Did We Do Enough?

There are many instances in life when a person wonders, “Did I do enough?”  For example, “I remember when a very good friend took his own life.  I thought did I do enough.”

This question was much on my mind as I awakened at 4:30 this morning.  Today we deliver our baby girl into the hands of Liberty University.  I approached the word of God with this very heavy on my heart.

Just like God, He had the very answers I needed.  In His sovereignty, My Bible reading began in Genesis 24 where Abraham instructs his servant concerning finding a wife for his son Isaac.

As I read this awesome story I was reminded, “Abraham was simply doing what God told him to do.”  “The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my Father’s house and from the land of my Family, spoke to me and told me…” 24:7.  By the end of the chapter we discover Abraham did do enough because Isaac was blessed with God’s choice of a wife.

Certainly, at best, parenting is a tough assignment.  You begin with the trauma of child-birth and then the reality that a child is in your care.  It seems only yesterday when God blessed our lives with the most beautiful girl (Beth).  I can still remember holding her in my hands.  Oh how quickly the time came and went.  I remember her first steps as she took three from her mother to me.  I still remember her first words, “Momma.”  I still remember how she wanted daddy to play Barbie’s evening after evening.  I remember how she hated bows and would rather play outside than to do girly things.  I still remember the moment when God opened her heart and she saw her need of a Savior.  I can still see the joy on her face when she received Christ on my lap at our kitchen table when she was six.

Through the years I watched her grow in grace and struggle with sanctification.  I thought this past Sunday, “she has heard her dad preach at least 100 times per year for 17 years.” But this past Sunday was the last for a while.  Now she is going to a new place following the call of the Lord on her life to become a medical missionary.

Did we do enough?  The answer is yes, if we pointed her to Jesus along the way.  I also read Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.”  I also read I Timothy 3 and II Timothy 1-2, where Paul called Timothy a son in the faith.

I praise God that my daughter has discovered that Jesus is her all in all. I praise God that Beth is the second generation to follow the Lord to Liberty to be trained in ministry.

Many who read this are just beginning the parenting journey.  I offer you this simply advise, “Walk obediently before the Lord and daily surrender your will to His and daily bring your children before the Lord and trust and obey His every directive.” It will be enough!!!