The Big(ger) Picture

I was schooled today. By my teenage daughter. And all I could think of was *out of the mouths of babes* as I shook my head in shame. It was a gentle nudge, maybe a flick upside my head in one of those God-thing "ah ha!" moments. Whatever it was, I got the message. Loud and clear.

My kid plays soccer. Well, actually, she can play almost any sport and play it really well. But soccer is the clincher. It's her thang. She's been playing for a long time, so much so that we just assumed that it would be used as an avenue for her to go to college or whatnot. We never gave it a second thought that it wouldn't happen. It was always something that we were pretty casual about. But she's getting restless. Ready to fly the coop and try life. School is winding down. College applications are being mailed out, classes are being ditched. So it seemed like a natural progression that after we hosted a coach from an international missionary team 2 years ago,that her interest would be piqued. And today we got the news that she had been accepted onto the team that is headed to Germany in June.

I am beyond excited. Very proud. And yes, I am somewhat living vicariously though her. As soon as she read me the acceptance email, I started making calls. Gushing over my kid's achievement. Day dreaming about the possibilities for her. And for some reason, the bigger picture never occurred to me. Then I saw her Facebook status update:

GOT ACCEPTED TO GO TO GERMANY FOR JUNE 2011!!

thank you JESUS!!

and as a reply, she added:

YEEE THANKS GUYS SO MUCH!! IM TOO HAPPY. I GET TO MINISTER

TO LITTLE CHILDREN ABOUT THE BIBLE!

And then it hit me. She was going to be going to Germany to be a missionary. And she was excited about *that*. Yes, heading to the other side of the world is very *cool*. But that wasn't her first thought... like it was mine.

Then my mind snapped like a taught rubberband and was flooded with repentance. How worldly has my focus become? Good Lord.

So I began to think about her whole life in it's entirety, and what rocky beginnings we had. As a teenager that had a baby, I am acutely aware of the odds that were stacked against us. against her. No one would have ever thought that we.. that SHE woulda, coulda, shoulda make it. But we did. And look at the possibilities that lie before her.

I reflected on all of the people I knew that thought I should abort when I became pregnant and the pressures I was under when I decided to keep her. It really hit me hard about her worth and about how I never in a million years would think that she would want to be a missionary or that she would get the chance to go around the globe to do it. And I thought long and hard about the value God saw in her when He created her. He knew all along. But I didn't . They didn't. My baby is going to Germany to teach little children about the Bible. How much better can it get?

We're going to have to do some serious fund raising. But that's ok. Because I am confident in this: that He who created a good work in her will continue in it until that day.