Raising Daughters

Someone asked me the other day if it felt weird to see myself in my daughters…you know, a mini-me following me everywhere I go. I see it especially with my oldest right now. She looks just like me. Her mannerisms are just like mine. There are parts of her that are clearly me.

She is who she is, partly, because of me.

Sometimes, she’s really bold. Often, she’s silly. She’s compassionate and kind.

But lately…I’ve seen something else in her. I’ve noticed the beginnings of…insecurity. And I cringe. Did she get that from me?

I’ve lived a lifetime of insecurity. Never thinking I was pretty enough, smart enough, funny enough…just never enough. Of all the things I want to teach my girls – that is not one of them. So, I am constantly telling them how special they are. I make sure they hear me say how beautiful they are and how proud I am to be their mother. I want them to be secure in who they are and in the One who made them – fearfully and wonderfully.

Those little girls – they are watching me.

I want to believe and live for myself the things that I am trying to instill in them.

I am beautiful to Him.

The king is enthralled by your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord. – Psalm 45:11

I am loved.

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” – Jeremiah 31:3

I need to say, So long insecurity, you’ve been a bad, bad friend.

🙂 Stacy

*Re-post from the archives (Happy Friday, friends)

Am I doing enough? I ask myself often if I am doing enough when it comes to my children and their spiritual lives. See, I don’t want them to just go to church. I don’t want them to just love praise and worship songs. I want my girls to fall madly in love with Jesus. So, I’m trying my best to train them.

Train a child in the way he should go… – Proverbs 22:6

But, sometimes, I wonder if I am doing enough.

Then, on a trip to the Y on a Thursday night, I look in the rear view mirror and see this…

She is reading her Bible…the one she keeps in the car in case she wants to read it when she’s riding somewhere. It blew me away.

The other night, while reading her Bible in bed, she asked if she could have a highlighter. I asked why and she responded…I just read something that I want to remember. I would like to highlight it. It was something she had watched her daddy do the day before.

She will often look outside and say…It’s a beautiful day that the Lord has made. It’s something I would tell the girls often when we were on our way to school in the morning. All of us would rather have stayed home and played and, so, I would try to be positive. Now, Emily says it…not to make herself feel better…but just because she believes it to be true.

Am I doing enough? No. I am trying to be more intentional and consistent with devotions and prayer. I need to work more on Scripture memorization. But, God is truly blessing the efforts that my husband and I are making.

Because we have a daughter who is well on her way to being madly in love with Jesus.