Mine for Gold

People develop the same way gold is mined

Several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold.

But you don't go into the mine looking for dirt.

You go in looking for gold!

We have had a week of shoveling tons upon tons of dirt just to survive. We have had illness and injury and attitudes and problems but in the midst of this horrible week God has shown me some very precious gold dust that has been mined in my children's hearts.

My oldest son, now a young adult, left work to come sit with me in the hospital the day his sister passed out and had a seizure. My daughter and I were both surprised to see him. How awesome that he was so concerned that he would give up a day of pay to sit with his mom and sister.

As he sat with us he began to catch us up on his life. He is now living on campus so we don't see him much anymore and it had been a couple of weeks since we'd last sat down to really talk. He began by sharing what God was doing in his life...how he was starting a Bible study with his roommate, forming an accountability group with five of his other friends and of his call to become a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I couldn't believe what a change I was seeing in my boy.

You see, this is the same child that just a few months ago was rebelling and arguing every time I saw him. He was blaming others for his mistakes and making some very poor choices. My husband and I were beside ourselves trying to figure out what to do. We had birthed this particular child and for 18 years of his life we'd been there guiding him, helping him. Now he was fighting us for all he was worth.

In the end we decided to let go. He moved out and we began to PRAY. As a parent this has been the hardest thing to do. But apparently it was worth it. We were able to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit do His work and what a work it has been!

Now, this is not going to be the end of this story. There is still plenty of dirt to be moved and hopefully lots more gold to be found but it is a wonderful beginning. And an awesome encouragement to my husband and I that there is hope for our other children....even the RADlets. They may have a little more dirt to sift through but then again there might even be a bit more gold there too.