A Family of God – Reunion!

This week-end I attended a Family Reunion and even though a great time was had by all, it was a vivid reminder why I came to Christ in the first place! Many of you don’t really know my testimony and space will not permit me to tell in detail, but bear with me as I share a portion…

When I was a child I grew up in a home, where my mother had married a man who was emotionally and physically abusive to her; I rarely saw my own father until I was nearly a teen-ager and we went to live with him for a short while and while there we were emotionally abused by his new wife!

Without going through the details, let it suffice to say that my childhood was painful and because of the complexities of the home situations we lived in – I was in a constant state of fear and anxiety.

Never an artist, when asked to draw pictures in art, my picture would always look the same – a house with two windows downstairs, one window on the second floor in the front. Flowers planted in front of the house, a tree planted on the side, and a picture of the sun was shining over the house. Every picture, always the same. This was my dream – a house where the sun was shining brightly with a happy family inside.

Time passed, and people who were friends of my mother took in my sister and brother and I. Although they were not our parents, we were relatively happy there – but all too soon we were sent back to live with our father and the instability began again.

One day after I graduated from college, I met someone who had a very large family (seven brothers and sisters) and a Pastor for a Father, and a mother who stayed home. These were extensions of my dream – and all too soon this man bcame my husband.

Skipping some of the details, I want to say that after marrying into this family, I began to believe that a stable, nuclear family, that loved God and loved each other was possible – and desiring this more than life itself – I became a Christian!

This “family” was the hook that roped me into this Kingdom of promises – promises that God was no respecter of persons and what He did for one, He would do for all. I believed the report and embraced the report and now eight children, and six more spouse children and fourteen grand-children later, I live in a house like my picture and the sun is always shining (even when it’s raining) over this house.

Christ kept His promise to me, that if I would serve Him, He would save my family – and more than that He has blessed me to see that family extended beyond those of blood and birth – to hundreds of sons and daughters in the family of God. A phrase from a song, music and lyrics written by Bill Gaither rings in my ear:

“I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God,
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I’m part of the family, the family of God!”

God Bless You,
Maria