A Letter to My Kids that My Friend Wrote

My friend, Katie, had this post a few weeks ago, and I loved it.  I wanted to save a copy of it for my kids (my niece and nephews included) because I want them to look to God ALL through their lives!  Katie wrote it but it says everything I want to say to them now and, even more, in a few years.  


Dear Laura Beth, Carter, Johnathan, Addison and Walker,


I have been studying about God’s love for us and how we can be free of shame and insecurity because of all He has lavished upon us.  I was thinking about how much I want you both to embrace that…how much I desperately want you both to feel God’s love and be free of fear.I have told you time and again that I don’t think most people understand sin.  I have tried to help you realize that sin is that which hurts us or hurts others.  Period.  The reason I want you to believe so firmly in that is so you believe wholeheartedly that God will never stop seeking you, that He will never stop wanting good things for you, that He will never wish for you to experience pain and rejection.  Knowing that, I hope you find it easier to serve Him.


Now…my point.  I have been weighed down lately, thinking of all you have to bear.  I think that when we are younger (your age), it is so much harder to find faithful and God-seeking friends.  Oh…you will find those who proclaim to know Him.  You will even love those who are Christians, but don’t act like Christ. It must be so hard for you to find friends who are truly submissive to God’s Word and who are willing to sacrifice what they want, in order to do what is right.  


My greatest fear for you is that you will begin to believe things that are not true and I fear where the untruths may take you.A scripture that smacked me in the face tonight…and I knew I wanted to share it with you.  

I John 5:3 says “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.” 

That is the message exactly that I want you to know: His commands are not burdensome!!!  HIS COMMANDS ARE NOT BURDENSOME!!!  I know it is so hard to see past this time in your life…when you want to be free of rules and you want to party or be where partying is.  I totally understand that you want to do what everyone else is doing because it is so much fun.  I get that sometimes a life without those things can seem boring.  BUT….I want you to know that the greatest joy I’ve ever received was when I put away my wants and my wishes and instead followed what I knew to be right, not what I knew to be “cool.”  And all I want for you both is to have the greatest, truest happiness, which I know can only be found in God. So…just remember…His commands are not burdensome!  They protect us, strengthen us, rescue us, sustain us.  Will it occasionally be hard?  Heck yeah.  But the alternative is worse…much worse.


I love you!
Momma or Aunt Becky