Perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children is to Believe God!

I had the privilege of being raised by a mom and dad who loved and believed God.  They trusted His promises and His character. And I was so blessed to watch what that looked like.  Even when my own life seemed to be falling apart in different seasons, their faith and their witness had a way of restoring my hope and confidence in God.

One of my earliest memories of my mother is especially precious to me.

Every morning, as a little girl, I could see Mom’s feet through the doorway of our dining room, where she knelt to pray before beginning another busy day of wrangling five children.

I don't remember what she prayed.

I don't remember her giving me a lesson about the importance of prayer.

I remember her feet.

And I remember knowing that before Mom faced everything that day would bring, she went to God.

Decades later, my sister quietly took a photograph one night when she checked on Mom. There she was again—on her knees in prayer.

She wasn't teaching a lesson. She didn't even know anyone was watching.

She was simply doing what she had done for a lifetime.

She believed God.

What a legacy.

Maybe that is why Paul's words about Timothy touch me so deeply:

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”
—2 Timothy 1:5

First Lois.

Then Eunice.

Then Timothy.

Three generations of faith.

And notice what Paul recognized in Timothy. This wasn't merely something his grandmother and mother had taught him. Their faith had become his own.

Paul saw a sincere faith dwelling in Timothy.

It had become one of his identifying traits.

I wonder what Timothy saw growing up.

Did he see Lois praying when she was worried? Did he watch Eunice trust God when she couldn't see what He was doing? Did he hear them speak of God's faithfulness around the table or watch them turn to Him when life was difficult?

Scripture doesn't tell us those details.

But I know what I saw.

I saw my mother's feet inside that doorway.

And without realizing it, I was learning something about God.

He was real to her.

He could be trusted.

He was the One she turned to first.

Perhaps that is one of the most powerful ways we pass our faith to our children and grandchildren.

We teach them the Bible. We take them to church. We pray with them. We tell them about Jesus.

But we also let them see us believe God.

They see what we do when the diagnosis is frightening.

They watch us when a child is struggling.

They hear us when a prayer hasn't been answered the way we hoped.

They see whether we still believe that God is good when life doesn't feel good.

That doesn't mean they need to see perfect faith.

My parents weren't perfect, and neither am I.

It simply means letting the children we love see that, underneath our questions and fears, there is something solid:

God is who He says He is.
His promises are true.
And He can be trusted.

Psalm 78 speaks of one generation telling the next about God so that even children yet unborn would someday “set their hope in God.”

I love that picture.

Faith traveling forward.

From Lois to Eunice to Timothy.

From my mother to me.

And now, by God's grace, from me to my children and grandchildren.

Carrie's Corner

Mamas and grandmas, sometimes we wonder whether the things we do are really making a difference.

I can tell you this:

They are watching.

I don't remember the words my mother prayed all those mornings.

But I remember her feet.

And all these years later, I understand what they were teaching me:

My mother believed God.

What greater legacy could I leave my own children and grandchildren than for them to someday say the same thing about me?

Mom believed God.

Grandma believed God.

And perhaps, by God's grace, someone will someday look at them and see what Paul saw in Timothy:

That same sincere faith now lives in them.