Encourage Me: Change Is In the Air

Nothing makes the parent of a young adult child (or a teenager) happier than to see a slight (or large) growth in their child’s personal maturity as a responsible human being.

I got the above opportunity on the Saturday before Easter 2016. It had been two years since our church had the photographer in our congregation take family portraits following the morning service.

This year’s family portrait promised to be a drastic change from the last time this pictorial event happened. Bobbi had bariatric surgery in August 2014, and had lost one hundred and forty-five pounds so far. With alterations in my lifestyle, I also had managed to shed sixty-five pounds. (We were both coloring our hair on a semi-regular basis.)

Allena had returned from her six month venture with Youth with a Mission, and had decided to take her shoulder-length hair to a rather short hair style.

That Saturday evening when Allena returned home from purchasing the items that Bobbi (at her part-time job) and she needed for Easter service the next morning, her honest admission (my paraphrase below) tumbled out of her mouth.

“Dad, in good conscience I couldn’t buy what I intended to get at that women’s clothing store. It was just way too expensive. That money could be used to feed several people, or put gas in someone’s car.

I wanted to cry every time I saw someone purchasing clothing that may not really be needed when all the money being spent could be used to do so much good for so many human beings.”

The above words may not seem like a big deal, but this situation prior to YWAM Akron in September 2015 would have ended very differently. The “old” Allena would have purchased what she wanted without a thought to anyone else but herself.

Psalm 127:3(MSG) inquires “Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? If God has blessed you with children they can often become mirrors to both the good (and bad) in our lives.

Any parent that truly loves their child (children) wants them to do better in their life than they did. They want to lead them down their own unique path to finding what will bring them true fulfillment (Proverbs 22:6)

There is so much that I want for my daughter. I want her to be able to step out on her faith when she feels God is calling her to an important mission. I want Him to heal her of whatever doubts she may have in stepping out for the Almighty (Matthew 9:22).

I pray (one day) when Allena meets the person she’ll marry (her life partner) that she can successfully transition from her family life (with us) to the early beginnings of her own family (Psalms 45:10).

My truest heartfelt proclamation for my adult daughter comes from Proverbs 31:29 (MSG). “Many women have done wonderful things, but you’ve outclassed them all!” If you have a daughter (no matter her age), can you say the same thing?