There’s this little girl I know. She has brown hair that
bounces when she runs and brown eyes that sparkle with mischief. Her laugh is like bubbles
dancing on the breeze. She is passionate and fierce, and at the same time, gentle
and nurturing. She is shy...and silly. She is a lover of Jesus, her daddy, animals, dill pickle chips, flowers, veggies,
and old folks.
Her name is Izzy, and she is mine.
For however long He sees fit, God is allowing me to share my
life with her. For reasons I cannot understand, He has entrusted her to me and
for that I am eternally grateful.
Last night I realized that she needs more from me
than clean clothes, reminders to brush her hair and teeth, and advice on how
she should handle conflict with a friend. She needs something infinitely more important than the things I have always thought she needs from me.
See, last night I realized that my little girl has an enemy. Not
a playground bully. Not a girl who calls her names and hurts her feelings. She
has someone in her life who wants to hurt her, who tells her that we love her
brother more than we love her, that we are unfair, that we don’t understand
her, and that we don’t care about her feelings. This person tells her over and
over again that she is misunderstood and that the disobedience we punish her
for is not really disobedience at all, but rather an example of us being
unfair to her.
Last night, I saw in my little girl the things I see in so
many grown women: anger, resentment, bitterness, jealousy, denial...the list goes on...and it hit me:
We have an enemy.
I’ve known, taught, and written about this
for years. His name is Satan and he is very real. He wants to absolutely
destroy you, me….and my little girl.
I realized last night that my daughter’s disobedience,
defiance, and rebellion, are all a reflection of Satan’s schemes and the
lies he is telling her. I guess I thought “she’s too little” for Satan to
really attack her.
What a fool I am.
What better way for Satan to destroy the woman my little
girl will become than to start working on her now?
He is filling her head with
lies and breaking her little heart and I didn’t see it because she is a child
and…well, children are just disobedient, right?
No. Not right.
Sin is sin, no matter how old, or young, we are. The one fueling our sin is Satan and my job as mom is to
teach my little girl how to fight the enemy of her soul.
More than anything else I can teach her, she needs to know
that her Father in heaven, the creator of the universe, loves her and created
her. She needs to know that God will fight for her, that the One who watches
over her does not sleep, and that HE who is in her is greater than he who is in
the world. She needs to know that God sent Jesus to pay for her sin so that she doesn't have to. She needs to know that she is valued by God and that following HIM
is what will bring her peace and joy and satisfaction.
So, I am declaring war on Satan. Hands off my little girl. For
every lie you tell her, I will fill her pretty little head with the Word of
God. Every time you break her heart, I will guide her back to her Savior and He
WILL restore her. I will pray for and with her so that talking to God is as natural for her as talking to her daddy. You cannot have your way with her Satan.
Because she is mine God's.
And for however long He sees fit, He has allowed me to share my
life with her. For reasons I cannot understand, He has entrusted her to me and
for that I am eternally grateful.
I won’t let her down.
Continue reading here
