I have always identified with 2 Timothy 1:5 where Paul tells Timothy “I have been reminded
of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your
mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
I am so thankful for my Christian heritage. See My mom is a
pastor’s wife, her mom was a pastors wife and her mom mom’s was a pastor’s
wife. 
But when mom and dad got married
they weren't saved. My life would have turned out very different if dad and mom had not
got saved. I have heard all my life of how mom and dad spent their weekends in
bars. This is a picture of mom in 1970. If this was the lady that raised me, I would be a different woman all together. Does this lady to the left look like a pastor's wife???
My parents raised me in church. Not like regular
church like most people think of when they hear that they think “oh yeah me
too, Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday nights, and once and a while
when we would have special services we would go then to” No, that’s not what I
mean. I was literally raised in the church. Dad started preaching full time
when I was only a few months old. And we attended church nightly, as he began
saying “yes” to every preaching invitation he was offered, something I am still
not sure he has learned to say “no” to yet.
I don’t understand a lifestyle that church is optional. I
can’t tell you the first time I heard someone talk in tongues. I don’t know a
life that this is not 100% normal behavior. I was taught how to figure out the
sale prices on clothes in relation to tithes, if something is 20% off that
means tithes twice. To me prayer and a relationship with God is as natural as
the sun coming up in the morning. Because my parents didn't just take me to
church but they raised me with a Kingdom mentality I think and look at the
world differently. I didn't live perfect as a teenager and young adult. But
even when I was furthest away from God I never doubted who God was, if he was
real, if he loved me or my experiences with him. Because of the things mom and
dad taught me and the way they raised me I knew that God was never gonna leave
me alone, I was gonna have to straighten up and fly right cause He was a God of
love that would always pursue me.
So, I am Thankful that God allowed me to be raised in a
Christian home. I am thankful that my “normal” is a Pentecostal experience. I
am thankful that I was raised in a home where the daddy isn't perfect but he
loves God so extravagant and preaches the word passion that it is contagious to
those around him. I am thankful for a mother who sets an amazing example as a
pastors wife of excellent character and faith. I am thankful that the God I
asked to be my personal savior I was 3 years old, is the same yesterday today
and forever.
