Faith Grows

The history of faith in our family has a lot to do with the way we look at life and how we live it. I can see how the lord has been working all along. What I share here is from my perspective and what I learnt from my past.

The Mennonite faith came out of the reformation. One of the points of contention was baptism. Baptism was a symbol of what one had accepted by faith and ones life after was to show on belonged to the Lord. Through the years different rules were added and the church became one of does and don'ts and salvation by faith was kind of forgotten.

By the time they came to Canada the branch of the Mennonite church my grandparents were a part of didn't believe we could know for sure we would go to heaven after death. You could only hope you were good enough. To acknowledge this was to be proud.

These rules led many, especially men to believe they were supreme ruler in the home. this led to much hardship for the wives and children in many cases. There was widespread incest in families as father sexually abused their girls and other vices.

Grandma Dyck made sure her girls were safe but in doing so often found herself pregnant having 17 children in 20 years.

Grandpa Heppner had such a bad temper and was hard on grandma and the family. (My dad led him to the Lord just before he died.). Inspite of many obstacles most of the family became believers and were part of a good church.

So, when revival started in the church when Mom & Dad were young adults, they were part of the new church that was started. There were many changes in their lives and they had to find their way as they studied the Bible and attended this church.

Looking back I could still see some of the old teaching in their lives but they tried hard to live for the Lord. I know they made mistakes in raising their family but their heartfelt desire was for all of us to follow the Lord. When I think back to how we raised our family I know we made mistakes, even though we had much more teaching than they did.

so, I have forgiven them for the mistakes that I felt were made and trust our family will be able to forgive us for the mistakes we have made.

I will be eternally grateful for my heritage and for the way the Lord has been at work in the whole of our big family.