Dear friends,
The past couple of weeks have been especially joyful for me! If I included all the photos that go along with what I’m writing today there would be no room for any writing!
The photos I have here include all of my 12 grandchildren. We have all been together in Ohio and in Kansas City in the past 2 weeks. All 5 of my grown children have been with me and my husband also. Nothing makes me happier than being with all of my people!
There were 4 generations together in Ohio, a rare occurrence for us all with our busy lives. 3 generations were together in Kansas City after that. Times like these are so important for the formation of secure identity in our lives. Being with ‘your people’, those you belong to, is super important to create an identification with ‘WHOSE you are.” Understanding ‘whose you are’ is the beginning of understanding ‘WHO you are.’
If you have a family of origin that isn’t who you really are, you need to form another group identity with a group of people who are like you – that’s where the family of believers in Christ comes in. You can be who God intended you to be regardless of the family you came from.
But it really helps to start out with a family with strong character and love in the family culture. These past 2 weeks we’ve shared so many stories passed down from great grandparents, shared lots of love around food, fun and games, working and we’ve added some new traditions as well.
There has been so much joy in it for me as I see the love that’s being communicated down through the generations. It gives me a great confidence that our families will continue to thrive. All the grandchildren were enjoying being part of something bigger than themselves, enabling them to expand and grow. As the family bonds are strengthened, our joy quotient goes up several notches!
For this reason I blow my knees before the Father, from who every family in heaven and earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
That verse of Scripture is for you and yours, that you might know who you are by knowing WHOSE you are. You are deeply loved. And there’s never an end to knowing MORE of that love!
With love and prayers,
Terri
