The Perfect Parent

     There are two people whom God has used and continues to uses in my life to grow me spiritually: they are my two children.  Now that I am a month away from becoming a grandmother and I am getting to enjoy Brittne before she goes back to Peru, I have been reflecting on how God has blessed me with the son and daughter He gave me. I love them more than I ever thought was possible and walking through the last 25 years with them has taught me more about God than anything else in my life. They have been amazing children. From the moment they were born I felt an amazing love for them that never dimmed, no matter what challenge I was experiencing with them. My lack of ability to parent kept me dependent on God for help and He used them to teach me many things.
· I learned how to give grace when mistakes were made.
· I learned to discipline because I cared more about who my children were to become than I did making them happy at the moment.
· I learned to totally depend on the Lord for His protection over them because I soon realized that I could not protect them every moment of their life.
· I learned how to put them in the hand of God and what it felt like to get my hand slapped when I reached to take them back.
· I learned what it was like to withhold from them things they so desperately wanted because it was not good for them to have or it was not the right time for them to have it.
· I learned the complete joy of giving them gifts and seeing their happiness upon receiving it.
· I learned what it feels like to hold your child when their heart is broken and have your heart break with theirs.
· I learned what it feels like to be consumed with the desire for them to listen to me and not make mistakes they would have to pay for later.
· I learned what it feels like to have pride pour out of your pores because they are seeking God’s direction for and in their lives.
· I learned what it feels like to let go and watch God work in their lives for His glory.
    As I look back over my years of parenting, I realize that no matter how much I thought I loved and cared for my children, God loves and cares for them more. He is more faithful than I am. He has more grace than I do. He is more proud than I can be. My children are His children first! He has never had to depend on anyone else to protect them, guide them, discipline them, and teach them other than Himself. Followers of Jesus are all His children. Parenthood only gives us a glimpse of how perfect, complete, and amazing our Heavenly Father is. He gives us grace and discipline. He gives and takes. He hurts with us and rejoices with us. He has a plan for us and He is working it out in our lives, if we let Him. What an awesome Father He is!

If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
Matthew 7:9-11 (Message)