Point of No Return

There comes a time in life when your child crosses the threshold and their innocence will never return.

I remember one day when Abby was little and she came home and told me that there were two men living around the corner from us and they were married. We had to talk about a subject that I wasn't prepared to have with her while she was just a little child.

Recently, there have been issues that have come before us with the kids. You wish you could go back and protect them from the evils of the world. You wish that you could spread your wings over them and return to a place where life is filled with butterflies and sandcastles and the most complicated conversations are about what you will put on the dinner table. Life moves at a frightening pace and hard conversations take place at an earlier and earlier age.

I wish it were not so, I prayed it were not so. Recently we had some conversations with Dylan. But that day of no return came, there was nothing we could do to stop the wheels from turning. I guess you could say it is better to have conversations in our own home, so they can hear the Godly point of view and the consequences of certain choices. Recently at my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers), I sat and watched the young moms, thinking how simple their life is at this point. They are able to control all the outside influences of their young ones. One day, as they grow older, the influences become greater and their innocent child will be pulled and tugged many different directions. One day that baby will no longer enjoy the title "innocent".

There are safeguards we can put into place while Abby and Dylan live under our roof, but at some point, our children will make their own choices and the only place we will be able to be is on our knees. I have watched many before me, some in spite of their prayers and unconditional love and support have watched their children make many UnGodly decisions. They cry out to God for His protection and mercy. I'm not sure where my precious children are headed. There are no guarantees in spite of our love and prayers.

I pray for them to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I pray for sin to be revealed quickly before it takes a stronghold in their life. I pray for them to feel unconditional love from us and their Heavenly Father. I pray for Godly friends who make Godly choices. I pray for their future spouses, that God will keep them safe and help them to be who God created them to be. But most of all I pray above all else, that our kids will Love God and Love their Neighbor.

The truth is, none of us are innocent. We were all born into a sinful world. If we don't do our job though and be proactive in their training, in their education, in their relationships, in our relationships with them, in their spiritual lives, we will reap what we sow. I often say, there are children who come up and there are children who are brought up. When the day comes that we realize we can't go back, it is ours to just love them unconditionally and to point them to Jesus. In reality, they really aren't ours anyways, they are just given to us on loan.

The Greatest of Gifts

Relationship

Today I am overwhelmed and filled with joy beyond belief. You ask God for something and He gives you more than you could ever imagine. It is the height of abundant living.

At the beginning of the year I always ask Him to change or reveal something in my character to make me more like Him. This year I asked Him to teach me what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. He has revealed His plan over and over in His greatest creation, YOU!

My dad was right all of the years he breathed life into my being...People are eternal. Things will pass away.

This is a special letter written to everyone who has ever been a part of my life, who has helped me be who I am today. I look back over the decades of my life. Some of you watched me grow up. Others went to school with me. Still others walked some very fun years of my life through high school and college. Some walked with me while I was figuring out who I was and helped me tear down walls, showing me that I could be transparent, people don't care if you are perfect.

Others held our babies, and sang them lullabies. Some have watched our kids grow up and will walk with us when we have to give them wings to fly away, which will be sooner than we ever planned.

Some of the luckiest get to live in the house with me and see me at my best and worst :) Whether you are part of my immediate family, extended family, friends, church family or adopted into our Kingdom family, you have all touched my life in a significant way.

Some of you have entrusted me with your children. Others have allowed me into the hearts of your teenagers. But I want those who don't know, who is the source of the love that I have so deeply in my heart for each one of you.

His name is Jesus, He created me in His image for a purpose, as He created each one of you. I have learned unconditional love through his unconditional love for me. Apart from Him I am nothing. It says the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. It is not a shaking fear, it is a reverance knowing where I came from and whose I am. I don't have to do anything to earn His love. There is no logical point of reference, I just believed. The void that I once felt has been filled by someone who loves me so deeply and knows my every word before they are even spoken. Because I have that knowledge that no matter where I am, what I am doing, that He is thinking about me and has my best interest in mind I walk throughout life, knowing that I am never alone. He died to save me from myself, and He has transformed my life and restored me from my baggage and brokeness. Because I know what He has done for me, it is the very source for my love of others.

From a grateful heart, love flows. Sometimes love is hard, I don't always feel like it. Sometimes it comes freely, but He has brought MANY people in my life past and present to love. I look back and realize that He has surrounded me all of my life with people who love Him just as much as I do and others who need Him as much as I once did and still do.

One of the greatest gifts He has given me is relationship. It has been said that many people can only count best friends on one hand. I have had many over my lifetime through different seasons. They are to be held on dearly to, to be treasured and to thank God for during that special season. I guess I always knew how to love my neighbor as myself, my eyes just weren't always open to see what already existed.  Today as I look over messages from those who have sent special wishes and blessings my way, I realize how blessed I have been throughout my life through relationship.

The next decades of my life, I want to live "intentionally", to live with open hands, an open heart, to serve others. I know He wants me to speak less, listen more, love more unconditionally, hug more often, use more words of grace to encourage the hearts of others, all for only one thing, to point others to Jesus. I want each one of you to know how much value and worth that you have because you have been created in His image. Thank you for your love and words of encouragement today. It was one of the greatest birthdays ever!