Monday, October 12, 2009

faith, a strong foundation



i feel blessed to have been raised in a loving christian family.  i have so many fond memories of our little country church, where the majority of my dad's family attended. i can close my eyes and see grandma and grandpa farmer at the end of their favorite pew. i can feel the wiggles of my younger brothers during the long sermon. spring brought lovely rays of sunshine through the stained glass windows and bird song from the big tree outside. as a family and a community we gathered there for simple sunday afternoon weddings. and as we laid our loved ones to rest we raised our voices to praise our maker with the words of "how great thou art". i was raised on faith, a strong foundation for living life with courage, dignity and humility.

and for that, i am most grateful!


9 comments:

Martha Lever said...

What a wonderful post, Julie. I also have similar memories of my dad sitting at the end of the pew singing out loudly his favorite hymns and my mother doing her best to keep me still. What great memories---and what a wonderful photograph. I love all of your photos.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Beautifully spoken and depicted with such grace. I can remember sitting there in church listening to the birds singing during spring migration. Those small churches hardly exist any more.

ArtistUnplugged said...

A really lovely post today.....those are treasured memories! Old hymns pop in my head all the time, such a comfort. I really enjoyed all your leaf photos...have a wonderful Monday.

steviewren said...

You're making me want to stand and sing the doxology....Praise God from whom all blessings flow...I have good memories from church as well. All of my good friends are from my church.

lori vliegen said...

yes, faith is truly a strong foundation!! i loved reading about your memories in church (and always love to hear stories about your grandma and grandpa farmer!). when i was a kid in church, my mom always had a fresh roll of lifesavers in her purse and pulled them out at "just the right moment"....and she'd let me mark the pages of the hymns that were going to be sung that morning! :))

Shannon said...

BEAUTIFUL! words and image! That is my ultimate, all time, FAVORITE song! "How Great Thou Art"... I'm singing it now! :)

Betsy Brock said...

Very blessed you are! :)

Nana Trish is Living the Dream said...

Julie, this was a great post. We are so blessed to have been raised in the church with such love. I pray for those that do not have faith to return to. God's love is the greatest thing in my life. You painted a picture with your words and your photo is neat. trish

Cindy said...

Julie
This was such a moving post. I too have many great memories, growing up in the church with my Dad, brother, and sister...and yes, wonderful memories of my Grandmother who always said, "Singing is twice praying"...I sure miss hearing her voice singing those hymns.