Laced With Grace

This week, I am rushing around the house, getting things ready for my son’s big day. That’s right, my youngest son is getting married tomorrow! Not only is he getting married…but he is marrying one of our own LWG writers…that’s right, Krista Moody is going to be Krista Adams in just 24 hours!

My hands have been busy getting the last minute things ready for the rehearsal dinner, but my heart and my mind have been racing back in time. As I look across the room at my 20 year old son, who has become a man, my mind races back to when he was just a child. The memories of the little league games, the camping trips and the times that he would come in the house from playing to present me with a most beautiful flower…a dying dandelion weed!

The collage of memories just can’t fade from my mind. The birthday cakes that I have baked for him. The many band aids that I have applied to scraped knees. The numerous bedtime stories, especially “Horton the Elephant!” The teacher/parent conferences at school. His prom. His graduation. The day we packed him up to leave for college.

In all of it, I played the leading role in his life as his mother. The one he came running to when he was sad, mad or hurt. This was my job all throughout his growing up years. But now he is grown up and it is now time for me to pass along the leading role to a different leading lady in his life.

Tomorrow, as I pin on his corsage to his tuxedo, no doubt one of my final words to him will be, “Are you ready?” and I know he will say, “Yes I am”. He will stand there, watching his bride walk down the aisle to meet him, he will take her by the hands and promise to love and cherish her forever. As he slips the golden ring on her finger, his heart will be knit to hers as one. He is ready. The question is, “am I?”

God’s Word says “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

Am I ready to hand off the role of leading lady to another? I am. My purpose and time of being his caretaker is done. It is now time for my role to be something different. It’s not a “bad” different, it is just different. It is a new chapter of our lives, one that I embrace with love and joy.

Tomorrow, before he walks that aisle and he tells me that he is ready for this change…would it be alright though if I ask him for just one more hug?

This is my 3rd son to get married, and for you Mom’s out there that are getting ready to go thru this, I would like to say that even though it is a bittersweet moment, a moment full of joy but yet sadness, I promise you, that God will carry you thru. Your relationship with your son (or daughter) does not end at the marriage ceremony, it only begins, except instead of loving a son, you know have the privelege of loving a son and a new daughter! Rejoice!

Visit my blog for daily devo’s at www.womentakingastand.blogspot.com

“Mom!”

I knew I heard my daughter calling me but the lazy dream I was enjoying wasn’t letting me go.

“MOM” I heard her desperate voice this time and sprang straight up in bed. My heart was pounding from 20 cc’s of adrenalin flooding my chest. It was pitch black in my bedroom. The clock radio glared 4:30 a.m.

“What is it?” I whispered frantic, stumbling from bed toward the light switch.

“Mom, there is something in my bedroom.”

Well, this sassy feline pushed her way through two dog doors to get in the laundry room. She then walked pass my old Dalmatian who was asleep in the office. She slipped by my bedroom and my small yippy dog who sleeps on the bed, (of course). Sheesh! So much for guard dogs!

Then this Queen of the Cats sauntered across the entire expanse of our living, dining, and family room down the hall to where my daughter was fast asleep in her pink princess bed. Side note -My daughter would be mortified if she knew I was telling you as a twelve-year-old she still has a princess bed.-

As I ran down the hall with my daughter, looking for the nighttime intruder, I asked my child, “Were you scared when the cat jumped on you?”

She said, “No, not really.”

I was relieved by her answer but didn’t really have time to think about the implication until later. I found myself coaxing the mangy beast from under the bed and tossing her out the front door. My daughter was all grins, tickled by the surprise visitor. I didn’t find the cat antics quite so humorous.

What I did discover from this nocturnal adventure was evidence of my daughters faith. She prays.

A few days following our pre-dawn drama I asked my daughter why she wasn’t afraid of things that go bump in the night. She said to me, “Mom, I pray at night when I’m scared.”

Aaah, Music to a mother’s ears.

I taught my child to pray when she was frightened at night.

As believers we know there is a spiritual world where we face an enemy we cannot see. Learning what to pray when we are frightened is key to overcoming our fears and living triumphant lives. This is what Jesus wants for us. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT) For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

When I was a child I wish I had learned how to pray in the still darkness of the night. Today, I know how to pray. I can defeat the enemy. Things that go bump in the night no longer leave me sleepless and worried.

In the wee hours of the morning when fears assault, I lean upon God’s word and His truth. Psalm 91, also know as the 911 prayer, gives me peace. Read it. It is powerful.

I also cling to 1 John 4:4 (King James Version) Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Then pray:

Lord God, I approach your throne with Jesus at my side. It is by his blood that I bind the enemy of fear. I ask you Lord to dispatch angels with swords drawn to stand at each doorway in my home. I ask you Lord for a hedge of protection to surround us. Lord, I KNOW greater are You who live in me than he that lives in the world. By the Redeeming blood of Jesus I ask these things, Amen.

Have a blessed and powerful day (and night) in the name of Jesus.

Be blessed, Lynn
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I originally shared this story about two years ago. I hope you find it inspires you again this week. Hugs, Lynn

My daughter’s 15th birthday is around the corner. She has grown up fast in her first year of high school. She attends public school here in Southern California and her freshman year was eye opening. The first month of school at the tender age of 14 she witnessed a friend on drugs, was hit on by a girl, wrangled the halls along with students clothed in every bizarre fashion you can think up and discovered High school curriculum was a whole bunch harder than middle school.

As she ends the school year, I have to stand back in awe at who she has become as a person and as a follower of Jesus. This kid knows who she is and has made good choices not out of fear of me or because of the threat of punishment but for herself. She has chosen to cling to the values she knew as a child because of her faith. Because of Jesus.

This is the best thing a mom could ever hope for. I’m not a perfect mother by a long way. I am also married to an unbeliever so the challenges to raise a child to love Jesus are enormous. But, along the way I may have done a few things right. The best thing I did was to pray.

I pray every day for my child by name. I ask the Lord to protect her from evil people and evil spirits. I ask God to reveal Himself to her in some way during the day. I ask Him to help her to remember to pray to Him when she is feeling scared, insecure or tense. I usually utter this prayer in the car as I drive away after dropping her off at school in the morning. I may look like an idiot in my car muttering away but I know I have left that school with God’s covering over that child.

In addition to praying as I drive away, I pray with her on the way to school. I think the most powerful prayers every uttered for this child occurred in the car. Who would think it? I reach out my hand, touch her knee, and start praying something like this.

Lord Jesus, watch over my girl today. Give her something to laugh about today. Teach her how to be a good friend. Help her to remember that You are watching over her and to pray when she is facing decisions. Lord, also help her to do well on the science test today. In Jesus name. Amen.

I’m not a perfect mother but I serve a perfect God. He hears our prayers. Our children need to hear us pray for them. This is our living legacy of faith. Live it out loud. And finally, I cling to this verse:

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

The key to this verse is the word “old.” That can mean 80 years of age but God will honor your efforts and your prayers. I know this because I am living proof of its truth.

Be blessed, The Prodigal Daughter, Lynn

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