My Daughter

My daughter Danielle now 27 years old has struggled most of her life going from job to job and relationship to relationship. She never graduated high school and gets menial jobs in bars and strip joints. She's not a stripper but a cock-tail waitress. The point is, is every time I talk to her she's either been fired from a job or starting a new one. I asked her, Danielle, how are you paying your rent and she tells me she's selling drugs and not only that, she's using them as well. We're talking heroin here.

This is not new in her life and she has been doing it for years now. I am at the point of not calling her anymore because no matter how much I preach, it goes in one ear and out the other. I gave up preaching to her and haven't mentioned a word to her about the Lord for some time now. All I can do is pray and pray hard that God would work a miracle in her life like He's done in mine. If you go to my website and read my testimonial, you'll know what I'm talking about. Like mother like daughter. More like the sins of the mother pass from generation to generation until I stopped it and became a Christian.

The other day she called me fired from yet another job and I told her I would pray for her. She said "what are you going to pray about mom" and I said "your salvation". She said mom I am already saved and I said "oh, when did this happen"? She said a few years ago she gave her life to Jesus Christ and that I don't have to worry about her going to hell anymore.

Now a part of me wanted to believe this because I asked her if she believed she was a sinner and she said yes and then I asked her if she believed that Jesus died on the cross for her sins and she said yes and I said what happens when a person gives their life over to Jesus Christ? She said that person becomes saved. I said yes that person is regenerated into a new creation. She agreed adamantly. Then I said the Holy Spirit enters into that person's life and teaches that person how to live. She didn't say anything about that.

Now I know that when I became a believer God poured many blessing on me in the beginning. As I grew in the word and fellowshipped in the church and learned how to be a Christian, the closer I wanted to get with God, the more sin He revealed to me. That convicted me so much that most of the time I was on my face asking for forgiveness. I couldn't keep living the way I was and had to change friends, change jobs, and even relocate. I changed everything I stood for and lived for God.

Now what puzzles me about my daughter is that if she is born again, how in the world can she work in a strip joint and be associated with the scum of the earth and not be convicted? How can she sell and use drugs and not be convicted? Now there's two reasons for this. One is that she is grieving the Holy Spirit and snuffing Him out or she is not saved. My guess is that she is not saved.

I brought this to her attention and she got so angry with me that she hung up and I haven't heard from her sense. Now I love my daughter and I know that she had a hard life growing up with a drug-addicted mom, which is me and that she was sexually abused by her father. These things I am responsible for but I have been forgiven for these sins. However, it still doesn't change the fact that being Danielle's mother, I still feel responsible on how she turned out. It's a daily struggle that I live with and all I can do is pray.

Now I know the power of prayer and I have experienced it in my own life and I too have grieved the Holy Spirit in my walk with Christ only in different ways. I love the Lord my God and I only want to please Him and not to grieve Him. I will continue to pray for my daughter and only hope that God will see fit to save her soul as He did mine. But I fear she is running out of time.

If you have children like this that confess to being saved and you wonder how in the world can they do the things they do and get away with it without it affecting them than like me, you tend to wonder about their salvation. There are many books on this subject that I have read and they taught me how to set boundaries and limits with Danielle. She hates me for them but they help us both be able to put up with one another. I too hope you find a way to cope with a family member who is struggling with these issues. It's not an easy road but with God, all things are possible. I truly believe that.

I just want to share a few books with you on how to survive if you have a drug-addicted child who will not change no matter what you tell them about the Lord and what He can do for them. These books are not only on drug addiction but they cover many challenges teenagers cope with on a daily basis and how we can understand them and help them to achieve their goals.

These books are on my website at: http://www.truelifelivingbooks.com. If you can't find what you're looking for just enter a search for a book and it will bring you right to that book. The books below might help.

Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers by Chap Clark
Battlefield of the Mind for Teens by Joyce Meyers and Todd Hafer
Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting teens by Paul David Tripp

Thank you and God Bless...