My Life-Changer

“There will always be a reason why you meet people. Either you need them to change your life or you’re the one that will change theirs.”  My friend sent me this quote the other day.  My response was, “or maybe both.”  I have been blessed with so many amazing life-changers along the way, but one of the most important is my daughter, Maddie.  

 

From the moment she was born, she was so attached to me.  When she became toddler, she was my shadow.  Everywhere I went, she went.  Everything I did, she did.  Everything I said, she said.  (Cody, our oldest child, was never like that.  He was very independent, seemingly in his own little world.)  But Maddie...if I turned around too fast I would step on her.  I learned very quickly that I had better be a good example because there was

 this little person mimicking everything I did.

When she was about four, I remember her begging to come into my room while I was studying for a bible class that I was teaching at the time.  I would always tell her, “go play, Mommy needs to study!”  She would cry and say, “I will be real quiet.  I want to study, too.”  So I would let her in and she would have her little bible and notebook and watch me read and study, then she would pretend to read and study.  What a sobering moment.  I held the power in my hands to mold her into a strong woman of God just by modeling for her what that was.  After all, 

that is what my Mama had done for me.

When she started school, she was introduced to bullies.  Of course as a parent, your first response is retaliation.  When your baby comes home crying day after day, you want them to defend themselves.  One day in anger I said, “if she hits you again, you better hit her back!”   Do you know what her response was, “Mama, I can’t do that.  That is not right.”  Another sobering moment.  (Sometimes we hate when our kids speak our words back to us!!  )  But she was correct.  Retaliation is never the answer.  God is over the revenge department, not us.

[Romans 12:19 NIV] "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord."

Over the years, this has been the pattern.  When she gets upset or disappointed, my Mama Bear response is not always good or right.  But she has never faltered.  Her response may be different words than what her six-year-old self would say, but basically its the same meaning,

 “Mama, I can’t do that.  That is not right.” 

Now my baby is all grown up.  She is almost seventeen, and she teaches me something every day.  She is very strong.  She has an outlook on life that I have not seen in many people.  It’s like having the best version of myself looking back at me and reminding me of the good that I know to do.  What a gift!  Thank you,  Lord,  for my daughter.  She is definitely a life-changer, not only to me, but to everyone around her.   

      

 

     [1Peter 3:3-4 NIV] "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."