Mother/Daughter




	WRITE 2 THE HEART Stories that are aimed "Write 2 the Heart" September 18, 2003 Cheryl Speir, Editor, moderator@write2theheart.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to your latest issue of "Write 2 the Heart" You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription or a friend generously forwarded their copy to you. To subscribe send a blank e-mail to subscribe@write2theheart.com. ------------------------------------------------------------ When our children are small, we listen to their prayers, help them with their heartaches, and generously give out advice. When they are adults, we listen while encouraging them to pray. ------------------------------------------------------------ A Mother and Daughter’s Afternoon By Betty King ------------------------------------------------------------ My grown daughter stopped by today, in the middle of the afternoon. My first thought was how nice. She is a busy mother of three boys, with her own business, and isn’t in the habit of just dropping by, out of the blue, in the middle of the day. I soon found out there was a reason for her visit. She hadn’t been here long until she opened up and presented me with the real reason she had stopped by. She needed to vent. I have raised all my children to be independent, perhaps even a bit too much so. She didn’t usually want advice, even when she asked for it. So I knew I had to be careful how I handled this visit. She was eager to spill out her frustrations. I listened. I could see she needed a bit of wisdom. I knew I would have to be careful how I presented it. Two strong willed, independent women often clash with ideas and theories, even, or perhaps especially, when they are Mother and daughter. We have had our moments. She tends to take my advice as a threat to her abilities, ideas or endeavors. Solutions, advice or wisdom coming from a mother can often be viewed by a daughter as a suggestion that her weaknesses are being pointed out. A mother’s admiration of her daughter can be misconstrued as being a fault finder if she isn’t careful how she distributes words of wisdom. Our visit continued…. She vented and when it was called for I suggested or advised in a caring and gentle matter. After a bit it was time for her to leave and she smiled and said, "See I seek your advice, I may not always take it, but sometimes I do." One last word of advice I offered before she went out the door was to suggest she pray for the person she was upset with. She thought for a moment and said, "Yes I should do that." Before she went out the door she told me about two prayers she had recently prayed that God had heard and answered. A bully several years older than one of her sons had threatened to beat him up if he didn’t give him one hundred dollars of his money he had worked hard for. He was scared and done as the guy had said; he gave the kid his hard earned cash. My daughter had prayed asking God to make the boy who had intimidated my grandson to feel guilty enough to return her son’s money. She relayed to me how after several months, just the other day the older boy had come in where her son worked and asked my grandson to forgive him for what he had done. He told him he would pay back the money. He said he wanted to make things right; he had been diagnosed with cancer. The boy has not, as yet, paid back the money, but God isn’t through yet! My daughter had not prayed that harm would come to the older boy, only that he would feel guilty enough to return the money. He has apologized and I believe that was the hardest part. Now I am sure God is very capable of answering the rest of the prayer, in His time. On another incident, one of the ladies in the subdivision where my daughter and her husband and boys live, called and was organizing a neighborhood outside event. The only thing, she heard rain was in the forecast. My daughter casually said, "You want me to pray for no rain, I have a connection you know," she half hardly kidded to her over the phone. Yet she remembered her earlier answered prayer and knew God hears all our prayers no matter how big or small they may seem. Later it started raining; she prayed asking God to make it stop raining before 3:00 when their group was to gather. At fifteen minutes till 3:00 my daughter called her friend and said, "You notice the rain has stopped." Some things we just naturally take to God in prayer, others, we feel or just too trivial to bother God with. But in Mark: 11, 24 Jesus tells us, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Yes, we are to take all our petitions to God believing; He is capable of answering every prayer no matter how large or small, how profound, or trivial it may seem. My daughter left making a comment that reflected the success of our day our talk and the fact that God can provided wisdom, answered prayers and a tie that binds a Mother and daughter despite their occasional differences. Betty King baking2 @ charter.net You are encouraged to write to the authors to let them know what you think of their story, just remember to remove the space before and after the @ symbol. The space is placed in the address to protect our writers from viruses and email harvesting programs. Have a comment on today's story? Send it to: moderator@write2theheart.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- Betty King is a freelance writer, newspaper columnist and author of two books. Her first book, It Takes Two Mountains to Make a Valley and her second book, But – It Was in the Valleys I Grew can be ordered from her publisher off her website www.betty.newsmoose.com from her at baking2@charter.net , or from your local book store or from any online book store. Be sure and stop by her new website, Moments of Reflections for a special soothing time of music and spend a peaceful moment reflecting upon the blessings God has given you. -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Letters From Our Readers -------------------------------------------------------------- There should be a movie made out of this one...very nice ending, too. One of my favorites. ~ Pamela What an interesting story. Very unique. To think they almost put the horse down. Janice --------------------------------------------------------------- Military Prayer Reminder --------------------------------------------------------------- As you read over this list of names, please take that moment to pray for these young people and their families: Chris Speir Tim Speir Alan Thaddeaus Howard Todd Holland Graham William Julie Sagel Jessie Marshal Thompson Jason Eric Hernandez Kristin Danielson Ken Prieur Ryan Please continue to pray for our country, our leaders, and our troops at this time. If you have loved ones in the military, or who are being called to go overseas, send their names (first and last or first only) to be included in our prayer reminder. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- © 2003 Write 2 the Heart Nothing may be reproduced or published without the written permission of the individual author or copyright owner. All rights belong to the authors.