Dear parents,
This past summer, my oldest daughter spent a month in Swaziland withthe Adventures in Missions Ambassador program. At age 15, she had been to
plenty of sleepovers and week-long camps. She had even been on one mission trip
to Africa, but it was with me. This was her
first time ever to leave the country without us and to be gone for so long.
By nature, I am an over-protective, worrywart parent. I send a cell phone with
my 14 year-old daughter when she goes bike riding in our neighborhood and am
famous for telling everyone to wear their seat belts and lock their doors.
would think that after having seven kids I wouldn’t be this way, but I am.
my kids. One of the things He showed me was that I needed to trust my kids to
Him and His plans for their life. Ultimately, He is the one in control of their
days, not me. Yes, I can be a careful parent, but I can’t protect them from all
the dangers in the world. To try to keep every single bad thing from happening
to them would be to rob them of the joys, thrills, and yes, even the
potentially dangerous thrills of this life. And I could also rob them of
fulfilling the dreams that God is placing in them.
He got me to the point of desiring more than anything, that my children be in
love with Him and willing to follow His path for their life, no matter the
cost, no matter the sacrifice.
It also meant me learning to trust that He will provide for them financially.
He is showing me that if He wants them to go, then He will make the way for it
to happen.
I need to let HIM be the provider and the protector and quit trying to do His
job. He can do it so much better than I can.
And it makes for happier kids, I can tell you that.
My oldest daughter has always been a great girl – responsible, honest,
trustworthy, loyal. But as with most American teenagers, our culture was having
its impact and she was pulling further and further away from us. It was reflected
in her attitude and how she wanted to spend her time. More often than not,
there was tension between us instead of peace. Also between her and her
siblings there was a lot of bickering.
Her one month with Adventures in Missions changed all of that.
The Ambassador program is more than just a trip. And it is more than just doing
for other people. It is also a month-long, life-changing, intense, discipleship
time. The leaders on the Ambassador trips are strong, mature Christians who
take very, very good care of the team as well as being inspiring role models.
During my daughter’s time, she learned to pray and be content and get along
with a lot of people (some very different than she) in a Christ-like manner.
She learned to be satisfied with less, to not complain, to accept
“no” with a gracious and “at peace” spirit. She came back
loving God, those in need, and her family in a bigger and deeper way.
I tell people that she is still the same young woman, just the cleaned up
version. It is as though during her time with AIM, God scrubbed off all the
yucky, nasty extra stuff that wasn’t the real her and left her as He created
her to be — truly, truly beautiful.
people who are passionate about helping our children become all that God wants
them to be and they do it in a very efficient and helpful manner. They are open
to the leading of the Holy Spirit while at the same time they are organized and
practical. They also are very good about communicating as much as possible from
the field because they realize that the folks back home need to hear not only
the God-stuff, but to know that their teenager is safe and well.
In fact, we’re sending our second daughter to Romania with them this summer and
our oldest son, who is now still too young, is already dreaming of adventuring
with them next year.
Be strong and courageous. This parenting isn’t for sissies, but God is a mighty
help and AIM is one of His most effective tools I’ve found in my years of being
a mom.
Sincerely,
Elysa Harvey MacLellan
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