A Godly Heritage: Unearthing My Destiny

Little did I know so many years ago when I was running from my family's heritage of living off the land that first my husband and then myself would someday get a very similar calling. Because of the values of hard work, saving and prudence that my parents taught through living on the land it was so ingrained in me that my fat mortgage, fancy cars and perfect manicures just didn't satisfy me. God was stirring things up in Jon and I to do things not-so-normal just as I had before. The very things I was running from began to seep in as desires for my own life.

Erin, age 6
 
Through our journey and struggle to know what this all meant we were led to take my parent's offer to live on part of the land that I grew up on and to stake our claim on the Meadows' compound. While my dad doesn't give anything away, he has made special arrangements to make it doable. (Let this be a lesson to all parents, that you remove a valuable learning opportunity from your children - even grown children-- when you just give them things). At one time all 7 of us kids lived on the 20 acres, 3 of us in our own houses! 
 
                                                    Dirk, Erin, Andrew (1984)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna, Katie, Ali, Andrew, Erin (1989)

 

Oh the blessings from being able to work in this dirt that God once formed with His own hands and has now been given as a special gift to our family, working right alongside wise parents as they continue to pass down learning treasures to us grown children, spouses and grandchildren.




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sierra, Mesa, Will, Kaden  

                                                           Mesa, Sadie, Lily, Will (2008)                             

Now it is so clear to me why I struggled so hard living out this calling as I was finding my own wings. What an impact my husband and I, coming from Godly families can have on our world as we raise our boys and what will trickle down into each generation from the strength in this simple-land-living-God-driven calling. I get a vision of my boys and their families and other offspring of the family that might decide to live here too someday and I just smile with God.
 

This year as my husband I are preparing to build a more permanent home on our little acreage, I have started doing a prayer walk on the land. I pray for any who walk there now, for the generations to come who will be touched by the land and that as we each continue to toil it will be blessed. I feel the prayers that have already been whispered upon this ground I walk, uplifted from my parent's hearts and hands all those years. Kaden, Jon, Will, Erin

What a blessing it is to have been raised in such a Godly family and taught such a rich heritage that has almost been forgotten in this fast-paced, technological-based society. Now that I've fully embraced what God always had for me I am proud to live out this destiny no matter how weird it might seem to the world.
 Erin, January 2009
Do you know the calling God has placed on your family? Are you living fully devoted to that calling?



 

Erin