Dear, Sweet Daughter of Mine,
I love you so much.
No matter what is going on, whether we are having fun or we are having a problem, I want you to remember that I love you. Nothing you do or say can make me love you more or less because I already love you as much as a mama can love her girl!
Sometimes even people that really love each other go through hard times together. We have been going through one of those tough times lately, haven’t we? But I promise I will keep trying to do my job as your parent. The most important part of my job is to follow Jesus in what I do and pray for you to follow me towards Him. It’s like Jesus is the Shepherd, I am His head sheep and you are one of my flock. I follow Him and keep ringing the bell around my neck as I come closer to Him and you hear the sound of the bell follow my lead.
That means I have to train you in His ways and try to help you find Jesus in your heart and in all the things you do.
I want the best for you! But that will only happen if I keep trying to be the best mom I can by teaching and training you in the way God instructs me to. And I promise to keep close to His Word.
And sweetheart, here is what’s so cool about your job as the daughter: God gave you Jesus and He gave you the Holy Spirit. That's how I know you can hear that bell I keep ringing as I follow Jesus through the pasture. That’s how I know you can understand what direction you need to go! You can change what you do and how you say things because you have the power of His Spirit in your heart and Jesus leading you. You have the strength to stay away from sin and temptation (sorta like the big rocks and deep holes in the field you could get hurt in).
YOU CAN DO IT! You won’t be perfect…at least I hope not because I am FAR from perfect and I wouldn’t know what to do with a perfect daughter! But if you know you need Jesus, I know WE CAN WORK TOGETHER TO GET OUT OF OUR RUT.
I need Jesus too! We ALL do. We cannot do good things without Him. It’s too tempting to make selfish or bad choices. We need Jesus to love and guide us. We need Him to save us from our sin! Every day I ask Him for help….many times.
Every day I try to look into my heart for the power of the Holy Spirit to help me make good choices. Sometimes it's hard and I'm tempted to do the wrong thing.
That's when I remember how I'd rather blow beautiful bubbles than make a mess all over everyone like with the tube of toothpaste.
I know it has not looked like bubbles around here lately.
I know it is not fun to have consequences for disrespect and a bad attitude.
And I definitely know it's not fun for me to give those punishments to you.
But when I read my Bible it reminds me of how God wants me to train you into a beautiful shining bubble that spreads His love and light all over, even when it doesn’t look so pretty! I pray for you each day to reach for God's strength when things seem hard.
And my sweet daughter, here’s the last thing I want you to really hear: Hard times can make us better people. It's like when you squeeze an orange. The best part of the orange comes out when you squeeze it. The sweet, yummy, healthy juice comes oozing out when the orange is squeezed, pressed and pressured. Maybe the orange doesn't like to be squeezed and pressed! Maybe it is hard for the orange! But soon as it releases those sweet juices, we enjoy it even more!
Maybe that's what you are going through now. You are being pressed and squeezed and you feel like you're under pressure. But as soon as you soften up like the orange does when we squeeze it, you will become better, stronger and sweeter. You will become more of who God wants you to be. THAT WOULD BE A GREAT REWARD!!—SO, my love, I am praying you let God’s work be done in your heart so you can taste the sweet blessings from this situation.
Let’s pray together that this hard time (even the discipline) teaches you and squeezes you closer to God.
Soften your heart, lean on God and remember how much I love you. You will know how wonderful and how much more joy and happiness each day can bring, even while you do simple things like helping out with your chores, playing a game just hanging with the family.
I love you,
Mommy
Comments