Oh Baby: 14 Devotions for New ParentsSample

You Have a Good Legacy

You shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations. ISAIAH 54:3 NKJV

Kids are, by design, legacy bearers. Everything from genetics to geographical accent can be passed from one generation to another. Depending on your family situation, the knowledge that you can pass on things to your kids is either exciting or terrifying. Fortunately, God is the legacy maker. A parenting partnership with God will strengthen your good legacies and redeem the bad.

Sakura grew up with an alcoholic father. The history of abuse, pain, and confusion from her own childhood was enough to make her worry about raising healthy children. Could she impart pure love to her daughter when her own childhood was full of trauma? And would she, when things got tough, use alcohol to solve her problems? She was advised by a pastor friend to pour out her concerns to God and then leave them at His feet. As her daughter grew, never once did Sakura repeat the example her father set for her as a child. Instead, when times were hard, she prayed and she carried God’s peace. The best part is, that Sakura doesn’t worry that her daughter will carry on a legacy of destruction. The cycle is broken.

Derek’s grandfather started a heating and cooling company in the 1920s. Derek would toddle around the storefront as a boy while his dad and grandpa worked in the machine shop and his mom helped customers. He loved growing up in a family that worked together, but when he went to college he decided to take a different path from the family business. His degree in psychology and a satisfying marketing career have little to do with the shop his great-grandfather started. But from his family, Derek had learned important values: hard work, together time, adapting to change, and showing excellence and kindness toward people. Derek defines his career and family life as successful.

Whatever your legacy, the Lord will lead you in healing from your past and passing on the good. When you lean, He leads. That’s a promise.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for making me part of a legacy worth passing on. And today I trust You with the parts I would rather not share with my children. Make us a family that glorifies You—through our healing, our growth, and our love for You.