Heritage

I loved listening to my grandmother tell me stories of her life growing up in England. She spoke with such passion that it brought to life every event. She talked about how she loved watching her brothers and their friends play cricket in the back narrow laneways and about having to walk through deep snow to get to school, dragging her younger siblings behind her.

More than anything else though, she loved to tell me about her mother, my great grandmother, who would gather all the seven children around the fireplace after dinner to share of her own past but also to listen to stories from the Bible, about the Lord and His goodness. 

Grandma also told me of the many struggles they often faced having to feed such a large family on so little money. With nine mouths to feed during the season of World War 1, life was difficult, yet God would always provide, sometimes miraculously. I will never forget the time she told me about the day they had no food at all in the house. Nothing. It was dinnertime, but her mother, my great- grandmother, told the children to set the table and prepare for dinner. As they began putting plates around the table, my grandmother said to her mother, ‘What will we eat?’ And with incredible faith, my great-grandmother said to her, ‘God will provide.’ She beckoned everyone to sit down and as they sat down at a table laden with empty plates, they bowed their heads and my great grandmother prayed to God thanking Him for what He would bring. 

My great-grandmother used to make socks to sell for extra income because her husband, my great-grandfather, earned very little in the English mines. These socks were a God-send for this family, as it made the difference between eating and starving. As with any normal sales transaction, people would come, put their order in and then pay on the day they received their goods. 

It seems there were no orders this week, which meant no money was available to buy the much needed food to feed her large family. This didn’t phase my God fearing great grandmother as she, by faith prepared her meal table this day, as if she had a feast. 

As they finished praying for their dinner, even though there was no food at all, a knock came on the door. ‘Hello, I believe you make socks. I know this may seem strange, but would you mind if we pay you up front for these socks and pick them up when you are done?’ 

Can you imagine the looks on all those children’s faces? You had better believe how that built faith in my grandmother and her siblings, and not just on this occasion, but the many others they saw miracles come into their home because of a praying mother. 

We also had days like my grandmothers’, when we didn’t know where today’s food was going to come from, and today was one of those days. There were only four in our family, but still each day meant we needed faith to believe in God’s provision. 

Several months before this two hundred day journey I took with God, we had a prophesy spoken over us and the main point of it said, ‘There is an enlarging process going on in you right now, it’s like God is saying, I’m going to kick out the walls a bit further and I am going to enlarge you a bit more and there is a reason for that.’ 

Walking through this every day, step by step, morsel by morsel, faith stretching journey was definitely kicking out some walls and we were certainly being enlarged. In our past affluent life, trusting God was from the safe confines of a secure comfort zone, but now, those walls of comfort had been kicked right out and we were at a place where there was nothing to hold onto but God. 

The good news is, the same God my great-grandmother prayed to, is the same God we pray to. He is the same God you pray to. As we bowed our heads this day, asked God for His provision, thanking Him for what He would bring, we too had our own knock on the door. Provision for the day.

Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

MY GOD IS A GOD WHO BLESSES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION 

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