When she grows up and explores the world
When she grows up and explores the world
Can I be really transparent here for a minute? See this baby? She’s been mine for a long time.
At least that’s what I’ve always told myself.
In a few short days, this little baby who is now 19, will be heading off on her first international mission trip to Costa Rica. For the whole summer.
I’ve made every effort as a parent to treasure every moment. To be aware that the time will go fast and that I didn’t want to miss out.
But now I’m being reminded that she doesn’t really belong to me after all. We raised her to do what she felt God made her for.
It is exactly as hard as I thought it would be, to let go, when the time came for her to be grown.
surrendering your child to god
I see a woman standing before me, but when she calls me on the phone I hear my little girl’s voice. She’s responsible and has a job and can take care of herself, but when I walk by her room I still listen to see if she’s sleeping peacefully.
Even though she hasn’t needed me in the night for me at least a decade.
It won’t be easy to give that send-off hug on Sunday, but it is necessary. And it is exciting. And I truly can’t wait to hear about her adventures over the summer.
Sometimes I think there’s nothing like parenting to be that trust- building connection with God.
Because complete surrender is required. I wouldn’t trade one minute of it.
And in a few more weeks? We’ll be sending off child #2 and doing it all again. Another goodbye, another country…Guatemala.
Ephesians 3:20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
I’ll be praying for great things and looking forward to seeing Him keep his word in ways unimaginable!
Have you ever been on a trip like this? Tell me about your adventure. I myself have yet to travel internationally, but my dreams are as big as my precious girls.
P.S. You won’t believe the update 3 years later on where her journey has taken her. Click here to see amazing photos
Hi Christa,
I went to Brazil for 7 weeks one summer while I was in college. You are opening up a new view of the world for your children. Brazil was a land of contrasts. We saw expensive houses and people living in small one-room houses made of plywood that looked more like a shed you would use to store a lawnmower.
I found people in the church to be full of love and you find that the world is large and yet small at the same time.
My mom cried when I was leaving, and she never cried when I went off to college. She said it was because I was going so far away. (I went to college around 500 miles from home!) My mom has since went on about three short-term mission trips to the Dominican Republic and loved it.
You should try to find a way to go. It changes your life in a way that can only be experienced, not explained.
That is what we are most excited about, them experiencing just how vast and different the world is. What an excellent way to put it, about being experienced. My husband took a mission trip to rebuild widows homes in Kosovo once, it really was an incredible experience. He hopes to take another trip too one day. Thank you for sharing your story!
Hi Eva. Great to see you!
I always hum that song when i fly
Chrsta, I know how it feels when your children go away.
I have to of them in Greece, and things could be worse there even than in Brazil.
If I could tell you how many times God has been right there with them you won’t believe it.
God will be with your girls as well! With you too!
I have shared my trip to Mexico with you. I have had the pleasure to travel in many foreign courtiers.
It’s an education. I treasure each and all of my trips, the people I met there, the cultures I learned to appreciate. Through all the diversity, one thing settled in permanently: No matter where you are, people are people, with the same needs and preoccupations, the same capacity to feel, love, learn, understand.