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My son replied: “It’s been a morning full of tears, but also of incredible happiness celebrating the amazing journey our boy has had. We love you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Now to you, my friends, who are sending your kiddos off to school for the first time or this is your last school year for your child. I encourage you they are not going it alone. They are being sent off into God’s loving arms that will protect them and assure them of great success.
As long ago as it was, I remember my own “mama’s heart”. This photo is of my two on their first day of school (first grade and third grade in Cleveland, OK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I wondered how they would handle a brand-new school and classroom with kids they didn\u2019t know and if they\u2019d find a close \u201cgood\u201d friend and not hang around the wrong crowd. I wondered if they\u2019d do well in their classes. Some of you may be fretting about your prank-pulling middle schooler, earnestly hoping he doesn\u2019t make a habit of getting called to the principal\u2019s office.
You may be stressing over academic concerns. \u201cWill my struggling second grader ever make progress in her reading? Will my high schooler graduate with honors, or better yet, will my high schooler graduate?\u201d
But more than all those \u201cschool days\u201d concerns, we also long for our kids to be spiritually and physically healthy. Long ago, in my children\u2019s early years, I found an antidote to worrying about my children in the story of Mary and Jesus.
Luke 2:52 mentions four areas Jesus grew in as a young boy: \u201cAnd Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.\u201d
Jesus grew wiser each year. He physically grew. His relationship with His Heavenly Father continually strengthened. Jesus even gained favor with people here on earth who saw Him day after day. And how I love the simple sentence that precedes this: \u201cHis mother kept all these things in her heart.\u201d
We never see Mary fretting and fussing, worried and anxious. She pondered about her son and his growth, but she didn\u2019t allow her mama heart to become rattled.
Let\u2019s strive to be like Mary. Let\u2019s turn our anxious thoughts into treasured prayers, kept safe and held fast by our loving Father \u2014 the one who knows our hearts and loves our children even more than we do.
When a concern pops up in our mind, let\u2019s carry that concern to God. When we start to fear for our child\u2019s future, let\u2019s petition the only one who knows exactly what the future holds \u2014 THE ONE Who knows everything about everything.
When we turn our worries into our prayers, we\u2019ll realize our children aren\u2019t the only ones being taught; we are learning life-long lessons in trusting and treasuring, knowing God is in control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am being nostalgic as my youngest grandchild, Bryson, is embarking on his last year of high school. I wrote this text message to my son and daughter: “Good morning my loves. Sweet mama, I can imagine how you’re feeling as your last child and my last grandchild is heading out to his last high…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1891,3315,1769,1392,30352,30351,1895,10055,4670,24336,40,1898,542,30353,1316,3786,451,4599,3261,30354,20449],"class_list":["post-20598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-back-to-school","tag-celebrations","tag-christian","tag-facebook","tag-gods-loving-arms","tag-gods-mighty-hands","tag-graduate","tag-grandchild","tag-grew-in-wisdom","tag-high-school-senior","tag-inspiration","tag-luke-252","tag-mary","tag-new-school","tag-nostalgic","tag-relationship-with-god","tag-success","tag-tears","tag-treasures","tag-turn-worries-to-prayers","tag-wiser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20605,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions\/20605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}