A Legacy for My Daughter.

 

I have been reading through a study which has been wrecking my life. I feel like if you talked with me on a regular basis you would probably tell me I say that about every book I read. Well honestly, in the past 6 or so months, it has been totally true. 
I feel like the Lord has just been speaking into my life from every direction through every book I have been reading, and it has been just incredible months of growth. Of seeing myself clearly, of seeing aspects of Him that I hadn't personally experienced even if I knew of them. 


While doing one of the latest one, we were given a question which I felt I just had so much to say, that I wanted to share some thoughts on here.
We were discussing insecurities, how to battle them and what kind of effect they have on others, specifically how we impact future generations. We were asked to share what kind of a legacy we would like to leave to women who come behind us. 
Oh friends, this topic stirs my heart like something else. I can't even describe. 
Maybe some day the Lord will give me a daughter to give this to. 



Sweet Girl,

I can even begin to explain how fast you are growing up, I'm sure you hear that so much from people older than you. But oh how I see how true it is, this world causes us to grow up so fast, to lose that child-like innocence so quickly. But with each passing day I pray that you are becoming as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside. 

I have so many things I wish I could share with you. So many tears in your life I wish I could wipe away by sharing my short twenty-some limited years of wisdom through my own bad decisions and experiences that I pray you never have to walk through. 

I wish I could protect you sweet girl from a lot of things in this world, to wrap you up in my arms and tell you everything is really going to be ok even when you feel your entire world is crashing down and that no-one cares about you. Those moments when you feel as though life won't go on because of the loss of a friendship, or something that happened at school or a move in your life. You will be ok, Baby. 

Sweet one, it is so far from true that no-one cares about you! I pray that is a truth you really grasp at a young age, that you are never alone and that you are so loved by a Father who chose you to be in His family. He sees everything there is to know about you and still chooses your pretty little face. He wipes away all those smudges you have made and will continue to make as you figure out how to live life here on earth. All of us make mistakes sweetheart. 

If there's something I pray for you, it is this. I pray that you would be so completely head over heels in love with Jesus. Because girl, if you truly grasp that, you are further ahead than so many of those walking ahead of you. There is nothing He isn't capable of redeeming in your life. Those little things which seem so huge right now, those comments from those girls at school, those clothes or things that everyone has that you don't have, they aren't as big as you think they are. There will come a day after high school that you will wish you had spent more time on things that were of worth. Because there is nothing worse than seeing an adult still trying to live in junior high. And someday you will see just how silly it really is. 

I pray that you will be so encouraged and sure of your worth and value in the Lord, that you are a light to your generation. A one-in-a-million girl who is capable of doing big things for Jesus. A girl who others want to be around because of your joy and Christ-like spirit. I pray that you will be able to bring out the best in those around you and really love others for who they are. I pray that you will be the first to want to serve those around you, that you would be known for your love. I pray that you would shine radiantly because of your inner beauty and that will make you seem different baby. But that's really ok.  

Sweetheart, I know there will be things in your past that seem so huge that you question whether you will ever get past them. Baby, you will. With the help of our precious Jesus, you will! 
He will never leave you hanging girl, He is there for you whenever you cry out for Him. And know that He is in the business of redeeming your past. What was intended for evil can be used for such good! There are so many women who can testify to this truth. All of us are in need of His grace, none of us is perfect. Please don't ever forget that truth. Your mistakes and secrets are no bigger than anyone elses, even if you feel they are. 

Girl, I pray that you would know that God is ultimately in control of your life. And He won't let you down! Even when things feel like they are going far differently from the plan you set for your life when you graduate high school and start navigating life on your own, He is still in control. Thank Him for that, because we would make such a mess of it on our own. And often do when we try to do it our own way.

Every tear you shed, every broken heart you have to endure, He sees it all baby. And He will carry you through. I pray that you would know how precious you are to our Father. And that you know that every bad circumstance you have walked through, the pain inflicted through your choices or even through others, every unmet expectation you may have for yourself or for those around you, and every disappointment you have to experience in your life...I pray that you would throw yourself into the open arms of Jesus. He will use them to draw you to Him, and sweet girl there is no better picture of redemption than that. 

I love you so much! And I pray that you grow up to leave a better legacy that the broken one our culture has given to you. Remember that your value and security can only be found in our Father who gave you your identity in the first place. Never let anyone take it from you, and remember they can't without your permission. 


With all my love. 

Africa Part 2: Where my Heart is.

{Via} {Via}

Side note: I am raising funds for Influence through Paypal on my sidebar & through my Etsy store. 

Please prayerfully consider supporting me on this journey.

When I arrived in Africa, our group had a briefing on safety while in Kenya and Tanzania.

I remember feeling as though I wanted to turn around and go right back home to my comfortable house, AC and lack of snakes. Right there and then I was completely out of my comfort zone.

God was already at work though.

He had provided a way for me to come on this trip and blown my mind and how He had orchestrated those events. Read HERE.

So despite feeling incredibly nervous, I knew the Lord had wanted me there for some reason and felt super excited about what He was going to do while we were there.

I wrote a lot in my journal while on this trip, the first night I wrote about Psalm 121 and turning to the Lord when storms hit in life. A lot about knowing God can do impossible things after seeing Him provide a way for me to be in Africa.

I learned a lot over the next few days about relying on God and not myself in a variety of different situations.

As much as I had gone to Africa to serve God's people, I felt like it was actually me who was changed the most on this trip. 

He brought me to be a part of a bunch of work which was already going on in a village nested on the shores of Lake Victoria. 

We freshened up after arriving at our 'home' and headed off into the bush where we met the community we would be serving and spending our time with. 

My love for children has grown immensely since that trip.

I always had a joy whenever I spent time teaching Sunday school at my church or babysat for family friends. But my love and passion for children grew after I went away for college.

Looking back at the photos from this trip, I was not the one in the group who immediately felt comfortable around these kids. Honestly, I think I was afraid they wouldn't like me.

Then after we had been working on a project at a widow's home all day, we arrived back at the church in the village where all the kids were waiting for us.

I didn't need to approach them, because as soon as I smiled and tried to talk to one of them, I found myself surrounded by smiles. Children wanting to be held, hugged and even though I couldn't speak their language, they didn't mind one big.

A smile crosses every language barrier.

Before I knew what was happening, several girls had me sitting on the ground and were braiding my hair.

I can't even describe how much joy was passed between myself and these girls.

I remembering feeling at the end of our trip that I could live in that village forever, that I wanted to know those girls and those kids. To play with them and love on them. 

I never knew most of their names, but I remember them. 

After these sweet girls had braided my hair, we sat around together laughing and playing on the church steps. One of the younger girls in the group came up to me and sat in my lap.

I was so happy that she felt comfortable enough to just sit there.

Then she fell asleep.

Oh my goodness, I think my heart could not have been fuller.

I remember going to Tanzania to build a water tank for a widow in the village and to share Christ with the people there.

But now looking back, my heart is totally in the little time we spent with the children there.

I remember feeling confused that I didn't know why the Lord had called me to Africa.

I stood overlooking the beautiful scenery one day and prayed asking the Lord why I was there.

I felt less useful as a leader on that trip than I had while in India a few weeks before.

One of the leaders who runs a center in the village talked to me about this and told me that perhaps the Lord had taken me there for a specific purpose, but I wouldn't know what it was until I was older.

Now I feel he was perhaps right on.

The past month or so I have felt such a heart for Africa.

Is it even possible to feel that way about a place I have been to once?

To be praying about adopting a child from there?

To feel myself literally breaking because I want so badly to go to a country and love the children there who are hungry and dying?

I have yet to understand where this is all going...

But I'm excited.

I can't wait to see what the Lord's plans are.

'For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

{Matthew 25:42-45}

There were so many other things I could have shared with you guys about this trip.

But I focused on where my heart is currently.

With the kids I met in Tanzania.

Much Love,

L

P.S. Look out for a new African bag in my Etsy store...coming soon.