

About Summer Dreams:

Summer Callahan isn’t in Cambria for the beach or the ocean or the pine-scented air around Paradise Pines Lodge. She’s there as a companion to her flighty cousin, Deah—with the understanding that they will have separate agendas the entire time. Summer just wants to be left alone to dream up the romance novels she writes under a pseudonym.

But never in Summer's wildest writer's imagination does she dream of being caught in an undertow and almost drowning, only to be rescued by a wealthy artist. And when Logan Bullard proves hard to shake, Summer fears for her heart—especially when Deah sets her sights on Logan.

But at Paradise Pines Lodge, what's meant to be has a way of happening...at the best time and in the best way. Miss Angelina Love—who may or may not own the place—has an "in" with Heaven's own "department of romance." And she's determined to see Summer and Logan together.

Amazon            Pelican Book Group            Barnes & Noble

Want a peek inside first?

Read the entire 1^st chapter

Check out the Rafflecopter giveaway. It runs through June 21^st, with a winner each week, and a grand prize winner at the end.

About the Author:

Writing Heaven’s touch into earthly tales, Delia Latham puts her characters through the fire of earthly trials to bring them out victorious by the hand of God, His heavenly messengers, and good, old-fashioned love. You’ll always find a touch of the divine in her tales of sweet romance.

Website

Personal blog

Facebook Reader Page

Amazon Author Page

 Twitter

Sounds intriguing! How about it readers? Another book to add to your summer reading list? 

Thanks for sharing about your new book, Delia!

We're One Generation Away

In my One Year Bible reading I've come to the book of Judges. There are times as I read in this book that I cringe. One such moment occurred recently.

Judges 2:10 - "After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel."

Does that stir anyone else like it does me? It prompts me to ask if I'm making sure to pass on a Godly legacy to those around me.

Earlier, the Israelites were told to follow God's commands and to constantly have those before their children, as well as the stories of what God had done on their behalf. So what happened? The parents didn't do as they promised and were instructed.

These parents were to told to talk about God's commands when they woke up and when they went to bed. They were to discuss them as they walked along the roads. There were some little reminders to prompt the children to ask questions. Things like piles of stones carried from the middle of a pathway through a river.

The responsibility was given to the parents to carry on the ways of God. But somewhere, somehow they totally failed. Did they simply become complacent? Did they take it all for granted or think they had brought themselves out and into a new land? Did they think the children would just "catch on" to knowing God and His ways? Or did they allow the kids to decide if they wanted to know the commands or not?

Whatever it was that caused these parents to drop the ball led to evil and God being angry. He let other nations run them over.

Let's face forward to today - 2017. Are we a people who teaches our children about God and His Son? Or do we think they'll "catch on" if we take them to church for one hour on Sunday? Do we not find God's ways relevant enough to pass on? Do we think we are where we are today because of what we've done?

Sweet Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I truly believe that we are always that one generation away from not knowing God and His Son, and what has been done for us. I pray that we won't fall into any of the traps of complacency or arrogance. The next generation is relying upon us to teach them about God and His Son.

God forbid that it be written of us that when we pass, our children don't know the Lord or follow Him. Everything written in God's Word is for instructing us and warning us. This warning seems to scream at me from Judges 2.

To think we're only one generation away ...

Live More Like a Lyric?

Recently a blog I follow written by Emily P. Freeman contained a quote that stuck out to me.

"I want to live my life less like a list and more like a lyric."

I shared the quote on my Facebook timeline but didn't go into my thinking about it. The quote made me think so much that I posted it on the small board right next to my desk.

Admittedly, I'm a list person. My hubby would roll his eyes and nod vigorously about that. In fact I'm a very planned and organized person. Close to the OCD level.

My clothes are chosen and ready for the next morning each night before I go to bed. A rather extensive list of "to dos" awaits me at my desk each day when I arrive home from my part-time job at an elementary school. That list is usually too much for the time I have in the afternoon. But I continue to make that unaccomplishable list.

But living by a list definitely cuts down on going with suddenly inspired activities. I mean, if it's not on my list, I can't do it. Right? Am I missing out on meaningful moments because my head is tucked, starring at my list?

This quote tends to convict me a bit. Let's face it. A beautiful lyric is much more appealing than a list. A lyric has meaning. A lyric is inspired expression.

So in the context of my life, a list existence would be just checking off the activities of my day then doing it again and again. Meaning comes from completing.

For my life to be a lyric I would need to watch the Composer's direction. Be more in tune with what God wants me to accomplish in my day and in my life. Meaning comes from being in tune with His plan for me and realizing what He created me to do.

The more I think on this quote, the more meaning it has for me. I know that I don't want to finish this life and show God my list, saying, "Look what I did." I'm sure what He prefers is for the lyric of my life to bring glory to Him - sweet music in His ears.

What do you think about this quote? Please join the conversation in the comments.