Overcoming the Hurt

This week, my daughters will be ending their school year. TP will be completing her freshman year at college, and DQ will be finishing her sophomore year in high school. To say that it's been a challenging year for both of them would be an understatement. They have weathered many storms. They have conquered many battles. And while they have many scars which are still healing, they have learned many valuable lessons along the way. So have I. I have learned that, as a parent, I have to let them go and make their own mistakes so that they can suffer their own consequences. It sounds like a pretty simple lesson for me to finally learn, but it hasn't been.

When one suffers, one has a choice to make. You can either become very bitter about your suffering and thus become a "victim" of it, or you can go through the suffering and become a better person as a result of it. I must admit, there have been times in my life where I did become a victim of my suffering, and I wallowed way too long in the pit of self-pity. But there have been other times in my life where I allowed my suffering to touch my soul so deeply that I knew it was time to make some very difficult changes in my life. These changes came about as a result of allowing God's grace to touch me and transform those areas of my life which needed to be refined. I couldn't do it alone, that's for sure. I had to ask for God's help to overcome some of those bad habits or unhealthy traits or negative attitudes.

So, my prayer today is that my daughters allow God's grace to touch their hearts and souls as they overcome their hurts from the choices they have made and the negative experiences they have had. I pray that they do not become victims, but rather, victorious over their suffering. I pray that their experiences draw them even closer to God, with the knowledge that He is a merciful God whose love is unconditional. I pray that they know that my love for them will never waver.