Have you ever mined your family’s spiritual heritage? This can be an interesting way to look at the legacies left by family members you never met. With all the genealogy websites and ancestry information available, it’s much easier these days to fill out that family tree.

Digging into your family’s past can certainly reveal a few skeletons, but it might also show you that your faith was preceded by the faith of others who wholeheartedly sought God. There is a sense of companionship when you discover that great-great-grandmother who was known for her faithful service to her church or the great-uncle who knew just how to share the gospel.

You have to dig, though. It’s usually through research and creative problem-solving that you discover the letters or the diary that shows you the faith that was always there. We can feel alone in our faith, even among our families, but we don’t have to. We can dig for the gold of faith—or we can commit to leaving a legacy of faith for someone else to discover.