Luke 2:40, 50-52 – …the child [Jesus] grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him…And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
As high school graduation approached for our oldest daughter, Ashley, our family endured a series of nodal events that caused us to leave our church, home, schools, sports teams, friends, and extended family to move half-way across the country to start over in every way without any job, house, church, family, or close friends.
Ashley was an outstanding student and leader but did not know where she should apply to college because we had not yet decided where we would be moving. She and I both (along with my wife) fasted and prayed, and the Lord burdened her to go out of country in Costa Rica for half a year to heal up, spend time in the Word and with the Lord, and wait to see where we moved and possibly attend college nearby.
The thought of sending our daughter to another country where we could not have regular access to her through technology, to a place we had never been, with people we had never met, was stressful. However, Grace and I believed she heard from the Lord and agreed to fund and support her decision.
Dropping her off at the airport, and sitting in the car to pray through tears, it was a clear moment of differentiation and one of the greatest seasons of her life. Her deep faith only deepened, and she was able to get offline, out of the crazy media drama our family was enduring, enjoy traveling, study the Bible, pray a lot, and work on her Spanish.
I deeply wanted to over parent and not send my daughter to another country. My fear was that she might fall in love, marry, and never return. Had we opposed that season of differentiation, it is quite possible she would have cut us off altogether. Instead, she’s happily married and has our cute grandson we love holding, especially at church.
Did your parents over or under parent you? How did this affect you?
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