I am getting ready to head off for a 10 hour drive tomorrow to Virginia for a final visit to my daughter’s #1 college choice.
Her dad took her the first time and was texting me during their visit that he thinks this is it. It prepared me to greet her with a smile when she came home, realizing the release was already taking place…
And we were just getting started.
Really. Our story is one of grace and redemption and the hope of Christ in hard places.
All the more reason for me to believe that my daughter is being led by her Savior, not mine, to where she should be. Who should I be to question or stand in the way?
He spoke to me last year about this – below is something I wrote when He got my attention. It was a wake up call. Tomorrow I have another call, to spend 20 hours alone with my baby girl, knowing we will have good conversation, laughs, and bittersweet time. His time.
Trust
Trust sounds so easy. I trust. I trust people. I trust my husband. I trust God.
And then my teenager says, “You don’t trust me.”
I think, “What gave ’em that impression?”
And God says, “You aren’t letting them choose.”
“What? Well, that’s my job…..to make sure they don’t make the wrong choices…it’s my job to tell them what they should or shouldn’t do. It’s my responsibility…it’s my…”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Um, of course I do Lord. But they are at that age when they can make foolish choices – choices that may not be what You want them to make…. ones I don’t want them to make…. choices that could draw them away from You.”
“Don’t you trust Me with what I want to do in their life?”
“Yeah… but that’s when they move out……. when I’m not influential in their decisions anymore….. when they NEED you because they are on their own, and…..”
“I want to work in their life but you are interfering.”
“Come again?”
“I am working in their life, but YOU are interfering. GET OUT OF THE WAY.”
“Get out of the way? But they could do something really foolish…”
“I know. Get out of the way. Let them choose Me.”
“Huh?”
“You have to release them to me. Let them CHOOSE me.”
“But it’s hard, they are my babies…..they were just riding their tricycle,
…. and what if…..”
“Back off. Loosen your fingers and let Me work.”
“I’m not ready.”
“I know, but YOU are in the way if you stay where you are.”
“Ouch.” (sigh). “Ok, Lord, I hear you, but it’s not easy.”
“I know. Do you trust me?”
“With everything, but this is hard, Lord… I’m their mother!”
“I know. Do you trust me?”
“Yes Lord, but I’m scared.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I want to. Yes, Lord…I want to. It’s hard.”
“I know. Do you love me? Do you want them to choose me?”
“Yes, Lord. I hear you. I’ll back off.
But, oh, Lord, it’s hard.
Trust: something committed or entrusted to ones’ care for use or safekeeping, as an office, duty, or the like, responsibility; charge. (Dictionary.com)
“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them.” Matthew 19:14
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