Hey y’all! This is Michelle aka “Tabitha’s Mom”. I’ve hijacked Tabitha’s blog as she is in the middle of a 15 hour plane ride and may not need it for a bit 🙂
I thought I would add my perspective to Tabitha’s previous post about her thoughts on control. It has not ceased to amaze me lately how alike we are – although I know this will mortify her to read! We both have the same obsession with control (just ask what happens if we make a to-do list and someone else crosses off an item!) and letting go of that has also been very difficult for me as a Mom.
In the past few years I have been trying to let Tabitha go, bit by bit, as I knew the time was quickly coming when she would be on her own in the world. I wanted her to be prepared to face the challenges that come with it. I had thought that I had been “loosening the band-aid” slowly so that it wouldn’t hurt, but MAN this rip…this one is painful. Leaving her at camp on Wednesday to meet her new team and prepare for this journey, I could feel her fear and I so badly wanted to take back that control I had so recently learned to give up. I wanted to step in and make it better for her – nothing hurts worse for a Mom than seeing your child suffer. But I knew that I didn’t want to go backwards…and that she needed to go forwards – towards her future.
As I write this, I am thinking not of all the things I hope I have taught Tabitha in her life but of all the things SHE has taught ME. Of all of these, the greatest is knowing the love that Jesus has for me and that He is my savior and my rock. She was the one who actually brought me back to my faith a few years after she began her relationship with Christ in middle school. I am so thankful to her friends and caring adults who were there for her at that time.
One of my favorite gifts that she has given to me is a hand made plaque which reads “I will walk by Faith when I cannot see” 2 Corinthians 5:7. This verse was appropriate for me at that time in my life and it continues to be a comfort to me now. I trust in my God that the paths we are taking are good and right and I fully cede control to Him.
Godspeed and safe travels Tabitha!
