Anger/Hurt

"Mom, I want friend x to hurt as much as she hurt me!"

Oh, my beautiful, hurt, angry, baby girl...I hate that you are hurting. I hurt for your hurting heart. There is so much I want I want to say to you, but I know that you can't hear me right now.

So I will pray for you, even though right now you can't see God's Light.

I will set very firm boundaries for you, even though you will fight them.

I will remind you that hurting someone because they hurt you isn't His way, even though you can't see that right now.

I will listen to you, even when you don't think I am.

I will listen to you, even when you don't want to talk.

And I will love you, even though you can't you feel that love in boundaries that are being set for you.

God says to love your enemies and to do good to those that hate us. That seems like a really hard, sometimes impossible, thing to do. I can imagine that seems even harder to do in your place in life right now.

God gives us really hard, sometimes seemingly impossible, things to do so that we grow. He wants us to grow in Him. He wants us to grow towards Him. He wants us to grow with Him in our hearts, spirits and hearts.

It's hard to watch your kid hurt. It's hard to watch your kid be so hurt that they are angry and lashing out. It's hard to set some of those boundaries that are so important to set. It's hard to pray for them to grow when you really just want to hold them until their hearts heal. It's hard to not be able to just wipe away a tear and kiss a boo-boo and make their world all better.

These are some of the things I've learned while parenting teens. Rest assured, those boundaries are still going to be set. Rest assured those lessons are still going to be taught. Rest assured that we are still going to love you when you don't feel lovable. Rest assured that we are still going to be here at the end of the battle. Rest assured that we are still going to expect you to be Christ-like, even when you don't act Christ-like, or feel like you want to be Christ-like.

You are our daughter. Our gift from God. We share you with the universe and hurt when the universe hurts you. We cry when you cry, even if we are crying different tears. We will fight for you; for your heart and your body and your soul. We will forever have your back but call you to be accountable for your actions. You are never alone. You are never lost to us. We are your parents and will keep pushing for you, even when you are pushing back harder. We will teach you lessons that you think you don't know and point you towards the right people to help in teach the lessons we don't know how to teach you.