Daughters
Psalm 115:14
May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.
What can I say? I love my children. I love my sons. I love my daughters. I am blessed. For those that have children, you are reading these words and nodding in agreement…knowing you feel the same about your sons and daughters. God did something so marvelous for us…allowing us to experience here on this planet…FAMILY. How wonderful He is.
This past weekend I took Sara and Bethany with me to the final Deeper Still conference at Freedom Hall. Deeper Still has been going on for ten years and has ministered to over 110,000 women in that time. Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer and Kay Arthur are the speakers. It was a wonderful weekend and God was very present and exalted in that place. But, I was ministered to by much more than the 3 speakers…as wonderful as they were.
Seeing my daughters follow hard after the God that they love is sometimes more than my heart can stand. Seeing them worship Him with their whole heart. Serving Him with their gifts.
Watching them love their children is such an emotional thing for me. Knowing they are called mama now always puts a smile on my face.
Knowing that they each are trying to figure out just what God would have them do makes me so proud. If I feel this way, I cannot imagine how God must feel about them!
It is so hard being a woman of God, mother, wife, employee, daughter, sister and whatever other hat you may wear. Life today is complicated…do I hear an AMEN??!! Young women, like Sara and Bethany, need to know that we are here for them. Those that have gone before and walked down some of the paths they are walking…we know those paths. They are embedded in our brains…mistakes made…dreams fulfilled…wrong turns…right turns…bad decisions…good decisions…days of screaming kids…days of sick kids…days of short tempers…days of patience…days that we seemed all alone…days when everything in the world seemed right. Remember those days dear women?? I do. And I am here to say that what I see in my precious daughters gives me a feeling of such hope and pride.
In this world where women are trying to make it to the top by whatever means possible. Where women are in such competition with one another…thinking only of themselves…spending themselves into oblivion…walking the other way when they see someone in need…and the worse thing of all…turning their back on the One Who gave Himself for them. I look at my daughters and see two women…who though not perfect…are seeking Him…are tender toward His ways…receptive to His discipline…listening for His leading…and loving Him. They are loving their children in such sweet ways…very unique to each one of them. And even though they miss their daddy more than they can express…they march forward in their faith walk. Knowing that the legacy they leave behind for their children is just as important as the one they are following now from Rick.
How great is our God! To allow us the honor of parenting. And when we have raised our children in His ways and they continue that legacy with their own children…how blessed we are. Watching with a front row seat during this season of my life…I feel so very blessed. I am in awe of my daughters and what they do every day. My prayer is that one day they will be in this place…watching their children do what they are doing now. Loving God with all their heart…following hard after Him and teaching THEIR children His ways. Family…children…daughters…thank you Lord for these precious gifts.
Sending much love,
Debbie
