This is one of the hardest letters I have ever written.
There is so much I want for you to know about being a woman and I feel so ill
equipped to teach you. Being a woman is hard! There are so many lies
surrounding womanhood and it is so easy to drink them like poison. The journey
to being a wholehearted woman is a life long adventure. You’ve seen me mess up
along my path and you will see me do so again and again. Please give me grace
on our journey together to being wholehearted women.
We humans are surrounded by so many relationships – parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, uncles and aunts. And each of them has a special place and meaning in our heart and life. But one of the most loving and special relationship that we can have is with a daughter. Daughters complete us in all sense and as parents they are not only our child but grow to be our best friends. I never realised it till I had one. I am a very proud mom of a twenty year old daughter and I love her more than anything else in this world.
Anytime I feel disappointed, weak or unhappy, just a look at you and it all goes away. I always find so much happiness in you and you are my inspiration. You return my love ten folds and just a look at that innocent loving face and little body fills my heart with joy. Though of course, we love all our children equally be it boy or girl but with daughters we develop a very special bond of love and friendship that can only be experienced and not explained. I have understood this in all those years spending with my daughter.Even at this age you care for me so much and treats me like a friend, telling me all your little secrets. Earlier, I had only heard that daughters grow to be our best friends and I now believe it with all my heart.
The truth is you can’t be what the world wants you to be and
be who God made you to be. They are incompatible and the gulf between the two
will stretch you to your breaking point if you try and bridge it. You have to
choose a side and only one side leads to freedom and life. Please choose
freedom and life. To do so, you will have to let go of some things. You will
have to give up finding your approval in others and find your approval in God.
You will have to give up beating yourself up for your imperfections and find
the grace to offer yourself kindness for your weaknesses. We are all flawed and
broken. However, it is through our flaws that God uses us to help heal a broken
world. You will have to become aware of the lies swirling around
you and make a conscious choice to be a rule breaker for God. It is through
Him you will find freedom. Do not be a slave to this world and its lies.
The world is going to tell you that your worth is in your physical beauty. The world is going to show pictures and images at you and tell you that to be worth anything you must look like those pictures. You will be shamed for not measuring up to these false images. The truth is, no woman can look like those images. They have been photo-shopped into something that is not obtainable. Please don’t try. You are loved just the way you are, RIGHT NOW! You were made in God’s image and He adores you. You don’t have to look any other way than the way you do to be worth love and respect. You are priceless just the way you are. Please believe it!
This world is going to tell you that your value is in how you make men feel. Oh sweet girl, you were made for so much more! You are not a toy or a trophy. You are strong, intelligent, creative, caring, brave and so much more! You were not put here for the amusement of another person. Your femaleness does not entitle others to make fun of you, belittle you or lust after you. You deserve respect and honor in all aspects of your life. Do not accept any thing less from any man. If he cannot honor you the way God honored women, he does not deserve to have you in his life. God made women the heroes of his stories. He never talked ugly of women; he never lusted after women with his eyes or made crude comments or jokes about women. Accept nothing less from any man.
This world is going to tell you to be quiet and small, to not feel too much or be too sensitive. Darling girl, God gave you a voice, use it! Don’t accept the pressure to stay small and quiet. Sing, laugh, cry, shout and scream; just never silence your voice! Your job is not to make others comfortable through silencing your voice. Doing so will cause you to die on the inside. Moreover, never ignore your feelings or believe they are invalid. They are valid because they are yours! Sweet girl, love boldly, be courageous and don’t ignore injustice. God put you here with your unique talents and gifts, he wants you to use them and soar!
May we both find the courage to walk in God’s Truth. May we both believe what God has to say about our worth and value. May we lift others and each other up and remind each other of that Truth when we stumble. You inspire me every single day with your captivating courage and beauty.
A good talk, laugh and hug with you makes me forget all my tiredness and worry. Daughter is the most beautiful and eternal part of a parent’s life and that is why it gets so difficult to part with you when the time comes for you to leave. God has blessed all of us with a great gift called ‘daughter’ who gives us a thousand reasons to rejoice and love. Daughter is a favour of God we can never repay. Girls love their parents the same from birth to eternity and whatever corner of the world may she live, she is never away from parent’s heart. Having a daughter, I feel like a proud and happy lady and pity those who haven’t experienced this beautiful bond yet.
I love you, I love you so much…
Your Mom
