A Father's Day Tribute

I'll admit it…I'm blessed…very blessed with good godly parents that raised me in a home full of love and Christian examples. My dad is known in this town, in this county, in this region and even throughout the state as one of the most humble, precious, funny, wise, remarkable men of God you will ever meet. He has never judged me when I went my own way and made tons of mistakes, but yet loved me and gave me wise counsel and was there for me in any way that I needed him to be. He has supported me as I have fumbled around trying to clearly hear God's voice all these years and supported me as I finally answered my call to become a minister. He doesn't care that I am part of a different denomination than he has raised me in, but looks at my relationship with the one true God, and I know he is proud of the relationship I have and am developing with my Maker. I could write pages and pages singing the praises of my dad…but I won't.

What I want to tell you is that it doesn't matter if you had June and Ward Cleaver as parents or Billy and Ruth Graham or the Osborne's for parents. It doesn't matter if your home was safe or if you were raised in a crack house with parents who didn't realize you were even around. There comes a time in everyone's lives that the responsibility for their choices becomes theirs and theirs alone.

I once had someone argue with me that because I was raised by a pastor that they were sure they had sinned at least 10,000 times more than me. Ummmm…they must have never heard the rumors about preacher's kids? Although, I must admit, I was a pretty decent kid growing up and waited until adulthood to make my share of mistakes, preacher's kids have it a lot worse, not because they grow up with strict or rigid parents, but because everyone else judges them and their ways and expects a much higher standard from them because their dad is in the ministry. You live in a glass box. People are much more critical. If you get caught doing something wrong, it doesn't matter that you were with THEIR kid when you got caught, you are the bad one because you are expected to be perfect since your dad is a pastor. The reason so many preacher's kids are a little more rambunctious is because they rebel against those standards that are set for them by society. They are normal kids and teenagers who are expected to have the same godly wisdom and standards as the adults who have been called by God to serve Him in the ministry. Think about that. There aren't very many adults who want to be held to the same standards as ministers, but they expect minister's children to hold to those standards? That's a lot to measure up to.

Anyway, I'm getting off track of where I was going with this. As children, even adult children, we cannot blame our parents for the choices we make or the paths we choose to take for our lives. They have made their own mistakes to be sure. But whether or not they gave us the exact love and attention or learning that we needed or the best examples to follow, there comes a time in each person's life that the voice of God is whispered in our ear and it is OUR choice whether we yield to that voice or choose to ignore it. My parents did not choose the paths I took for my life. I did. My parents gave me all the love I could ever have asked for and taught me of God. They were not the reason I chose abusive relationships, time of partying and rebellion. I am sure that their prayers are what protected me during that time, for which I am very thankful, but the choices I made in life were mine and mine alone.

On the other hand, we, as parents, cannot beat ourselves up for the rest of our lives for the mistakes we have made with our children. We all wish we would have done certain things differently. We have all made mistakes along the way in some area or another. Maybe we were a horrible failure and were horrible examples for our children. We can't live in the past. All we can do is hopefully grow up and mature as we take this journey of life and learn from our past mistakes and even let those mistakes be a teaching tool for our children as they grow and mature. We can show them how to overcome past failures and mistakes by yielding to the will of God. It is NEVER too late to give the reins over to God and let Him take our life and mold it into something of great value. But…the choices that your children make, as they grow into adulthood, are their choices alone. You cannot make them choose one path or the other. You can counsel them and give them guidance, but the ultimate choice is theirs alone.

If you find yourself constantly blaming things that happen in your life now on the mistakes of your parents…get over it. Put your big boy/girl panties on and realize that the choices you make to determine your future are not based on your past, but are solely based on the choices you choose to make now for yourself. If you do not like the results you are getting in your life, then it is up to you and you alone to start making the necessary changes to start going in another direction.

If you are not living a life of good examples for your children then you have the choice to change that and make better choices in your life in order to be a better example. Does that mean your child will follow? Not necessarily. There comes an age of accountability in which that child has to make the choice of right and wrong. You cannot blame yourself for your grown child's bad decisions and you cannot allow Satan a foothold by allowing your child to blame you for their own mistakes. The only way I will ever let someone else blame me for their bad decisions is if they let me have total control and they follow my guidance and directions to a tee. THEN they can blame me if it goes wrong. But I have yet to see any child follow a parent's guidance and take the path the parent tells them to take or make the decisions they want them to make in every area. That's part of growing up. We make our own decisions and learn from them, good or bad. I have seen some of the most godly men and women come from homes in which there was nothing but evil present. And yet, there are parents who have given their child every ounce of love and godly guidance possible and that child still goes their own way and chooses a life that denounces the very idea of God. It all depends on individual choice.

If you have not been the best parent/child you can be you can make the choice to lay the past down at the feet of Jesus and make the choice to forgive yourself as He does. You can make the choice now to start letting God be your decision maker and guidance. But the one thing I pray you do not do is let your past destroy your future. The past is gone. You cannot change it. But you can overcome the past with a future that is grounded in God. The choice is yours and yours alone.

His Princess

Love Letters From Your King

By Sheri Rose Shepherd

The Lord said:

It isn't too late.

You can still return to me

With all your heart.

Joel 2:12

My Princess…

It's never too late.

It is never too late to turn to Me, My love. I didn't start a countdown when I gave you the choice between life and death. There is no time limit on My love for you. I am patient, yet I don't want you to miss out on any precious time with Me. There is no place you have to go to find Me. Just cry out to Me, and I will come to you. Wherever you've gone My grace has followed you. Whatever you've done My blood has covered you. Come to Me today, and I will do more than repair the damage done…I will restore what was lost. Someday you will look back on this moment as the turning point that transformed you into the princess I called you to be. Now come to Me, and let's fall in love all over again.

Love,

Your King who knows no limits.

Contact Michele at: princess_2_princess_4_god@yahoo.com