Things my DAUGHTER taught me (Part 1)

The day my daughter was born I watched my husband fall head over heals in love with that 6 lb. bundle of joy. As time would go by, that little girl grew and continued to wrap her daddy around her pretty little finger.

Everything to her was a song. I mean she sang EVERYTHING. Our house was a real life musical complete with the costumes that spilled out of her dress-up box. Oh how she would light up when her dad came home; she would sing and dance right into his arms.  Her daddy would give her the world if she just asked.

My daughter has always had a soft side about her; sometimes it was hidden under her daring personality, but I knew it was in there. Under the dirt she brought in with her from outside, despite all the bugs she has collected, the horse's hoof that fell out of her pocket into my washer and the pile of rodent bones I found on her counter, there has always been a sensitive soul within her.

When she was about four, we had a Christmas play in our church. My husband, son, and I were in the play. We had invited my dad, my bonus mom, and other members of my family. My dad is a great guy but the whole church thing isn't his cup of tea. My daughter sat on his lap that night and at the end of the play the lights dimmed and we sang "Silent Night.”  She turned herself around, knelt in my dad's lap, and placed her hands on his face. Her little voice belted out that song with such feeling it brought tears to my dad's eyes. He told me that she really understood what she was singing about. God had taken root in her little heart and it was obvious to those around her.

That little girl knew God from a young age. Looking back, she was walking with Jesus way before I ever really knew what it was like to be in a relationship with Christ. It would be about another three years until I would really begin my walk with Christ and I began to understand that it was more than just showing up to church on Sunday because it was the right thing to do.

Looking back, I see that God was using her in mighty ways that would affect my husband, my son and me. When I think of her singing everything, her dancing and how she ran to her daddy with great joy when he came home, it still makes my heart melt. As I said before, her daddy would have given her the world if she just asked. I see now that if we run to our Daddy in heaven and jump into His arms with joy and songs of praise he, too, will want to give us all our heart’s desires. 

It was that soft spirit in her that has led me to write this three-part blog post and now it has become part of this book. Thanks to her I have learned so much about God. She began teaching me from a young age and I can't wait to see what God has in store for her future.

Lesson 1:  Give with an open heart,

And never expect anything in return

From about the age of six my daughter started wanting to help people. She asked me one day if she could use her allowance to buy supplies so that she could make cards to sell and then give the money to the food bank. For a little thing, she blew my mind. She would turn in a $100 dollars at a time to the food bank. That led her to lemonade stands for the food bank and for St. Jude's hospital. Then she started taking orders for cards and she even put them in a craft show. We told her we would match what she raised and found ourselves writing checks for a $100 and up.

For Christmas one year she asked for us to let her pick out of the World Vision catalog some animals to send to needy families instead of her getting so many gifts. She then came to me and asked, "Can I take my own money on top of that and buy more things in the catalog to give for Christmas?"  She has shown me to never think that you can't make difference, she's shown me the joy of giving with expecting nothing in return and she has taught me how to be the hands and feet of Christ. One day I remember my son saying, "she’s got “IT,” she is right with God and I want that.”  That little girl was one of God's instruments in her brother's salvation and she helped my husband and me to really see what it means to walk with Christ, not just go through the motions.