a DAUGHTER'S BURDEN OF SUBMISSION

I have always been a sort of a free spirit. I have always done my own thing. This only got worse when I was a teenager. One of the hardest things for me to do was submit to my parents rules.

I had three brothers that had moved out of the house before I was in middle school. By the time I had reached high school, my parents knew every trick in the book. My curfew was 10 pm even when I was a senior. I spent many nights pleading with my parents to let me stay out late, their answer was always no. They called all of my friend’s parents before I was allowed to spend the night at a friend’s house. I could not have boys anywhere close to my bedroom, even if I had other friends with me. They never left me to spend the night alone in our house – if they had to go out of town, I had to go to a trusted friend’s home. After high school football games I had to stop by the house to check in with my parents to get their permission on my next plans for the night.

One night, I had a boy pick me up from the house on a week night. I had just started being interested in this boy and wanted to hang out with him. I had cried to my parents to let me hang out with him for just 2 hours. He picked me up and we began to drive out of our neighborhood. About 5 minutes later, my father was calling my cell phone. When I answered, he had told me he had been following us in the car and he would like me to come home. His reasoning was he didn’t like the way the boy was driving.

I used to think my parents were so strict and mean. I used to think I was getting left out of important social events. I spent many nights crying in my room and throwing myself a pity party.

It wasn’t until many years later that I learned my parents protected me from so much. If I had only submitted to them, and not fought back, my high school years would have been far less burdened.

My parents protected me from getting kicked off the cheerleading team after most of my teammates got caught drinking one night. Because of my parent’s strict rules, I wasn’t with my friends that night. My parents protected my purity by never allowing me to have a boy in my room. My parent’s protected my health by setting my curfew at 10 pm every night.

The boy that my dad didn’t want me riding in the car with, he was caught a few weeks later with drugs in his car. I had no idea he was into that when he picked me up from my house that night.

My resistance to my parents is so much like our resistance to the Lord. Often we think God’s rule book (the Bible) is just strict pointless rules. (It is so much easier to gossip than not to gossip.) When in reality, God loves us and He is protecting us from so much.

I love this verse in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 “Bu the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”

What would you relationship with your parents look like if you stopped fighting them on their rules? What would you relationship with your Heavenly Father look like if you stopped fighting him on His rules?

My challenge and prayer for you girls this week is to allow yourself to feel protected by whatever rules are in place in your life and home. Stop seeing rules as prevent and start seeing them as protecting.

Written by: Brittany

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