At home on this dreary, wet day…Of course, I’m not like a lot of people. I don’t curse the rain or wish it would clear up so I can go run around. I actually enjoy being at home! I am what you would call a “homebody” or a nerd or something…Give me a good book and a comfy chair and I am good!

I am finishing up Vicki Courtney’s “Five Conversations You must have with Your Daughter.” It is really good! I applaud her cause which is Teen Virtue and of course, keeping that virtue intact until marriage! I agree wholeheartedly!! I did come across something today that turned me off a little though…She states the entire book that we should be honest and open with our kids about sex and everything that comes with it. Yet, she says that she personally (and I definitely give her kudos for not preaching that this is the decision everyone should make) would not discuss birth control methods with her daughter even if she knew her daughter was in rebellion against God and her parents and was being sexually active. 

I would have to say that that was about the only thing in the entire book I disagreed with! This is one of the main reasons the antagonists of the abstinence message are against us! They say that the abstinence message doesn’t work because the kids are not being properly educated in ALL areas of this subject so they are unable to make healthy choices and protect themselves if they do find themselves making the choice to be sexually active.

Look at it this way…I talk to my kids about stranger danger, people grabbing them, etc. I have tried to warn them of the dangers of pedophiles and how they can be someone they know or a stranger in the street. I have told them how to protect themselves and how to run, scream and make a ruckus if someone ever tried to snatch them. (They have heard it so much that now they usually just roll their eyes or say something sarcastic…)But you know what? I’ve also tried to talk to them about what to do if something bad did happen to them. Warn them yes! Tell them how wrong it is for people to harm children but also prepare them so if (God forbid!) they ever found themselves in some kind of horrible life-altering position, they would know how to protect themselves as best they could.

One day-as we have on many ocassions-we were discussing homeless people and how they might have come to be that way. I explained to my children that I doubt any of them got up one morning and declared, “You know what? I’ve decided that I want to be a homeless person.” I believe that most of the time it just happens through a series of choices and circumstances. And I also told my children that one day they may find themselves in a bad situation through choices, etc. but Mama is only a phone call away! Do you think I would question or ask for an explanation for their bad choices?? No! It would be “Where are you? I am on my way!” (Sure I may beat them half to death and ground them for life later…) But I would try to be there for them in any situation, especially if their lives were at risk. I would be at their side if I could, not condoning their actions but trying to put their safety first. At a party where things get crazy? One call, that’s all!!  My husband and I teach, preach, yell, nag, whatever it takes to let our kids know what we believe and expect them to do. BUT IF-and I feel my preach comin on here!-they stray and disobey (like we all do), I will be there for them and help pick them up WHEREVER life may dump them!

You may think, “Wow! She doesn’t have very high hopes and dreams for her kids!” Actually, I do! I know that my kids are called and chosen for great things, as are yours and all the children of the world. I also know that the devil’s work is to try to find a way-whatever it takes!-for children and young people to not see their destinies fulfilled. But I am soooo thankful that God says in Jer. 29:11 (paraphrase) that He has great plans for them, a wonderful future in store. But that He is also giving HOPE. A future AND a hope so that if something happens on the way to fulfilling your destiny and future, something bad that would derail you and make you turn around or give up, He assures you that when He gave you that awesome destiny, He also threw in a little something extra. A little something called hope. (I’m preaching now…)

I really didn’t intend to go off on all of this but we are doing something at our church right now called, “Planting Seeds of Purpose” and this subject has been on my heart for some time…God was saying this in a message to exiles, to people who had disobeyed Him time and time again even though He had warned them over and over. He told them that He still knew the plans He has for them even though things didn’t go as He wanted them to. So He adds, ” THEN (thank God for a “then”!) you will call upon me (will we be there for our kids when they fall, like God is there for us when we fall?) and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” And this is the part that absolutely FLOORS me…”I will be found by you.” Is that just like the best verse in the Bible??? No matter where we are or what we’ve done, God is right there with us! He really doesn’t ever “leave us or forsake us”! We leave Him and forsake Him but He is always only a prayer away when we need Him. What a great and awesome God we serve!!

I want to be the mom He wants me to be! A mom that still looks out for my child’s best interests even if that child doesn’t care. I pray that my children all grow into adulthood and maturity without a scratch or even the scent of failure or worldliness on them. BUT if they decide to rebel and do things I don’t agree with, I pray I can have the patience of some friends of ours who have dealt with these very situations with their daughter. When she called them, messed up again, they were FOUND BY HER. They were there for her no matter what mess she found herself in. I think that just happens to be something called CHRISTIANITY.

Think about it. Maybe you have already had to be “Jesus” in your child’s life. I’m sure it’s not easy. Even though we love our children with all of our hearts, I’m sure that there are some times when your patience and love can be stretched pretty thin. I pray for you today if you are in that predicament. I pray that your child will find his or her way home. And I pray that when it happens, you will be standing there, with the light on, waiting right where they left you.

On my way,

Steph