Inherited Religion or Learned Relationship…

I come from a family of strong Christian women, or as my mom told me once when I was struggling as a new mom of two…”a long line of pioneer women” as our family hails from Appalachia, mostly in East Tennessee.

They put on their Levi’s, fed their families, read their Bibles, and said their prayers…all while going through an inner turmoil in their minds.

My Mommaw’s favorite phrase is often, “put your big girl panties on and deal with it.”

The women in my family are some of the strongest people I know. They are the kind of people that if they saw that someone in their town was struggling or needed help, they would not only be the first ones out the door, but they would also be the ones to make sure something was organized to continue support.

When my mommaw saw that her church no longer had the capacity to have a children’s ministry, she started having children’s Bible lessons out of her home. As long as I can remember, my mom was always going on mission trips on her summer break from teaching. Every time there was a ministry that needed to created or supported, the women in my family were always there (most often they were the ones leading the charge).

I seek God on my own, but I learned the importance of Christian community from my mother.

My mother loves God, but she learned how to pray from my grandmother.

My grandmother cherishes God, but she learned how to make reading scripture a priority from my great-grandmother.

I don’t believe in God simply because that’s what my parents believed. I have seen Him work in my life in so many unexpected (and sometimes extremely painful) ways. At one point in my adult life, I had to separate what was my parents’ religion and what was my own personal relationship with God.

I have my own relationship with Jesus, that I don’t claim to have just because my mom believed in Him. But, watching my mom (along with my Mommaw and great-aunt Minnie), shaped who I am as a woman in Christ.

I saw first hand how they put God first, took care of their families, cared for their church communities & neighbors, and carried themselves.

The women of my family radiate sunshine, but they also know how to fight when a spiritual war is at hand.

They are everything that is described in Proverbs 31:25-30

“Strength and dignity are her clothing,
    and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
    and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently,
    but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

I know that I have learned HOW to fear the Lord from the “long line of pioneer women,” but I also know that it is up to me to grow my OWN relationship with Jesus. I am not a Christian simply because my mom is. I learned how to become a Jesus follower because the women in my family showed me the way.