FAMILY

There are many times throughout the year that our family comes together.  We just honored our fallen soldiers by remembering them on Memorial Day and Chris’ side of the family came to gather to give thanks for our military men and women and to enjoy the fellowship of family.

Our family has grown over the years and we are now using community centers and meeting rooms for most of our gatherings. As of right now, on the Bigness side of the family, there is 37 of us when we are together but any day now we will welcome a new grand baby into the world and that will make 38.   Then of course there are boy friends and girl friends that tag along as well as family friends from time to time.  Our family has been blessed with love for one another.  Does this mean we never have disagreements? No, but it means that we love each other in spite of it and we understand that we all have our own opinions and that is what makes our family all the more unique.

When I became one of the girlfriends that was tagging along to the different family gatherings I was included just like I was family.  I quickly realized that the reason this family was so different from others was because they were grounded in their relationship with God and had a personal relationship with Christ.  My mother-in-law, Grandma Carolyn, has now gone home to Heaven  but she was an example of how you were to live your faith.  She was our family’s prayer warrior.

The example Grandma lived helped us all to understand that God was more than what you learn from reading His Word. We all would quickly tell you she was a woman of God who based her faith on personal experience with God.  Her prayers for her family has encouraged us all to seek after God and make that personal connection.  I believe each of us would tell you our faith and belief in God is based on our personal relationship and experiences with Him more so than on His Word alone.

Yes, we do have traditions but those traditions are practiced because of our love for God or Lord and Savior.  We read about the birth of Christ at Christmas, we pray before our meals and before we go to sleep at night.  Easter normally brings us together again because we want to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we dedicate our children to the Lord when they are born, we share the stories from the Bible and yes, we believe in miracles.  We do all of this not because of what the Bible says, but because of what we have seen and experienced.  This is why our family still gathers together, this is why our family loves one another unconditionally.

We are FAMILY because of our faith in the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  We are united and strong because of our personal relationships with God.  Our love comes from God!

This is FAMILY!

1 John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (kjv)

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (kjv)