All to Jesus I Surrender

To Him who sits on the throne and unto the
Lamb be glory, power and dominion forever.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Heritage

It's always been an intrest of mine, coming from somewhere and someone. In junior high I started having these stirrings within to be in touch with my heritage. I have always known that I was a "Rebel girl" and began in childhood listening to country, pinning the Confederate Battle flag on my bedroom wall, and preferring to hang out with friends who thought the same about these kind of things as me. In the words of Barbara Mandrell, "I was country when country wasn't cool." Nowadays, according to the PC crowd, being what I am isn't so cool. Oh, well.

As a Christian, I am also stirred within about where I am going. I belong to God, I am His child, adopted by Him, and will some day become a citizen of Heaven. Oh, this isn't too cool with the PC'rs either.

But what an awesome thing to look at where I came from and learning about some of the people in my lineage and seeing the hand of God bring me to where I am now. Before my biological mother died, she told me of the lady I am named after, Dessie Mae (I am Dessie Ann). Dessie Mae was her grandma. My mother told me more than once about spending the night at her grandma's and at bedtime laying there in her grandma's bed, watching her kneel by the bed and listening to her pray. She prayed for her husband and children. She prayed for her grandchildren. She prayed for her great grandchildren and her posterity. She prayed for me, and I wasn't even born yet. She prayed for my children and I dont have them yet. And I am named after this godly lady.

Also recently I have discovered my dad's line has been traced on both sides. I knew about his dad's lineage, but didn't know until a couple of weeks ago about his mothers. It seems it has been traced thus far back to the late 1600's early 1700's in Switzerland. The next generation came to America. They stayed for one generation in Lancaster Co. PA and belonged to a church group known as Ephrata Cloister. From what I've researched on that, it seems this was a very devout, God fearing group of people. The line moves on to Dekalb Co. TN where the line remained (and some still remain there to this day.) My great, great, great grandpa was named John Calvin Atnip. There is a John Calvin in my line...how cool is that! He was named after one of my favorite theologians.

What gets even cooler, John Calvin and 3 of his brothers served in the Confederate Army. One of the brothers died in a Union POW camp in Indiana. John however, lived until well after the Great War was over. I now have proof to become a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and that is really cool too!

A few years before my mother died, she became a believer in Jesus Christ. She began praying for me and a couple of years later, I too accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord.

This is a legacy I want to pass to my children. The godliness of my forefathers, the Cause for which some of them fought, a love for Dixie, an inheritance of the Confederacy, and a hunger for an even greater inheritance-an eternal inheritance.

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