Legacy: Part 2: Finding Faith

Lillian Steiger did not have an easy life.  Circumstances, some self-inflicted, caused her to be often looked down upon by society, and, I think, she sometimes felt desperate for love and acceptance.  I have a feeling she often struggled with doubt.  I don't know if she ever found faith, but I do know that that somehow, either through watching her own mother struggle or through watching her mother climb out of her doubt, Lillian's youngest daughter, Bernice, became a woman of great faith.  And THAT is the legacy I wish to pass to my children.

Bernice Hepner was my grandmother.  Although, for 20-some years, she always told me that I was her daughter twice--once through genealogy and once through Christ's family, because it was my grandma Hepner who held me on her lap and led me to Christ when I was four years old.  

Several years ago, when reminiscing about my childhood with my grandma, she said that she couldn't remember leading me to Christ.  It made me sad.  

But I can't say I was surprised.  

Grandma forgot everything.  

How to drive.  Where her glasses were.  Who she was talking to.  What she was doing.  How to play Oh No 99.  Who she was mad at.  What she was laughing at.  Where she parked the car.  How to use the computer.  

Oh, wait.  She never knew how to do that.  

I think I've figured out why Grandma forgot things so easily:  Her mental files were too full of her knowledge of God.  

See, to have faith in God, one must know intimately who He is.  And Grandma knew, because Grandma had faith.  

Grandma's faith in God was most evident in her prayer life.  She prayed for everybody.  Even the mayor.  She prayed for the local bar, the Mad Bull, to burn down.  And it did.  Twice.  

And most of all, she prayed for her family.  

Jesus says, "Ask, and it will be given to you.  Seek, and you will find.  Knock and the door will be open to you."  Matthew 7:7

When we get to heaven, i think we are going to see that grandma prayed us through a lot of things.  

One gift for which I will always be indebted to my grandmother is the gift of my husband's salvation.  

From the moment I was born, Grandma told me she was praying for my future spouse.  At eight, I told her to give it up; I was never going to like boys.  She made me state it in writing and gave me this "contract" for a wedding present!

Marc, my main squeeze, was five years old when I was born.

And at age five, right when my grandma started praying for my future husband, Marc felt led, though raised in a spiritual void, to go to church.  He bravely walked next door and asked the neighbors if he could attend church with them.  At five.  Seriously.

Talk about the work of the Holy Spirit.

Talk about an answer to prayer.

Jesus also said, "You don't have enough faith...I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say  to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible."  Matthew 17:20

Grandma had enough faith.

And I want to have enough faith.

So I can teach my children to have enough faith.

So that they can teach their children to have enough faith.

A legacy.

Hebrews 11:1  Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.