WHEN YOUR DAUGHTER RETURNS

She is the apple of your eye. No matter how many other daughters you may have or what others may think or the judgment that she may bring on herself, because of her wrong choices, she still remains the apple of your eye, just as David was the apple of God’s eye, so your precious daughter is yours.

Today sweet friend, you may have a young daughter who is growing up and the world has a lot to say to her, and she is starting to listen. Even if she doesn’t know it right now, you know that she needs you more than ever. Redeem these days, for they are but vapors and they will disappear soon. What you pour into her life now, she will recall in the days as she is growing older and making adult choices. Some of the choices that she will make may very well be painful, but do not despair even when your heart tells you lies and blames you for her mistakes if and when she strays off course for a while. Stay true and faithful to her and God’s Word….for It never comes back void! It will accomplish, what it sets out to do. You will not have to fight hell or satan for her soul, Jesus has already taken care of that. What you must do however, is never, ever give up on her. For you, who are in Christ Jesus walk by faith (the substance of what you cannot see at the moment) not by your sight (what you see happening)!

 

Odds are that if your daughter is purposefully rejecting her upbringing in some form or fashion, then the way that she will spend her time will probably be heartbreaking and cause you disappointment in her. Nevertheless, find the value in her that Jesus sees and encourage her in humility and in love to the best of your ability. The Lord will take care of the rest. You just remember back to the days when you coached her T-ball team, went to her school plays, possibly homeschooled her and attended her soccer games when she was in High School, pouring your best into her life and know that there are still some things that you can do even now that she is in her twenties or maybe thirties, to show her that you are still wanting to invest into her life, because you care for her. To find those ways you need only to look to the scriptures where there, you will find what Jesus did as He spent time with many wayward people that He encountered even though He wasn’t even related to them, and imitate Him by being the kind of parent who will love her and let God be her judge and the Holy Spirit convict her heart, drawing her back to Him. Encourage her and never stop praying that one day as God fallows her heart and makes it tender, to receive His word through your love, that she will begin to seek God’s glory instead her own. When you read something in the scriptures that encourages you and helps you in a situation, pass it on to her. Write it down and send it to her. The best exhortation that you can give her is sharing positive examples of Christ’s joy in your own life. Don’t stress out and doubt yourself when you are trying to get the word of God into her heart, because each one of them is singularly powerful if given in your own brokenness. Just send them out one after another, and let the cumulative effect of your satisfaction and worship in God gather up in her inbox awaiting her to open and find them. God’s word is never proclaimed in vain, nor does it return void.

Remember, the real problem is that she does not see Jesus clearly, therefore you must help her see Him by living the kind of life that He would have you live and by doing so, will show her Christ. It is not a simple or immediate process, but the sins in her life that distress you and want to destroy her will only begin to fade away when they see Jesus as He actually is. For every unbelieving or wayward child, the details will be different. Each one will require parents to reach out in unique ways. What is not acceptable, however, is not reaching out to them at all. Because, the deepest concern is not your child’s actions and how she is living, but her heart condition! So don’t expect her to fall in love with God’s laws as a requirement for repentance and restoration. She must first see her sin as God sees her sin and then only will she be able to understand why God ask of her what He will.  If she has any inkling at all to be with you, it is God giving you a chance to love her back to Jesus. Treat her in a way that makes this clear. She probably knows, especially if she was raised in a Christian home, that what she’s doing is wrong and her conscience will lead her to God in the time that it will take. So never give her a timeline to come to Christ. That shall be between her and Christ; for she definitely knows how you feel and think about those things and doesn’t need them pointed out to her every time you speak with her. She needs to see how you are going to react to her evil. Your gentle forbearance and sorrowful hope will show her that you really do trust Jesus to bring her to repentance. Her conscience can condemn her by itself, it needs no other help. Mom and Dad ought only to stand kindly and firmly, always living in the hope that their wayward child is on their way home. Then like the prodigal father in the Bible, when your daughter returns, there will be time for rejoicing and partying.

Loving on you today,

Bren