\n\nLast Sunday as we sat around the table, we talked about our \u201cfirst memories\u201d as a child. Larry said: “I was very young and my mom and I lived in a small one-bedroom apartment. The little fold-up bed I slept on had a plastic cover on the mattress and the sound of the plastic when I moved around woke up my mom and me.” He\u2019s come a long way. And, thank God, his beginnings with a single mom caused him to be compassionate toward women who are raising their families alone. That\u2019s one of the reasons he champions the EMwomen organization and the women that my daughter is so passionate about rescuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, my cousin and I had a long telephone conversation about many precious family moments when we were young. Our grandparents and their fervent prayer life. Our mothers, who were sisters, and their faith that modeled to us the way we should go. One of my earliest memories was visiting her and my sister in their college dorm in Springfield, MO and eating pizza for the first time in my life. I was six years old. Funny \u2013 those earliest memories!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, at the memorial service of a loved one, the pianist\/vocalist invited us to sing along with him at the beginning of the service. The first song we sang was \u201cThe Old Rugged Cross\u201d and at the first note, my tears began to flow. It was an old song I had not heard for many years and it reminded me of my \u201crich family history\u201d of being in church, worshipping God and hearing all those stories and songs of God\u2019s amazing grace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When my mother was up in years, I realized I didn’t know much about her history — stories about her 12 siblings, what it was like living in a large family, how their parents were able to support them financially, how she met my dad, etc. What a shame that I waited so long to find out. I had been so “me” focused that I didn’t treasure and appreciate where I came from. I did something about it. I set up my camcorder on a tripod and a few minutes and days at a time interviewed her. Her stories were so precious and so enlightening as to how far she had come and how strong she was throughout her years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, I finally stopped long enough to spend quality time with her that resulted in having VHS tapes made that I could give out to my siblings and their kids when mom passed away at age 94 in 2004. (I\u2019m amusing myself as I type this when camcorders and VHS tapes are now just \u201cblasts from the past\u201d! I was able to pass on to my kids and siblings their rich (not in money, but in faith and fortitude) family history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I own up to being nostalgic. I guess that comes with being on the other side of raising children, working and caring for a home and family with more time on my hands now to be thankful for my rich family history. I am one of those \u201colder\u201d family members who has a wealth of knowledge and stories just waiting to be shared. Thank you, Facebook, and social media for the ability to do just that. We spend so much time scrolling incessantly on our cell phones instead of one-on-one conversations with those who are filled with treasures that we are missing out on. We don\u2019t talk and ask questions about their life and their past and what makes them who they are today. Maybe this little blog today gives you some inspiration to inquire about your family history \u2013 what it looked like \u201cback in their day\u201d, who were their heroes, what helped them conquer \u2013 especially in the days without so many conveniences and so much technology that we have today. You just may come to appreciate your rich family history, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am so thankful that the richest family history we have was documented in God\u2019s Holy Word \u2013 the Bible. The more I delve into the rich family history of Christianity, the more I know I need to be living every day with great appreciation and gratitude for what our forefathers and foremothers gave us. How can I do that unless I make the effort to know that heritage? Daily, I read or listen to a “Read-the-Bible-Through” in a one-year Bible app with scriptures and commentary. The scriptures come alive, especially as I hear some of the hair-brained mistakes made and the victories that were won by so many heroes of our faith. The history of our faith isn’t OLD NEWS. It is the yesterday, today and forevermore news and if we continue to review it, rehearse it, and make it known to our children and our children’s children, we will all be living in the plans and purposes of God’s great love for His rich family.\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last Sunday as we sat around the table, we talked about our \u201cfirst memories\u201d as a child. Larry said: “I was very young and my mom and I lived in a small one-bedroom apartment. The little fold-up bed I slept on had a plastic cover on the mattress and the sound of the plastic when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12719,13528,13529],"tags":[19,756,1136,1084,5628,2857,6913,5302,11773,2859,1316,11979,13531,13530,3085],"class_list":["post-10294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-family-history","category-strength","tag-bible","tag-children","tag-christianity","tag-family","tag-family-history","tag-heritage","tag-history","tag-knowledge","tag-memorial-service","tag-memories","tag-nostalgic","tag-rich","tag-rich-family-history","tag-siblings","tag-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10296,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294\/revisions\/10296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}