Daughter
Isaiah 43:1
“It’s a girl!” they said… and I cried. The moment was so surreal and precious and overwhelming that the emotion just couldn’t remain bottled up any longer. I’d been a little preoccupied for the last several hours, what with all the pain and pushing and breathing and such, and I hadn’t had time for an emotional breakdown. But now, ready or not, here came this perfect little person into the world, needing love and attention and nourishment and… me. Needing me. And it was Heaven.
Fast forward fifteen years. Highschool. Friends. Boys. Clothes. Boys. Friends. You get the picture… we’ve all been there, been that age. We’ve all experienced the joys and frustrations of attempting to find our sense of belonging, our sense of identity, in the other members of our circle, our clique, our crowd. The drama inevitably unfolds and we are lured down the dark alley of exclusion, which leads to self-doubt, mistrust and broken hearts.
As my daughter was experiencing some of these feelings last year, I took it upon myself to remind her just how precious and perfect she was. That’s what moms are supposed to do, right, make everything ok? So I sat down to write her a love letter. A simple reminder of who she is, beyond the boundaries of any circle or crowd. Who she is at the core, what she means to me, where her true sense of belonging is found… in Jesus.
5 comments
Kim | July 21, 2011
Amen,
Young girls REALLY need to know who they are in Christ. It's So hard for them in our culture today. We need to constantly remind them. Thanks Crystal for the reminder, I'm going to have a quick chat with my girls.
Kim
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Lennie | July 21, 2011
What a beautiful way to communicate with your daughter. I am currently raising a 15 year old granddaughter and she is really giving me a run for my money. I am going to try writing a letter as you did. God works all for our good, and in sometimes very unexpected ways. In Christ, Lennie
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Amber | July 22, 2011
Awesome...! My baby girl is 14 and entering high school this Sept. The worries in my head have already started. She is an awesome, beautiful, smart, talented, loving angel...everything I should have been at her age. She has been raised to love the Lord and my prayers are that nothing or no one will come in the way of that...Never ever!!! It's an ugly world that we send our precious blessings out to live in...
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Shalamar | July 22, 2011
Thanks for sharing. As moms, grandmothers, aunties or any female heavily involved in a young girls life it is important to stay close and communicate often about what's going on in her young heart and mind. I wrote my daughters notes always, from the time she was able to read and still, randomly and left them on her bed or put them in her lunch or even sent her regular text messages during her day at school. She often would say after she got to high school that they made her smile and sometime was a pick me up during a difficult day. She is now 19 and in the Navy studying to be an RN, and she is home for the first time in 6 months she will be with us for 2 weeks and she will leave home to her next destination with a letter from mom reminding her who she is in Christ first, above everything else. This article is a great reminder and it is time to do some reminding :-)
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Heather | July 25, 2011
Nice to hear your thoughts about your daughters. Ours are just 5 1/2 and 14 months but I want them to grow in love for the Lord and live their lives accordingly. I will take some of your suggestions for keeping that contact going as they grow. They are only here on loan to us, and we must do the best we can....
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