Day 24: A Letter to Your Parents

In an earlier post, I shared a letter that I had written to a lady that was mentoring me throughout last semester at Northland. Here is the letter I wrote to my mom for the same class:

Dear Mom

                You may not realize how much of an impact you have had on me over the years. When I think of how you influenced me when I was little, I think of the love and training you gave me; that first batch of muffins with a little too much baking powder, the attempts to teach me to sew, even the constant guidance as I went through Girl Scouts being taught to be independent in the growing feministic society. I will be eternally grateful for the time spent teaching me to be a wife and mother, but in addition to that, teaching me to be a godly woman.

            Thinking back over the years, as I grew into womanhood, you became more my friend and mentor-mom than the disciplinarian-mom trying to teach me right from wrong. As I became an adult, you watched as I made decisions on my own, guided me as I sought advice. You didn’t get angry at me if I asked for advice and didn’t take it, but you persistently and unceasingly prayed for me throughout every stage of life. I see your transparency with me, how you showed me from God’s word what to do in different circumstances. You taught me to go to scripture for The Perfect example, rather than looking to someone who, because of their humanity, would be less than perfect, and in turn showed me humility by your admission to not being a perfect example. When I would come home from school in tears because my ‘friends’ hadn’t treated me the way I thought they should have, you showed me how to value the friendship I had in my brothers, and in the One who would NEVER forsake me.

Looking back over the last five years, I see how God has taken what I have watched you exemplify and made it reality in my life as well. I remember being ‘jealous’ of you because of all the things God was providing for you. I had heard story after story of how God had provided thousands of dollars for other college students, why wasn’t he doing that for me? What I didn’t see, was that God was providing for me in other ways, ways that I wouldn’t have understood at the time. I see now, how God put people (my mother, among others) in my life; to demonstrate to me a life of dependence in Him, as Corrie Ten Boom said ‘to prepare me for the future that only He can see.’ My prayer is that I can be an encouragement to you as I live my life, knowing that you were a tool used in the building of my spiritual foundation. I will be eternally grateful to God for placing me in your arms 24 years ago. As Paul says in Romans to the Christians that he ‘longed’ to see them ‘that (he) may impart unto (them) some spiritual gift… That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me…’ (Romans 1:11-12; ESV)  

Thank you Mom, for all you’ve been in my life and in turn, in the lives of my future husband and children if God so chooses to bless me with them. I love you more than mere words can say on paper.

Your Loving Daughter Always,

I am SO blessed to have a loving, godly mother, and so happy that God gave me to her!!!