Will!?

My daughter, Amanda, had a love for baby dolls when she was young. A girl can never have too many babies! That was her motto and she was an excellent Mommy. When she wrapped one of her babies in a blanket to put them down for a nap she would wrap them all up and put them to bed. If she brought out her stroller the whole family of babies went for a walk and when she took her "cozy coupe" for a spin there were babies crammed in like sardines. We were at the mall one day and she saw a baby in the window and refused to walk on. She wanted to go into the store and see that baby. Well, we could have picked her up...probably screaming and kicking or go in the store and see the baby. We chose to take her in the store but laid down some ground rules first. "We are going in to see this baby, to tell it hello but then we...mommy, daddy, and you are coming out of the store and going to finish our business. We are not going to buy the baby and we are going to be obedient when it is time to go. Do you understand what mommy and daddy are telling you?!" Of course she gave us an excited "YES"! Well, of course all of you can guess what happened. We went in the store, looked at that baby and the whole aisle of babies and then carried her out screaming and crying because she wanted "Her baby!" *Side note for any of you mommies that read this...raising children is not about the short term...it is a long process. Most training doesn't happen all of a sudden. It is a process of consistency. Consistency in prayer, love, patience, clear communication, timing, and lessening distractions.

So, with Amanda crying in the backseat of the car we drove as fast as we could to her Grandma Barnes' house. Going to Grandma's always made things better. Well, to make a long story short Amanda's grandma was appalled that her sweet grandbaby only wanted a baby and we had denied her that. Amanda's Aunt Lucy was there at the time so her and her husband got in the car and about a half hour later returned with the baby that was in the store window. So, problem was solved ....not really!

Grandma and Aunt Lucy took the baby out of the package, gave it to her and she proceeded to put the baby on her hip, like she was going to carry it around. Well, the baby wouldn't sit properly on her hip. Amanda was starting to get very frustrated and all of us adults were trying to be encouraging when Amanda happened to notice the color of the babies eyes. Oh no! These baby had green eyes and the one she wanted had blue eyes. You would have thought the world had come to an end, but I guess in a not quite three year old mind it was!
So, Grandma made an executive decision. That baby was going back to the store immediately and a blue-eyed baby that sat properly on Amanda's hip was going to be brought back. If I remember properly Amanda's Aunt and Uncle took her and the baby back to the store and arrived back at Grandma's with a new baby that was exactly right.

Okay, so this blog is not about how many mistakes we made in child rearing...LOL! Let me give you this definition to think about...your will is your desire or drive to do something. Therefore a strong-willed person is someone who has a powerful will; a strong desire or drive to do something. Amanda was a strong-willed toddler. She knew what she wanted and let me tell you she could wear you down before she would wear down. That, as a toddler, was very challenging but as an adult that drive, that desire, that strength helped her when she had multiple life threatening injuries in the accident and in her continual recovery since. Unless God took her home she was going to live and she was going to walk, have a husband and have a family.

So, as always let's look at one aspect of this trait of being strong-willed in light of how we live our lives today. How strong is your will to be everything God desires you to be!? How strong is your will to put God first and the temporal things of this life second!? "So let us fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but the things we cannot see are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18. Do we lose heart and give up instead of pushing forward when the going with and for God gets tough? When God shows us something that needs to change in us do we use that strong-will to get where God wants us or do we lose heart easily?"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? So run in such a way that you may win." 1 Corinthians 9:24. How much desire or drive do you have in regards to your relationship with God? Is it powerful? Is it strong? I hope you take these questions to your prayer closet, to your war room, to your quiet time and search your heart. And let's be proud to be called "strong-willed"!

"Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." 1 Corinthians 16:

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