Growing Pains

As of Monday, January 11, 2010, I will officially be 1/5 a century old. With that age...leaving the teens behind, have come some difficult growing pains, within my own heart and within my family. This afternoon, I headed to my fiance's new apartment to hang out with him and some of our friends from college. Well, when my dad learned where I was, he informed me that he was disappointed in me and that I was not using good judgement. At first, this made me so angry, admittedly, and apologetically, I vented my frustrations to my fiance and our friends, making my father look bad. Once I calmed down, I tried to look at why we are having these family tensions.

From my point of view, I was hanging out with friends, nothing bad happened at all. From my dad's point of view, he is not worried so much about David and I breaking our covenant to God and ourselves, but more, possibly damaging (unknowingly) our reputations as Christians in that area. He made the point of saying that to others, if they saw a car parked outside someone's apartment all day, to someone that may not know what is going on, they could assume the "norm" of this generation.

Overall, today, God has reminded me that my parents (no matter how frustrating they can be sometimes, and how sometimes they seem to be nagging), are truly a blessing. I am SO blessed to have two wonderful parents, parents that are concerned not only about my physical well-being, but emotional, mental, spiritual, etc. I am so glad to know that my parents care about me enough to want to help up-hold my spiritual reputation in an area where God is using David and I as servants and witnesses.

When I came home and did my quiet time this evening, I was so angry inside. I kept telling myself that I was the victim, that I was being walked all over by my family and being taken advantage of. God really convicted my heart to be more grateful, respectful, and obedient to my parents. No, I don't need to be a doormat to walk on an

d scrape the blue-raspberry gum off, but I do need to be obedient and respectful towards them. God gave me a harsh reminder in scripture which really saddened my heart to see how prideful I had become against my parents. In the end, no matter what age any person is (man or woman) we always need to respect our parents because they are a true gift from God!

"There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers; those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth." --Proverbs 30:11-12

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother'- which is the first commandment with a promise- that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the Earth." --Ephesians 6:1-3