How Do We Hand Down a Heritage of Faith? Pay Attention & Remember Our Blessings are from God!

We have been looking at how we are part of God's plan to hand down a heritage of faith to our grandchildren, and we need to focus on doing so. Today I want to think about what it means when Deuteronomy 6 tells us to - 

• Be careful you do not forget the Lord.

Apparently the people of Israel had trouble with remembering all the things God did for them; how He saved them, led them and provided for them. Over and over they forgot. We tend to do the same. We think the things we have are because of our own efforts instead of remembering all we have are blessings from the hand of God. We forget God's goodness, but He says to be careful we do not forget. He wants us to remember and we need to remember. It is an important part of handing down a heritage of faith, because if we do not remember God and His many blessings, our grandchildren  are unlikely to do so. When this happens, we slip into sin. 

Psalms 78 and Judges 2 tell us how this happened with God's people over and over. They received blessings from God, parents and grandparents thanked God. Then, they forgot to tell their children and grandchildren and they accepted the culture of the nations around them, slipped away from God and into sin. Bad things happened, they turned back to God, thanked Him for His blessings, then forgot, didn't tell their children and grandchildren and it all happened over and over again.

If we are serious about handing down a heritage of faith, we have to remember our blessings come from God and teach this to our children and grandchildren, so they are able to do the same. We may do this in the following ways . . . 

• Pay attention to the blessings God gives us - big and small. Look for them! Make note of them! Pay attention!
• Tell our grandchildren how God has blessed you in the past and how He continues to do so today.
• Ask our grandchildren how God is blessing them.
• Make "Blessing Books" where you and your grandchildren write and/or draw your blessings - big and small. Go through them often to remember God's blessings and thank Him for them!

These are just a few ideas of how we are able to hand down a heritage of faith by paying attention to and remembering God's blessings!

#grandmas #handingdownthefaith #itmatterswhatwedo #grandparentingonpurpose