Have I said Thank You?

One week ago, if you had asked me whether or not I had strict parents, I would have given you a resounding "yes!" I could give you a list of things that I was not allowed to do that drove me batty. Like walk to the mailbox in my socks, or eat my fast food in the car, or watch anything more than a G rated movie when I was 14! But I had a conversation with a friend last week that gave me a completely different perspective about my "strict" parents.

This friend of mine has some amazingly wise insight on parenting with grace. She has talked to me about it on at least three occasions. I have been praying and contemplating how I can incorporate her "teaching" into my own parenting. This past conversation, however, made me think, not of my own parenting, but rather, about how I was parented. She talked about how important it is to NOT have a set idea of how each of your high school and college age children should go about entering adult life. She said that it is common and popular belief by most all parents that a child should graduate from high school with a diploma, immediately enter into college, graduate with at least a Bachelor's degree and then go on to their career. Where is it written that this is the only plan God has for every young person? She has five children and her desire is to encourage them to do exactly what God is leading them to do. She said that she does not care if others look down on her because her child is not doing what the world expects of them. Her only desire is to see her child lead the life they were born to live.

When she said that she didn't care what others thought, I began to think of my Mom and Dad....They let me drive all around Angelina County months after getting my drivers license with three other teens in my car teaching Bible clubs, often in the bad part of town. They let me skip out on some of my home school work in 10th and 11th grade to pursue other things that I was passionate about. They let me graduate one year early and get my GED and go two hours away to a University when I was seventeen. After one year at college they helped make a way for me to come back for a year and teach first grade at a small Christian school. As college graduate Baptists, they were behind me all the way as I left the next year to attend an uncredited Charismatic Bible College. They gave me their blessing when I got married when I was nineteen to a boy that was eighteen!

How could I for a second, not believe that my mom and dad parented me with more grace than I can ever imagine. I am in a place in my life right now that is a dream come true, and I am humbled to realize that I would have never gotten here if they had not let me live my high school and college years "outside the box." They trusted the Lord with my life and didn't allow what others thought to cause them to parent me any differently than what their convictions and love for me lead them to do. I hope and pray that I will bless my children the same way. My desire for them is that they do not miss ONE thing that God has for them because of my own ideas of what I think is best for them. God, help me follow in my parents footsteps and be for my children what my parents were for me. They have always believed in me, always prayed for me, always listened to me, and always made me want to be everything God wanted me to be - nothing more and nothing less. Thank you Mom and Dad. I love you!