Saturday, June 28, 2008

No Bigger Blessing

One of the most treasured blessings that I have in my life, is seeing my children love the Lord. This week especially, as I am having some time to relax, I was thanking God for being such a huge part of my children's lives.


My oldest daughter went to Chesapeake, Virginia a couple weeks ago, on a World Changers Missions Trip with our church youth group. She went last year as well and had a fabulous experience, but apparently it was a super cali-fragilistic type of fabulous this year!

She has not stopped talking about the trip; about how much time they spent singing powerful praise and worship music, while raising their hands high in the air as they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit; about the lives they touched while doing manual labor to repair the homes of people who are much less fortunate; about the special friendships she made with kids from all over the US; about how many of her friends rededicated their lives to Christ; about how she felt so close to God and so in tune with how important He was in her life.


Last week during Wednesday night church service, all of the youth stood up on stage and told the congregation how much the trip meant to them, and what God had done in their lives over that one week period. I was awestruck at the emotional maturity, and the spiritual maturity that these youth expressed. One found acceptance after struggling with feeling abandoned by her natural parents; one found forgiveness; many found redemption; one rediscovered how much his younger brother meant to him; many found Jesus; and they all found a new, powerful, and on fire relationship with Christ.


Wow! My heart was overflowing, and so were the tears in my eyes! At first I started thinking, "I have done a great job raising this precious girl!", but then I had to admit, that it was not my own doing at all. God had grabbed hold of my daughter's heart when she was 7 years old and had been working in her life ever since.


Yes, my husband and I have taken her to church every Sunday of her life, tried to be Godly role models, said bedtime prayers, and taught Godly lessons through all the experiences that we dealt with every day - but God deserves all the credit.


How humbling it is to know that the God of the universe cares about my babies, and is watching after them, day by day, and gradually pulling them into a place where their hearts will love Him and their souls will know Him.


My middle child, Kaitlyn, attended She Speaks with me during that week, participating in the Next Generation track. She has shared so many stories with me of all the wonderful truths they learned that weekend; how Rebecca Ingram Powell anointed each of their heads with oil as she told them the Godly meaning of their names; all the worship songs they sang; how they saw a small but miraculous act of God take place while listening to the speaker; how they learned about the importance of modesty, good manners, and even how to apply natural looking makeup; and the great friends she made from all over the US, one of which accepted Jesus for the first time that weekend - AMEN! Kaitlyn also accepted Christ at a young age and I can already see how God is working on her. I am so thankful when He allows me to catch little glimpses of the passions that He has put on her heart.


My son attended VBS at our church last week, and came home singing the motto - know the truth, speak the truth, live the truth - music to my ears!


It is so amazing how different each one of my children are, how each of them is gifted in different ways and how they each have special passions in their heart that differ from the other - like a love for babies, animals, music, devotions, singing, friendships, guitar, piano, sports. As any mom could attest to, it is a true testament of how God makes us all unique - but all with a space in our heart that can only can be filled by the one true and almighty Savior.
How humbling it is to know that the God of the universe cares enough my babies to take hold of their hearts at a young age, and continue to open up doors for them to learn to love Him more.
And how super-cali fragilistic amazing it is to know that He loves you and me and yours just the same!

Has God done something wonderful in the lives of your kids? Can you see him at work in their hearts?

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5 comments:

Rebecca Ingram Powell said...

Tracie,

wow! Just praising God with you for all He is doing in the life of your family! You're right--there is no bigger blessing and no greater joy!

I think as moms we are guilty of taking the credit or the blame for what our children do, neither of which is exactly right! The Holy Spirit moves, and kids make choices, and we cannot dictate the decisions they make! I think it's easy either way, as a mom, to look at myself and my parenting and either rejoice that I have done a good job or regret that I have done a poor one, depending on the choices my kids make.

The truth is, they eventually stand on their own two feet. When they do good, we rejoice in what the Lord has done! And when they make wrong choices, we pray that God will turn their hearts toward Him. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. As Christian parents, we prepare the way--our kids must then choose whether or not to walk in it.

Jenny said...

It was encouraging to read how God is working in your kids lives.

Where I am see God work in Meghan's life this morning, is by causing her to get caught quickly in an area last night. One thing I have prayed since they were little is that if (or more likely when) they are doing things they shouldn't God would cause us to see it early.

He has been very faithful on that one! Last night I reminded her I had journals full of prayers for her, including that one!

Teenagers are exciting!
Jenny

Starr LaPradd said...

It is so encouraging to know that God is at work in the lives of our children. My oldest is 18 and is pursuing a path for his life that will allow him to serve the Lord with his gifts. I am so thankful for that! I know God has his hand on him. I can see it in his life.
My youngest is 6, but I tell ya, he might ne my little preacher man! He can give a sermon like you wouldn't believe. He has put my perspective back on track many times when I got into a bad frame of mind. He always reminds me that God has everything under control and I need not worry about anything! How's that for a 6 year old's wisdom?

I just wrote a few days ago on my blog about how thankful I am my kids are Branded by God early in life. God is Good!
Blessings,
Starr

Charlene Kidd said...

Tracie,
I am rejoicing with you. Your girls are great. Katie really enjoyed her time with Kaitlyn.
Blessings,
Charlene

Unknown said...

I'm not a mom yet, but I pray that I will be blessed with a testimony like yours someday! How wonderful He is!