Leading A Legacy

What legacy are you leading? What legacy will you leave?

What is your legacy?

(Our legacy table above)

Legacy! What is my legacy? At some point we all should be thinking about this question. I had the chance to think about this a few years back. Long story short, about 3 years ago, I faced a very hard battle that really gave me time to reflect on things in my life, but also to reflect on life and the meaning of life. Sitting with my father while receiving the news that his organs were shutting down and His doctors were giving him less then 6 months to live - unless he tried a dialysis machine. If you dont know much about a dialysis machine, it is a machine that slows down the organs death and can honestly create a painful death. ( My father was completely against this as he watched his late uncle pass on a machine, it terrified him.) The only other option for my father was to have an organ transplant. But at that time, the doctors were certain that a transplant was no longer becoming an option, or so they thought!

As I walked through this process with my father, for the first time in my life, I saw fear on my father's face. The man who I always seen as strong was finally breaking before my eyes. Fighting hard to keep back the tears but mustering every ounce of energy he head left for the biggest fight of his life. "The Fight To Live." It was during this time, I saw my father for the first time in my life, broken and humbly reaching out for his heavenly father for help. That day, I heard "time" begin ticking and life became more important then it was before. Endless days and nights on my face before Christ, seeking and asking for His help and strength for what lay ahead. I knew I needed His guidance, His wisdom and His strength. But most of all, I just needed to be held by my heavenly father. It was during this time, I began to think about life in a whole new way. If my father passed away, What kind of memories would I have? What have I leaned from my father? or about my father? What will my children remember about grampa? What traits or attributes will my children inherit, learning from grampa?

For a moment, I reversed the table. If it were me in my father's situation, What things will I be remembered for? Have I passed on a good legacy to my family, my friends, those around me? What would people say about me? Little did I know, this day was going to forever change my life. Time may have begun ticking louder this day, but I knew one thing and it's the most important thing of all God was on our side and in my spirit I knew my father was going to be a walking miracle. Praise God! Today, My father is that walking miracle!

                                                                                                             

As I began to pray about the birthing of our new women's ministry, the Lord led me to begin prayer over a Mother's Day Banquet. The theme was impressed on my heart to be "legacy." For a moment, I would like to ask all reading this post to please think about this question, "What is a legacy?" I am hoping I stumped you some.. Some of you, if not all of you will probably think to yourself this: A legacy is something we will leave behind after death? Very true. When we look up legacy in the dictionary it is defined as this: A gift, Something thats inherited, Anything that is handed down from the past. So the dictionary defines the legacy we are all familiar with. But there is another type of legacy that is often forgotten or unknown.

• The legacy we are leading right now while walking and breathing on this earth.

How can we lead a legacy that will carry over generations?

Deuteronomy 28: 1-2 "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

1. The first thing we must do is: Daily Examine our self.

Gods word has all the answers to all the questions we have in life. He gives us daily instructions on how we should live and how we should treat each other. (This means everyone that is around us) Often when we get side tracked from His word, we tend to throw in our view and act upon our way over looking what God has said all along. We tend to interfere with His plan and that causes things to fall apart.

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. 


By asking the Lord to search us thoroughly and show us the things that may be hindering growth or interfering with Gods plan for our life. We are not only examining our life but we are allowing Him to have total control. If we want to be victorious in this life and lead a legacy that carries over, we must be willing to allow the Lord to help us. Unfortunately, this means, WE MUST be willing to ACCEPT: What He is showing or speaking to us. Be willing to admit that we are not perfect and that we do have flaws. We must learn to accept our flaws and surrender them to Christ.


     2. The second thing we need to lead our legacy is: Stay surrounded by God's Word.


Proverbs 4:20-22 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefuly to my words. Don't loose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them and healing to their whole body.

We must find time in our day for Gods Word. I realize that we all can have busy schedules. Been there done that many times. I think if I counted all the excuses I used and probably almost repeatedly I could probably say, "I have used every excuse in the book and then some." Truthfully, in the past, I have been convicted for those excuses. Today, I am reminded of them.


Most often used excuses: 

1.  I have to go to work. 
2. I gotta run errands. 
3. Tommy Jo needs a diaper change, then a bath. 
4.  Little Anna needs a bottle.
5. I'm constantly running after my kids over here and there. 
6. I have daily chores to do. 
7. My spouse is at work and I carry all the load at home. 
8. Gotta run my kids to their sports practice or game. 
9. I don't like to read. 
10. The bible is boring at first or I dont understand the bible.
11. I'm just to busy, period! 
12. The most famous of all, I'm sooo tired! Maybe tomorrow. 
13. Need I say more?!

The simple truth is, an excuse is really something we say or use when we do not want to do something. Don't believe me? Go to your webster and look for yourself. Thats a harsh smack to a lot of us, I know.

This is why it is so important to make time for Gods Word. Fortunately for us, today, we are what I like to say, Techno Addicts. With advance technology today, we all most always have some sort of technology device in our homes, in our hands, pockets, purses, cars, etc... If your on a computer, you have technology there before you. If we can not or in a lot of cases will not find time to read Gods word or meditate on it. 


We can certainly find the time to listen to it by using our Computers, Radio, Ipods, Cell Phones and lets not forget the Television. How often in our day do we have the television on? The radio? What about Ipod, Ipad, Computers? Most always something is on. So why not pop in our audio bibles, audio messages, mp3's, worship cd's. We are most always listening to something else, right? I like to think our household is pretty normal aside of the fact we are a bigger family then the average. There is always something going. We used to play worship music a lot long ago. After being reminded how important it is to have Gods word fed daily, we started listening to audio bibles again daily through out the day and even at bed time when we head for sleep. We have worship music of some kind on more then we did in the past. My kids love worship dvd's and praising to them. Listen, Why not?! Why aren't we replacing our usual things for Gods word and worship? 


We need Gods word to build us up and keep us strong. If we are not careful, we will walk in the life of the excuses we constantly give. And unfortunately, this will be the one flaw that everyone around us will always see and remember. Rest assured, We won't see this flaw, but everyone else will. Our time with God is important to not only nourish our spirit for growth, but time alone with him so that we can hear from Him what his plan for us is.

  3. Finally, We must be a willing vessel.


Have you ever found yourself saying things like: No. I will never go there! No, I will never do that! No, I will never be that person!

Remember that old preschool song: "O be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear. Be careful little mouth what we say....." Heaven help me! How many times have I spoke the word "NEVER" to my father up above... I would be a rich momma indeed for all the "NO, Never, NOT ME" that I have used. 


Honestly, How many "No Never's" will we use before we realize that, "O yes we will" do just what we said No to. It took me a long while before I finally realized that in Gods vocabulary, NO is NON-EXHISTANT! We say No, He honestly does not understand what NO means. It is an unfamiliar word to him. What we all do not realize is: Some how, some way, God will find a way to persuade us to say, YES! For a moment I would like to ask each of you to imagine this: "What if Jesus said, NO, to the father?" What kind of life would we have today? Where would we be?

Matthew 26:39 He went on a little father and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. --- Yet I want your will to be done, not mine..." Following Gods plan is not always easy. 


We must be committed and surrender total control to Him. Can you imagine the person we would become if we gave Him total control of our life? Can you imagine the things others would say if they saw a TRUE reflection of Christ in our life? We as moms are leading our children, but I ask each of us, How are we leading them? Are we setting Godly examples or are we setting worldly examples? We have all heard the saying, Actions speak louder then words. How true this is! Our actions are very visual and speak louder then words we may speak. Are we speaking Godly words daily or are we allowing the enemy to control what we say daily?

Psalm 127:3-4 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

We are all special and unique in one way or another. But we all have a few things in common. We are all daughters of royalty, because we all have the same father. He has blessed each of us with special gifts. One of these blessings is intended for a time in life when we have found our special loved one, so that we may bring forth our beautiful little blessings. Our precious gifts of children. What a high honor to be a daughter of Christ. What an even greater honor maturing in to that godly woman He created each of us to be. Accepting the responsibility of carrying a child in our womb, then bearing them and raising them to be godly men and women of Christ. 


In closing, something I ask each of us to think on: God has given each of us this awesome opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. While we can not help everyone, We can help at least one.

How can we make a difference in the life of another? Beginning today, building a legacy that will lead someone to Christ. Its not to late for any of us to change our legacy. Whether we realize it or not, daily, people are watching us. What we do, What we say! Our every move is being watched.

• The things we say or even the look on our face, Someone is watching...
• When we come in to church, Someone is watching...
• In the grocery store doing our shopping, Someone is watching...
• Our children, Our spouse, Our family, Our friends, Even complete strangers, They are watching us...
• In our hardest moments, when everything appears to be tumbling down on top of us. Our reactions or the very words we speak, Those around us, They are watching us...

Our every move and every word is under constant surveillance. Are we leading a positive legacy or a negative legacy? Who's reflection is seen in our life? The legacy we write this moment will either lead someone to Christ or push them away. Everyday we an opportunity to begin a new page in our legacy. If in the past we have not led the right kind of legacy, that is ok. Today is a new day. Today we can start by making a difference, beginning to lead a new legacy. A legacy that will make a difference in someone else's life. It is my prayer that through this word, each of us will examine ourself daily to ensure that we are leading a legacy that will draw others to Christ. One that will carry over from generation to generation. 


Happy Mother's Day from Christ Church Women!
                                                                                    
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