A Lesson from one Parent to Another

April 18, 2011

I've been claiming that 2011 is the year of "Growth" for me. I'd been doing a pretty good job, reading my bible, going to church, implementing Christian principles in my life (ie taming my tongue, among other things). Then God decided to step it up a notch. Now, I've got a choice to make. I can wallow in the "challenge" or I can turn it completely over to God for Him to remove the hurt and expect a healing in my heart and mind.

I might have chosen the former. Then, I saw this posted on Facebook this morning: Anticipating a blessed day today! :) Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my Father's God and I will exalt Him. It made me realize that maybe I've just been sitting in my disappointment. The reason I can't seem to "shake" it, is because I'm doing nothing. I need to stand up and sing praises to my Father! I need to step out in faith knowing this is going to be healed abundantly! I need to go to Him and let Him wrap me in His arms and love this girl!

God wants me to praise Him in all things. He wants me to believe Him for all things. He wants me to trust Him in all things. He wants me to dig deep into my faith and continue to know that He is God and that I am not to be shaken or paralyzed by difficulties. He wants me to continue to grow and to trust Him for everything. He wants me to show Him that my roots run deep and that I am strong in my faith. He wants to know that He can trust me in the little things because He also wants to trust me with bigger things. My Father is growing me.

Recently, I had a conversation with my daughter about her trusting me. She's got a little problem with me reading her text messages. She thinks that if I trusted her, then I wouldn't read them. When I tell her that I need to know what's going on in her life to be sure my trust in her is well deserved and to observe and guide her decision making skills in different situations to protect her, she just does not get it! It's hard to explain to a twelve year old the concept of protecting & guiding them. They often don't believe that they need protecting or guiding. They're still invincible and they already know it all. It's not easy to get kids to believe that you really do want what's best for them and that you're not just trying to torture them for sport. I need to remember that my relationship with God is very similar in this aspect. He knows what's best for me. He is going to test me by "reading my text messages just to be sure that I can handle what's laid before me". He wants me to prove to Him that He can trust me. He wants me to come to Him with everything, just like I want my daughter to come to me and keep me involved in all that's going on in her life, no matter how trivial or monumental.

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8