Independence Day and the Dependent Life

With a brand-new elementary school graduate in the family, we departed on commencement day to spend two weeks in the U.S. visiting partners in Bakersfield. One of the highlights of our time away was a gala 4th of July party (that included people from Columbia, Canada and Australia in addition to our Mexican delegation!)

Independence is a wonderful concept when you are referring to a country being freed from oppressive rule, or maturing in their ability to self-govern. Just as in the U.S., in Mexico Independence Day is celebrated with lots of fireworks and good food to commemorate the ultimate price that was paid to secure freedom for those of us who enjoy it decades and centuries later.

Independence however is not something to be celebrated as it relates to our relationship with God. As the result of seeing a movie that debilitated her with fear and worry, our oldest daughter has gone from a young believer who loved God, to a maturing pre-teen who needs God on a daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes moment by moment basis and someone who has experienced in a very real and personal way God's presence and activity in her life.

Before this event she read the Bible while preparing her Sunday school lessons and prayed when she ate her meals or went to bed at night. Now she regularly asks us to pray with her, suggest Scripture passages for her to read or verses that she can memorize. God is no longer just a positive influence in her life...He is a necessity.

Our daughter still has her moments when she struggles, she still has to make choices to dwell on scary images and fearful thoughts, or God's promises and truth. However, more and more she is returning to her carefree, social self, but with a new depth of faith in, commitment to and dependence on God. What a good place to be when you just started Jr. High!! What a great place to be whatever your age...for the rest of your life.

(Read about this experience from our daughter's perspective in the preceeding blog.)

Battling the Effects of Batman!

Hola,
I'm David and Karen's oldest daughter and I'm going to tell you guys a story that just happened very recently.

I was invited to go see Batman: The Black Knight by a friend of mine. Like I'm terribly bad at saying NO I went to see it. At first I was fine but later on I got scared. I got traumatized. (DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS AND TWEENS TO SEE IT! They might get mad, but it's better not to see it than to scare the living daylights out of them. Trust me I learned from experience.)

Well back to the subject, I was so scared I couldn't sleep. That was the moment I was scared and helpless. I knew clearly I could not get over it alone, so I asked God to help me because this was definitely my time of need. It was and is the strongest spiritual battle I've had in my life. As time has gone by I've certainly improved, but the process of improving has been very dificult. I've shed my buckets of tears but what has helped and what I've had to do is learn Bible verses like "In my anguish I cried to the Lord and he answered me by setting me free."(Psalms 118:5) and "The Lord is with me I will not be afraid."(Psalms 118:6)

But what was most difficult for me to do is TRUST God. I'm still in this spiritual battle. I know I am trusting in God but I need to trust more that he WILL SET ME FREE. In our lives we have all types of spiritual battles but what we have to learn is that we can NOT possibly overcome them alone. We need to trust in God because he is on our side and he has given us all the stuff to overcome anything. (I still need to get that stuck in my head:] ) Please pray for me because I'm not totally over it. It's only been a week and a half.

May this blog be a warning to kids, tweens, teens, etc. because movies have incredible control over our minds. Parents please be careful what you let your kids watch. I totally regret what I watched. Like that song that Steve Green sings that goes: "Be careful little eyes what you see..." And believe me, God means it!

May God bless you.
Love,
A "Tween"