Elizabeth George - Raising a Daughter After Gods Own Heart

This book belongs to

a mom whose goal is to

raise a daughter after

Gods own heart

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Italics in Scripture quotations indicates authors emphasis.

Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota

Cover photo Corbis / Inmagine

RAISING A DAUGHTER AFTER GODS OWN HEART

Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Elizabeth, 1944-

Raising a daughter after Gods own heart / Elizabeth George.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-1772-8 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4158-7 (eBook)

1. Mothers and daughtersReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. ParentingReligious aspectsChristianity. 3. MothersReligious life. I. Title.

BV4529.18.G47 2011

248.8431dc23

2011017122

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 / BP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is lovingly dedicated to

my cherished daughters after Gods own heart

Katherine and Courtney

and my treasured granddaughters

after Gods own heart

Taylor, Katie, Grace, and Lilyanna

May our daughters be like graceful pillars,

carved to beautify a palace

(PSALM 144:12 NLT).

F or decades my husband and I have prayed about passing on our faith in Christ to our daughters and then one day, Lord willing, seeing our girls pass on their love for Jesus to their children. Well, I cant tell you how excited Jim was one day several weeks ago. He couldnt wait to get home and tell me what had happened. He had taken our little six-year-old granddaughter, Grace, to her ballet lesson, something Jim had never done before. It all came about because our daughter was busy, and Jim volunteered to help her by doing ballet taxi duty. And on this day, God chose to bless Jim in a special way. Heres what happened.

On the Saturday this all took place, attendance at the ballet school was mandatory because the students were preparing for their year-end recital. Grace loves to go to her lessons. Shes lean, graceful, light on her feet, and excels as a perfect little ballerina. But on this required rehearsal day, Graces entire family was involved in a seminar at their church.

Now Courtney, our daughter and Graces mom, was helping with a childrens program at church while the adults were involved in the seminar. And Grace wanted to be at the church and participate in the childrens program too. The solution? Jim would pick Gracie up for the one-hour lesson, then immediately whisk her back to the church.

Well, all was going well until Jim arrived at the church to take Grace to the rehearsal. When he pulled up at the curb, he spotted her and her mom coming out of the childrens classroom, and Grace was crying her little heart out. Jim blurted out, What happened? Is everything okay? Is she hurt? Sick? Her mom explained, Grace was enjoying the childrens Bible group so much she didnt want to leave.

Needless to say, Jim and Courtney both worked overtime convincing little Grace that she would soon be back at church and spend the rest of the day with the other kids until the seminar was over. Finally, with these assurances, Grace wiped away her tears and went off to her lesson.

After the ballet practice session, when Jim was driving her back to the church, little Gracie, who had been learning how to read, piped up from the backseat and said, You know what I want for my birthday? (She said this when her birthday was still six months away!) Before Jim could respond, Grace announced, Now that I can read, I want a real Bible so I can read it as much as I want!

This is a sweet story, isnt it? Every mom-in-Christ yearns for her children to love Jesus and cherish Gods Wordthat they would follow after Gods own heart. I know this doesnt always happen, but as one of Gods moms, you are asked by Him to do your best, to do your part, and then leave the outcome to Him.

Thats what this book is all about. Doing your best. Doing your part. Living out your God-assigned rolesor missionsas a mom who desires to raise a daughter who loves the Lord. I cant guarantee your resultswhatever happens is up to God. But what I can offer are personal experiences, wisdom gleaned from Gods Word, advice from other moms, practical suggestions to get you going, and tons of encouragement!

This book wont answer all your questions. And it wont provide all the answers. But it will give you one more resource for your parenting. It will give you one more opportunity to roll up your mothering sleeves and apply Gods Word and His principles to your efforts to raise a daughter after Gods own heart. And no, attaining this goal wont be easya prize this grand is never easily achieved. But the rewards of passing on the truths about God to your daughter and watching her grow into a woman after Gods own heart will be greatand the fruit will last for all eternity. God promises, The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations (Psalm 100:5).

You shall love the L ORD your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your strength.

And these words which I command you today

shall be in your heart.

DEUTERONOMY 6:5

O n a recent Christmas Sunday, my husband, Jim, and I and our family of 14 arrived at a church service extra early to make sure we didnt end up in the Standing Room Only section for this special occasion. With my bulletin in hand and several minutes to spare before the service started, I opened my Bible and looked up the Scripture passage the pastor would focus on during his message. Then I read through some additional teaching notes and commentary in the margin of my Bible. One article was entitled The Bell Sheep.

The bell sheep? What in the world is that? I wondered. I read on. The article explained that when a shepherd noticed a sheep who willingly followed him and stayed near him, he hung a bell around the neck of that sheep so the flock would follow the bell sheepwho, in turn, was following the shepherd.