Last week I shared about shaping influences in our children. I recently had an example come up with my five year old daughter that I believe helps explain this.
My Daughter Was Devastated
Our family has been going to a meeting on Saturdays that has some women performing dance. My daughter loves this. She would stare as she watched them move gracefully around the room. Slowly the women started inviting her to join them. As a dad to the girls I have, I believe girls are born to dance.
These times on Saturday has become a highlight for this daughter. She got us to buy her new ballet shoes; she goes to this meeting in her ballet leotard. Other girls also started joining the women as they danced, which was been a lot of fun to watch.
Recently, some of those in charge of the meeting decided that the children were becoming a distraction and asked us to stop letting our daughter dance with the other women. You can imagine the heartbreak as we told our daughter the news.
Jesus Can Protect Your Heart
The point in sharing this story is to highlight how Jesus can override shaping influences. My daughter was devastated. My wife who was with her at the time was sad for her. Fortunately, she took the hurt to Jesus in prayer. She had my daughter to ask Jesus how He viewed the situation.
During the prayer, my daughter went from crying to laughing in a matter of minutes. Jesus spoke to her heart. He did not change the circumstance, but He did change her perspective on it.
What did Jesus tell her? How was her heart protected? The details are personal to her, and what Jesus will tell you will be different. The purpose of the story is to show that Jesus cares about you. He is over everything. And, as we get His perspective on life, we can overcome anything in life because Jesus overcame the world. He who did not withhold His very son from us, how will He not give us all things!