By Gina Caswell Kelly
I got the best gift this week! I found a box of cassette tapes of my daddy preaching. I had to immediately order a cassette player. Oh my goodness! I cannot tell you the joy I feel listening to my daddy’s sweet voice preaching one more time. To hear the whole service and hear names of people who were helping in one way or another. The little children’s helper for the Children’s Sermon. To hear the teenagers doing the scripture reading. It is just all almost breathtaking for me to hear all that once again.
While this is going on, my daughter and her husband are in the process of moving away. My youngest grandson is suddenly looking like a grown man. I saw some new pictures of Mike Kelly I had not seen in years. All of this has made me pretty nostalgic for the way things once were. Also, I think that is the nature of growing older. You just spend more time thinking about how things used to be.
Our memory is an amazing thing. Most of the time! As we get older, we tend to get a bit more forgetful about things happening now, but the past is lodged perfectly in our minds. It is truly such a blessing to be able to look back and think about our lives growing up or other sweet memories we have. Memory is a blessing from God.
I can so clearly remember the day I gave my heart to Jesus. I remember sitting outside on the cellar in Woodrow. Daddy and I were talking about God and life. I can so remember asking him if he thought God would save a little girl like me. (I was only 5!) And said, “Yes, He will save you.” And we prayed together on that cellar, out in the sunshine and with the sun shining down on us. I went back to Woodrow a while back, and while many things have changed, that cellar is still there. I took a picture of the place where God did save a little girl like me. What a precious memory!
I am going to beat on this drum one more time. Do your children know your stories? Do they know about the day you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Maybe that day has not come for you yet. Oh make it today! Don’t let another minute pass without asking Jesus to be Lord of your life. Tell your children. Tell your children’s children.
I am blessed with a wonderful legacy of being raised by a great man and woman of God. Where faith was lived out daily. I know others are not so lucky. But that legacy can start in you today! Right now! It can start today as you trust Jesus with your heart. And then lead your family in that same prayer. Oh it will make such a difference in your life! For now and all eternity.
