I Am Retiring

              

      'God's ways are not only higher than our ways,

      they are perfect' (from BSF notes on Genesis)

Forty years ago I began a new season in my life, parenting.  At the time, I did not realize it was going to be such a long season.  Now one of my favorite things to hashtag is #parentingisforever

Forty years ago, I was also a high school business teacher.  I was just into my third year of teaching when I sensed God leading me to give up my career and become a stay at home mom.  What did that even mean?   Bill and I talked it over - at the time he was a youth pastor and I was making almost as much as he was as a teacher.  We started praying about it and begin preparing to live on one income. We made two major decisions to make this financially possible - pay cash for our cars and pay our credit card balance every month. That was it.  We have lived on one income by these 2 budgeting steps for 40 years.  

‘

At that time, I began praying that God would give me a career when my job of rearing children was done.  In 2003, I had 2 kids in college and a 5 year old.  One morning before church I prayed and asked God if He was ever going to answer my prayer.  As audibly as I have ever heard Him speak, he said, ‘your children aren’t grown yet.’ I took that as a no for now and continued parenting and helping Bill grow our church. 

Fast forward to 2021.  This August my oldest child turns 40 and my youngest is 22. I am celebrating my 65th birthday in July. We are now in a season of preparing for retirement.  However, in my case, I am retiring from full-time parenting.  

Through a series of what you might call ‘unlikely events’ God has orchestrated a job for me that could only come from Him.  He has been preparing me for this job for 40 years.  I was offered a job with Saving Susan, a unique ministry that elevates orphan care in developing countries through local Christian partnerships.  At this time, they have partnerships with orphanages in Cambodia and Guatemala. 

They partner each child with a loving Christian family, enrich their education, and support them holistically on their path to fulfilling God’s will for their lives. Saving Susan works in countries whose borders are closed to international adoption.  The parent partners are able to Zoom with their adopted children often.  They also have the opportunity to visit their child on a Saving Susan Sponsored Field Trip. 

My official title is ‘Field Trip & Partner Relations Director.  In a nutshell, that means I reach out to churches and pastors and offer them an opportunity to partner with Saving Susan.  There is no financial obligation on the part of the church, just an opportunity to share their story and invite others to become involved in the life of one orphan. 

I have been praying for several weeks about how to share this new adventure. Some of you have walked with our family for years and shared our journey.  We have served in churches together and forged a friendship that is very important to me. Hopefully you can see why I wanted you to know about what God is doing in my life.

Even though God has prepared me in my many ways for this new adventure, there is one way that I am having to learn.  God’s word says ‘Ask and it will be given to you’ That has always been difficult for me.  I’m a doer not an asker. However, over the years many that are receiving this letter have asked us to support you in what God was calling you to do and we have been happy to do so.    

You might be wondering what the ask is going to be in this letter. Well here it is.  I am asking you to pray for me and for Bill as we begin this new season.  Bill is preparing to retire from our church in the not too distant future (Covid has definitely extended our ministry here).  We are praying about where to live and exactly what this new season looks like for us.  

I am also asking you to pray for this ministry. Pray about sharing this ministry with those you know that have a heart for orphans, foster care and missions.  Saving Susan began in 2015 after a couple went on a mission trip to Cambodia with their church in 2013.  They met an orphaned girl that they wanted to adopt but soon learned that borders in Cambodia were closed to international adoption, mainly because of human trafficking.  The overhead for Saving Susan is provided through their tent making job - an elevator company.  100% of the money donated to Saving Susan goes directly to the children and orphanage where they live.

And lastly, I’m asking you to consider inviting us to share with your church through your Sunday school class, small group or at a worship service.  Bill is also asking pastor friends to let him fill the pulpit for them when they are on vacation.  This gives him an opportunity to continue to preach and me an opportunity to share about Saving Susan.  

You can contact me directly at Allyson@savingsusanministry.org or text me at 205-534-0035

The website for Saving Susan is www.savingsusanministtry.org

In 2016, I went on a trip with a social good company to Cambodia.  Meeting a local pastor opened the door for me to know about Saving Susan. 

Count Your Covid Blessings

 Thanksgiving 2020

Thanksgiving for me has been different every year since I married.  For many years, we would come to Birmingham and eat 2 Thanksgiving dinners, one at noon and another a few hours later.  I can empathize with my adult children who try to juggle holidays.  And in a pandemic, it is even worse.  Today, I'm just writing a note of encouragement to everyone that is trying to make this day a day of gratitude in a year that has been anything but normal. 

I love my family and want to be with them whenever possible.  The last time we were together for Thanksgiving was 2018.  The picture at the top of this blog is  of me and my siblings taken on that beautiful Thursday afternoon.  It was our first Thanksgiving together without parents. My mom died in 2014 and my dad in 2016.  

On Monday evening, when I found out my Thanksgiving plans had changed for the 3rd time, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I had been gathering things for weeks to take to my siblings when I saw them on Thanksgiving.  Since that wasn't possible, my husband agreed to drive me on a 24-hour trip to Birmingham, a sort of progressive Thanksgiving.  

 It started with me picking up some Krispy Kreme doughnuts, 

glazed and chocolate covered creamed filled, (my mother's favorite) 

and enjoying a porch visit with my niece and her family. 

She had her second child a few weeks ago. 

At 9:30, Bill & I picked up my brother and went to his daughter's house.

She and her husband had purchased their first house last year

 and I had never seen it.  

She joined us in visiting my brother and sister-in-law. 

They were hosting Thanksgiving this year until she tested positive.  

We waved at her as we stood on the porch

 and she peered out her bedroom door

 and my brother waved at the camera. 

  

It was then on to deliver my sister's birthday gift.  

(John was born on her 35th birthday-

you do the math).  Her son lives

in Birmingham and was willing

to deliver her gift to Auburn 

Thanksgiving morning.  

We finished our Progressive Covid Thanksgiving 

at Johnny's restaurant in Homewood. 

My brother's youngest son joined us for lunch.

Bill & I then drove home to Tennessee.  

As we were driving north on Interstate 65, 

I told him 'I love my family' and in true Bill style, 

he said 'and I love you' and he does.  

Today, we will watch the parade, zoom with our older kids and grands

 and have dinner with John and his new girlfriend. 

Thanksgiving food is not his favorite 

so we will be enjoying a precooked brisket

 from Sam's, potatoes and salad!!  

Not the traditional Thanksgiving feast, 

but in a year that has been anything but traditional, 

I am grateful for my Covid blessings.  

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours,

Allyson

PS - Here is the prayer my dad prayed

 at our family Thanksgiving 2015.  

For some reason, I decided to videotape it.  

It was the last time we would hear him pray.  

He died a few weeks later.  

'My Ability to Ruin my Child's Life . . .'

Today is my 39th official Mother's Day.  I was expecting my first child in August, 1981.  Believe it or not, I was at the same church and city where I am today.  Many years and miles have passed and in many ways, I have more regret than anything about my mothering.  The enemy attacks here on a regular basis.

Several days ago, I read a quote by Susan Alexander Yates who is a regular guest on the Moms In Prayer Podcast (for those of you as old as me, this is what was called Moms in Touch).  She said

Your ability ruin your child

is not nearly as great as 

God's power to redeem them.  

That really spoken to me. Hindsight is 20/20 (how appropriate is that?) That is  the clear vision of what I should have done in so many situations over the years.   This morning I heard the Lord speaking to my spirit saying 'Trust me' and then again in this tone 'Trust ME'  How many times have I quoted Proverbs 3:5-6,  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.' I did not even have to look it up to type it out. I know it that well.   

My prayer on this Mother's Day 2020 is help ME to trust YOU!!  I am weary and weak.  Parenting is hard!! That is all.

This picture was taken 15 years ago at my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration
It was one of the last official family photos
before we began adding others to our official photos!! 

People love that crap!!

In 1990, I started writing a yearly Christmas letter to be included with a recent photograph of our family.  I never intended for this to be a yearly thing.  One of my favorite sayings to my family is 'people love that crap' (Christmas cards and letters fall into that category)  We had moved to Tennessee from Alabama and had in 12 years of marriage moved 7 times and lived in 4 states.  We had friends from all over.  So, the annual Christmas letter took flight.  This letter was not sent locally, so if you lived in the same area with us, you were not on the Christmas letter list.  When we moved, we added friends that had sent us Christmas cards locally.  My thought was that if you lived in the same area we did, you knew what our life looked like and didn't need an annual recap.  

Over the years, this list has grown to include the married children of our friends, since they are now sending us their Christmas cards.  The annual letter has become my Christmas present to myself.  I love people and sharing our lives through the years. 

This year I did something a little different - instead of filling my letter with the things that Bill & I as well as our kids and grands had been doing, I reflected on letters I had written over the past 28 years and how what I had written in the past looked today.  

Once again, I was reminded of God's faithfulness to me and to my family.  This verse comes to my mind when I think of my plans for myself and my family.

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways. Isaiah 55:8-9

Which then takes my ADHD mind to immediately to my life verse John 15:5 . . . apart from Me, you can do nothing.  I'm so glad to have Him as my advocate, protector, savior, and friend.

With that introduction . . .

I present to you ‘The Overstreet Family Christmas Letter 2018’

I hate to admit it but . . .

 Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite movies!!

The Overstreets @ MetaPC 2018

As I was thinking about what I wanted to say about this past year, I took about 2 hours one morning to read through all my previous Christmas letters.  I started reading last years letter and read back to the first letter I wrote in 1990.  I was trying to think who might have been on that first Christmas letter list.  We were living in Maryville, Tennessee, and did not even know that we would be moving to south Florida the next year. Eight years later, we would be back in Alabama and living there for 15 years before moving to Hendersonville, TN in 2014. Over the years, I have loved addressing and stuffing these Christmas letters.  It gives me a chance to think about the memories we have shared with you and your family. Lots of great memories.  

Another thing that happened while I was reading had to do with what I had written.   Every year I like to pick a theme for my letter.  I have come to realize that this annual letter is really for me not you.  You get the benefit but I have a ‘cliff notes’ journal of where our family has been and what God has done. 

If you have had an opportunity to talk with me this year, you know I have been living by this verse found in Matthew 6:34  ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own’.  The older I get and the more people that come into my family either by marriage or birth, this verse has become more of a reality in my life.

Here are some funny examples of how this verse has played out in my life from some of our previous Christmas letters. 

In 1994, I wrote 'in less than 10 years, our job as full-time parents will be over.’  Why did I say that?  It reminds me of a passage in James 4:13-14 ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.’ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes . . . 

1997 - ‘We're online. You can e-mail us at BOverst756@aol.com’ (can anyone even remember dial-up AOL)  I remember telling Buddy that I would not put my credit information into my computer.  Things have definitely changed.  Now I do almost all my shopping online - I may be Amazon Prime’s best customer. 

2000 - ‘So in the span of one week, both of our older children left the nest. . . God knew that we would need more than a dog to fill the emptiness in our home—so he provided a 2-year old.  Not a baby—but an always moving, into-everything toddler!'

The more we like to think we control our own destiny, history proves us wrong every time.  No matter how hard we try, we cannot see into the future, and do we really want to?  Hence, the wisdom of Matthew 6:34 - don’t worry about tomorrow . . .

John's Graduation Day-Goodpasture Christian School

As most of you know, we did not become empty nesters in 2004 but that date did arrive on the 37th birthday of my oldest son. August 17, 2018, we moved John into his dorm at Belmont University in Nashville.  He loves college!  Bill and I also celebrated our 40th anniversary in March. Our children officiated a renewal of our vows and many family and friends attended this celebration. 

We had a full year - I love my family and try to see them as often as I can. 

I want to close with another excerpt from a Christmas letter - that letter was written in 2003. We had lived in Tuscaloosa for 5 years and seen Alabama lose many games, most notably to UCF, Tennessee, Auburn, & LSU. Here’s what I wrote 15 years ago in that 2003 letter:  “Buddy is graduating in May with a degree in Entrepreneurship and a minor in communications.  He is still working in the Athletic Department at Alabama.  He was able to go to Hawaii over Thanksgiving with the Alabama football team.  He had a great time.  As for the UA football team, I think the Tuscaloosa News said it perfectly in the Sunday paper—Alabama says ‘Aloha’ to 4-9 season.  Who knew that 15 years later, ‘Aloha’ would be something that would bring a smile to the faces of so many Alabama Football fans!!

This year my prayer is not only will you anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth but also how the Lord is wanting to bless you and your family.  I am enjoying the memories of our yesterdays and trusting my tomorrows to the one who knit me together in my mother’s womb and wrote all the days of my life before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16) 

This past year has been spent day by day making memories and reaching out to those who need to know the love of Christ. Bill continues to pastor Indian Lake Peninsula Church.   Please pray for our church as we continue to move forward in reaching out to our community. Our #hastag this year has been ‘We’re here for Good’  

We are also intentional about getting together as a family.  This is hard to accomplish but this year I have seen my kids and grands more than many previous years.  They will all be here for Christmas this year and I do not take that for granted. I know how hard it is to travel hundreds of miles with small children.   I always tell them that their ‘presence’ is my present!! and it really is.  I think God feels the same about His children.  He just wants to spend time with us.  I pray that this Christmas we will take some time to so just that.  

Thanks for being a part of our story.  You are special to God and to us!!

Merry Christmas, Bill & Allyson 

I'd rather have a baby than a dog!

"A child is someone who passes through your life and disappears into an adult." Tonight, the child I am thinking about is my youngest, John, who moves into his dorm at Belmont University tomorrow.  Ironically, he moves in on the day that my oldest son was born, 
August 17. 

37 years have passed since Bill and I have lived alone.  It is also ironic that we started parenting in Hendersonville and we have come full circle.  We are back at the same church in the same city.  We have owned 10 homes and lived in 4 states in our 40 years of marriage. 

A few days ago I texted a friend about her son and mentioned that John was going to college.  This is the text I got from her 'The empty nest is great . . . just don't make the mistake of getting a dog!  We did & now we are back to using sitters & doggie day camp!'   This was my reply to her 'That is how I got John.  When Buddy and Erin asked for a dog, I said I would rather have another baby than a dog.'  When I found out I was pregnant at 42, I remembered that comment immediately.

I know many people have children that they don't plan and I am always interested in their story.  Well here's mine.  

When Erin was in 4th grade,  I went through a Bible study called Experiencing God.  At that time, I sensed God calling me to homeschool her.  Soon afterward, we started a church and that thought went right out the window.  In 1997, I did the Bible study again at my new church.  One day as I was doing the homework, there was a question that said, 'What has God asked you to do that you have not done?'  Immediately, my mind went back to when she was in 4th grade.  Over the next few weeks, I talked with her and Bill and we decided that I would homeschool her for 8th grade.  It was so far-fetched that when she told people she was going to be homeschooled, people would ask 'Who is going to teach you?' To say the least, I was not a homeschooling mom.  

However, I wanted to be obedient to what the Lord was calling me to do and we began in the fall of 1997.  I decided to buy a journal and use it as a prayer journal of our year together.  Here are the last 2 entries of that journal:

April 15, 1998

Dear Lord, Are you opening our eyes to a new place? Is that place Tuscaloosa or B’ham. Between what I wrote Monday and today we received a call from a new Body in Tuscaloosa.  Is this where you are going to let Bill go to get a rest.  I see Your hand and I trust Your heart. 

Does this time of rest also include a new baby?  The last thing I thought I would ever be dealing with at 41 years old.  I have mixed emotions.  After the year I’ve spent with Erin, I have learned that obedience brings blessing. I know that Your plans for me are perfect and I want to stay in for the long haul.

My commitment to you is firm and I look forward with anticipation to what you have planned for me and my family.  I love You, Amen

April 16, 1998

Dear Lord, When I first started this journal last July, I never dreamed that the last page would be about having a baby.  How unbelievable You are. I bought this book because it was titled ‘Down in the Garden’ and my desire for Erin and I this year was to plant my life in hers.  As the weeks went by, I saw more and more that was Your plan, too.  However, every picture in the book was of babies. 

To say that I am floored is an understatement. To say that I’m excited to see your plans for us is very true.  I know you are working. I know your love and plan for us exceeds our highest expectations.  I can’t wait. I pray that these next months will be time of growing together as a family as we prepare to nurture a new life. I love the way you love me.

Your favorite child, Allyson

----------

It has been almost 20 years since I wrote that journal post.  I have seen 2 of my kids finish college, marry and have their own children. 

I am excited to see what God is going to do as John takes the next step.  This evening has been spent thinking about him and praying for him.  I wrote him a short note and shared these journal entries with him.  I wanted him to know that I was excited when I found out I was pregnant with him and I am still excited to see how God uses his life for His good and His glory.  My mom always said - 'he was the gift you didn't know you needed.'

Parenting never ends but it does change and change is hard. I am beginning a new season of parenting. I'm praying that the Lord continues to show me how to parent from my new position, the sideline.  

Hello darkness, my old friend . . .

I spent Memorial Day weekend at the beach with my son and his wife's family.  My husband was able to lead this family in dedicating their two 2 youngest girls - my granddaughter who is 7 months old and her cousin who is 3 weeks old.  A very fun relaxing time for me.

On the last night my 4 year old granddaughter Mac was riding back from our family dinner with me and my daughter-in-law's mother. I didn’t want her to fall asleep because if she fell asleep, I would have to carry her up a flight of stairs to the beach house.  I told her to sing us a song - This is the song she sang:

Hello darkness, my old friend,  
I've come to talk with you again

Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence

She had learned this song from the Trolls movie - I remember it from my high school days sung by Simon and Garfunkel.  Bill and I had taken her and her brother and cousins to see the movie while we were in Texas for Thanksgiving.  The movie had such great music I ordered a CD for each family.  My son said they played it in the car all the time. 

I laughed as I heard this very sobering song being sung by a 4 year old.  It spoke to me - as does silence!!

This morning, I'm at home back to my somewhat normal routine - catching up on e-mail and cooking for a church member whose husband passed away while we were gone. I stopped to read a blog post from my sister-in-law.  Her husband, my brother, Brian, died suddenly 5 years ago this summer of a brain bleed.  Her life has taken quite the turn.  She writes a weekly blog.  Many times it is just what I need to hear.  Today was no exception.  I want to share it with you as well.

The Healing Power of Silence--Debi Newman Reisling

          God moved heaven and earth to get me into this wait-listed, 10-day silent retreat.  It had taken me eleven years to arrive. Why do I have to have a lingering cough from a cold that began over a week ago when I am sharing a room with a roommate who needs to sleep, and I must be quiet during prayer?  Why? After waiting all those years to get here, why would I be banished like this?  

I returned to my silent room and sat down in the most comfortable chair you can imagine and began my private session—no one could hear my coughs.  I did okay but mainly I discovered that the God of all comforts had something to show me through this seeming disaster.  It’s not so bad to pray in your room overlooking the beautiful lush green Rockies with snow tipped peaks (this was before the 3-5 inches of snow that began that afternoon).  I wiped my tears and enjoyed my setting.

          Things were looking better as I got back on track with the schedule and walked down to the morning church service.  I spent time in the Guest chapel before the service asking God to help me not cough.  It was a miracle; I did not cough, but I did cry.  I cried a lot.  I cried and cried and I don’t cry.  I’m not a Cryer so I didn’t expect to cry, but I do know I need to cry so I didn’t stop the tears.  But I connected to what the tears were about as the service began.  The monks in their white church robes triggered a painful reality about my son who was on the journey of wondering if he should be a monk when his life took a detour to wearing a white prison uniform.  I needed to talk about this.  There are retreat leaders here.  There are people to talk to.  I’ve been invited to talk, but I need to talk to a monk. It is monk business that is making me cry, at least that is what I think.  So I write a note and don’t expect an immediate response; yet I am told to go down to the bookstore at two and talk to a monk.

          Fr. Charles is sent and I spill out my story, and I show him a picture of Ben and me taken just the Sunday before.   He looks at it and listens; I cry some more.  When I finish my rambling, he tells me, you know this is about you, right.  You are crying for you.  You have been through a lot and you need to cry.  Of course, I have a lot going on; and he doesn’t even know the half of it!  I think my tears are telling me that.  But, no, I don’t automatically think my tears are about me.  I think they are about how I am failing my son somehow, that I wasn’t enough to keep him on track, that there was something else I could do.  I mean I don’t say that to people.  I don’t live that out every day…but when I come to a place like this, and strip away all my normal distractions, that is exactly what I think.  I think I’m crying because my son needs something more from me!  Something I should have been able to give him if I were just a better mother.  There’s some way I can make up for that if I can just figure out what.  I can help him.  He needs my help.

          Well, he does indeed need my help so says Father Charles.  He told me that what Ben needs most of me is to take care of myself and be one with God.  That is how I can heal Ben best—heal me.  I hear him.  I really do.  And as he talks, I know that is true not only  for Ben but also for Rachel, Nate and Lila.  It’s true for Paul and for my ministry.  What the people in my life need most is not more of what I can do but more of God in me (and in all the other places He is in their lives).  It's what Irvin Yalom calls the healing presence.  I know that is what has happened through the years as I have counseled others.  It’s not my training or my brilliance, rather it is God’s healing presence in me that directs people’s souls to a new way of connect to Him that results in their healing.  It’s not whether I do a certain thing, but it is for me to connect more deeply to how God is in me so that God can connect more deeply to all the people in my world.

Psalm 46:10:  Be still, and know that I am God.

If you are interested in reading more of her blogs,  you can find them at 
http://teatimeforyoursoul.com

A Tale of Two Mothers

This is Mother's Day Weekend at my house.  My family is already celebrating me as a mom.  I have received a new lounger for the pool, a bouquet of flowers, cards and a popcorn popper.  They have also given me the opportunity to attend my first ever 'silent retreat.'  I'm at a convent in Nashville with 12 other women.  We are spending 24 hours nurturing our soul in quiet along with 3 classes of (optional) holy yoga. 

Being the planner that I am, I spent much of the day yesterday thinking about what I would 'do' at this retreat.  I had thought about bringing a scrapbook that I have been working on for more than 5 years.  It is a photo journal of my married life.  My goal is for it to be up to date by my 40th wedding anniversary.  I have 10 months to complete it if I'm going to reach my goal.  

I also wanted to complete setting up a prayer journal that my sister had given me 2 years ago for my birthday.  To help with this, I decided to take down my 'War Room' closet.  I liked the idea when I saw the movie and it did help me organize my prayers and visually see who and what I was praying for; but that set up wasn't for me.  I took down all the pictures and prayer cards and put them in an envelope.  I'm going to put them in my prayer journal.  (maybe while I'm here, maybe when I return home)

While thinking about that little project, I decided that I would bring my journals to the retreat.  I'm not a person who writes daily in a journal but over the course of my married life, I have journaled off and on.  I went to a bookshelf and picked up 5 journals and put them in my bag.  

This morning I have been reading through the first one.  I started it in 1986.  As I read through the pages, I began thinking about where our family has been and how God has protected and provided for us.  Between 1986 and 1998, we had moved 8 times and served in 6 different churches.  Much of my journal was about praying for God's guiding and the disciplining of my children.

In 1998, my life changed and I was thrust back into a role

I thought was ending.  I become a mom again at 42.  Today that child is 18 years old and about to enter his senior year of high school.  He has been reared by a mom that has been scattered.  She has helped her husband plant 2 churches, spent 10 years taking care of aging parents as well as becoming a mother-in-law and grandmother to 5 grandchildren.  During this time, a young life was growing up right under her nose.  This child has not had the undivided attention of his mom but has had to share her with so many others who were clamoring for her attention.  This mom tried to be everything to everyone and in doing so has squandered many years that could have been used to disciple and nurture this young soul.  

There are tears in my eyes as I think about the 2 moms that have reared my children.  One mom was very intentional about teaching her children the books of the Bible, as well as memorizing scripture and guarding their hearts.  She did not let them go 'trick or treating' or believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.  She always had Christian music playing in the car and even participated in a campaign called 'Turn off Your TV'  She and her family did that for one month.  Her children grew up, completed college, got jobs, spouses and children.   

The other mom found herself in her 40's with a toddler, aging parents and churches that needed constant care.  This mom has lived in survivor mode for over 15 years.  This mom has hardly had time to take care of herself spiritually much less disciple another child.  She is living with a lot of regret.  She loves this child and is so proud of the young man he is becoming.  She is regretting not giving him the tools he needs to succeed in this ever-changing world.  She did not spend enough time teaching him about God and his Word.  She let the short time he was at church be his main teaching.  She knew that she could not depend on the church to be the religious educator of her children but she allowed that to happen with this child.  She has asked God to forgive her and He has.

She continues to pray daily for this child.  He has struggled finding his place in his family, not to mention his place in his school and in the world.   Even though this has been a very difficult post for me to write, I know it was needed for me to put into words what has been in my heart.

I'm not sure where you are this Mother's Day weekend.  You may be struggling with infertility, death of a child by abortion, a prodigal, or just the everyday disappointments that come with being a mom. 

I am clinging to a verse that is so very special to me - It is Joel 2:25 - 'I wish restore to you the years the swarming locust have eaten.'  This is God's promise to me concerning all the failures and shortcomings I have as a mom.  God has promised to restore and I am resolved to be part of that restoration with the years I have left on this earth.   I am excited to see what lies ahead for this child and his aging mom!!