This year we said goodbye for now to my mom, Rose Marie Miller, so of course we did some thinking about what she left to us. She was not a rich woman (missionaries tend not to be), but what she had she gave—faith, love, and hope, all based on her love for Jesus.
She wasn’t shy about sharing her needs, struggles, and sins. If you prayed with her, you heard it all! That was her legacy to us (five children and spouses, twenty-four grandchildren, and sixty-two great grandchildren). She gave us a living example of what it means to live by faith in a world where life can and does go badly wrong.
A big part of her legacy to us was her love for God’s words. She was always quoting a Bible verse to us. When I was young, I remember some of them being a bit law oriented. When I didn’t want to get out of bed (a daily occurrence), she would say, “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a strong man” (Proverbs 6:10–11, mom’s paraphrase). Or when my room was a mess (another daily occurrence), she would say, “go to the ant you sluggard, consider it’s ways and become wise” (Proverbs 6:6). But then there were other verses that we memorized together: The Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23, Romans 8, Isaiah 53, and many more.
When I left faith and family at eighteen, I thought I left all those verses behind. And truthfully, I didn’t think much about them for many years. But when God picked me and my husband up, turned us around, and set out feet on his solid ground, one unexpected result is that they all came back to me. It turns out that God’s word really does never return to him empty.
Now I was interested in the verses that my mom had to share with me and took them to heart. They became my daily bread too. She still had a verse for every occasion. I remember when I was pregnant with our first child and shared with her how anxious I was about everything. She quoted Philippians 4:6–7 to me, “Don’t be anxious about anything but in everything through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Then she prayed for me. What a good word and how much I needed to hear that then—and even now 43 years later.
And then there was the time I visited her in the hospital. She was reading Ezekiel 37 and musing about how the Spirit can make dry bones live. She wanted to be part of that big story—sharing the good news that Jesus had come to breathe life into his people. And so she transitioned from being a bereft widow, to a missionary who shared that good news all over the world.
It might seem like my mom set the bar a bit high when it comes to leaving a lasting legacy, but really it was very simple. She heard from God, took those words to heart, and shared what she heard. We can all do that and when we do, we will also see that God’s word never returns to him empty. Those words can and will change hearts and minds. That’s a legacy that will never fade away.
The Bible Wonder Box
With 366 carefully selected passages, this treasury of Bible verses makes Scripture accessible, meaningful, and practical for everyday life. Each card features one to three verses along with a brief explanation to help parents and children understand and apply what they read, opening the door for bigger conversations about the Bible.
