this week my dad is taking over my blog, this is the letter he wrote. enjoy.
You know it has taken me a while to write this. It’s probably because it’s difficult to describe how you feel when your oldest child and your precious little girl who you held in the first minute of her life leaves the nest. It was even more difficult to allow you to leave the country on an adventure where contact and safety could be an issue. As a father I am supposed to be the protector and the provider for my love ones. Your mother and I prayed about this for sometime before deciding that this was something that we should agree to let you do. I struggled with whether you were going to be mature enough not just to grow your walk with God but wise enough to know that this is just one step in an endless and bright future. It was a challenge of my faith to let God guide you and teach you those things. It’s a hard thing to describe but ever since we made that decision we have been at peace ever since. I believe you’re in God’s hands and your path needed to go through this adventure. In life you’re not going to get everything right, you do have the same personality as your father and will have to be baptized by fire sometimes in order to figure it out ha ha Ha. When I pray for you I of course ask God for a hedge of protection around you but just as importantly I ask that he opens your mind and your heart for you to see what your heavenly father and your earthly father already know. You are an extremely special individual with gifts that most individuals do not possess. I asked him to grow within you and open your eyes to your beauty, your inner strength, and for you to put just a quarter as much into yourself as you give to others.
I’ve never wanted you to be the best at everything but I’ve always wanted you to maximize your gifts, put effort towards you and for you to see what’s both your heavenly father and I already know. You have so many gifts and people follow you as you light up every room you walk into. I don’t want you to settle, embrace this challenge, take care of your inner and outer self, get mentality / physically healthy, let God guide you, and I hope this experience will be a strong building block for your future. It’s hard to explain as a father but when I was 18 years old I thought I chose a little football school in North Carolina, away from friends, away from family, not always making the “right decisions “ and with not near as much potential as I see in you, I did not realize it was God’s plan. I realize I did not have a good relationship with him at the time. I had no idea it was an experience and a building block that God had planned for me before coming back to Tennessee to meet my soul mate. He knew that I needed that particular time to grow and to mature before I would be ready to move on to the next building block in my life. Where I was at 18 is not anything like 49 but every experience, and situation God was growing, teaching, and protecting me. I am not sure what God’s total plan is for you but this is 1 building block for your future. I can see you not just serving but using your special talents to effect others on a large scale. Whether it is Capernaum, running a missionary, or serving some type of organization on large scale. Don’t get caught up with the little things because the fun part about all of this is one individual already knows your future(God). I wish you Good luck, I love you, and I pray for you to challenge your mental, physical, and spiritual growth for the next seven months.
I miss you to the moon.
Love
Dad
