I have recently joined a couple of genealagy websites and am starting to feel a desire and a fire to be connected with my ancestors. Not only to be connected to my ancestors but to help my friends and family be connected to their ancestors as well. I love this little video and the analogy of the string. I want to be thought of and remembered someday. I don't want to be forgotten. God wants us to be connected with our ancestors. In Malachi 4: 5-6 it says, "
5 ¶Behold, I will asend you bElijah the prophet cbefore the coming of the dgreat and dreadful eday of the Lord:
6 And he shall aturn the bheart of the cfathers to the dchildren, and the heart of the echildren to their fathers, lest I come and fsmite the gearth with a hcurse."
Family history work and journals help us to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). As we learn stories about our ancestors, we see into their hearts and we appreciate them. As we write in our journals, we remember the Lord’s blessings and we help our future children see into our hearts.
I love hearing stories of my ancestors and reading things they have written because I gain a better understanding of who they are and as I come to understand who they are it gives me a greater understanding of who I am and who I can become.
I am grateful to be part of a great heritage. Learning about my ancestors and the great people they were and how hard they worked, and the trials they faced and how true they were to their knowledge and beliefs about God gives me strength to endure my trials. I want to have the same kind of faith they had. I think that if they can do it so can I because I'm part of them.
"We are who we are because they were who they were." Anonymous
If you haven't started any family history and would like to get started here are a couple of websites I use that have been helpful:
Writing in a journal is a good way to get started, too, for your own posterity. The things we experience are not just for us to learn from but also our posterity.
You can also click here to find out more about why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints emphasizes Family History work.
(Kary's Great Grandma and Grandpa Behm with most of their children. Kary's Grandpa is in the front row, in the middle. They are Russian Born Germans.) So COOL!
