I wrote here on Wednesday night about the instruction manual that came with my boys. And, here I am two days later still stuck on that same thought. It has been a week.
We spent Wednesday night packing Logan up for Kamp Kanukuk, a Christian sports camp in Missouri where he will be working as a counselor for the rest of the summer. I am so excited because I know with all my heart God will be doing great big things in Logan’s life at Kamp. After prayer together at 5:30am on Thursday morning, Logan pulled out of the driveway for the 10-hour drive to Missouri. Then a few hours later, I hit my knees to pray once again because at 9am, Cam and I were loading up the car to head to our two-day orientation session at Tarleton. Praise God, I learned the most important thing at orientation. God showed me that my baby is a lot more grown up than I realized, and He plans on authoring this next chapter in Cam’s life, too.
I’ve experienced two emotional highs of the best mommy kind. You know what I’m talking about…when your heart is so full of joy for your children that you think it might just pop! You grin from ear to ear, and you just want to squeeze ’em! Yet, all the while, I had to constantly (and I mean CONSTANTLY!) guard my heart from the emotional lows of the hardest mommy kind. You know what I’m taking about…when fear about all the things that could go wrong grips your heart and squeezes so hard you are left in tears.
No wonder I’ve kept the instruction manual playing over and over and over again in my mind, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” God has helped me to hold my fears about my boys captive to this verse from Proverbs 22:6, and He went a step further to give me one more verse of instruction:
“These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.” Deuteronomy 6:6 HCSB
Yep, that’s the answer to the tough job of parenting and to all of life. I have to be in God’s Word, and His Word has to be in my heart.
I have to tell you that I just cried and cried as I read this post! Today, my son (John Paul) turned 25. Can you even believe it?!! God has blessed me with a wonderful son who has turned into a wonderful young man. I am so very proud of him.
Precious friend, I know exactly what you’re feeling! I cannot believe John Paul is 25. Please give him a big happy birthday hug from me! He’s always been very special to us!