Bria is 16 today.

I loved her from the womb, despite the shame and fear I felt as a single mother. I remember driving everywhere without my seat belt because depression had numbed my desire to live.

But I loved her still, feeling hopeless that God would ever be able to “fix” this mess into which I was ushering her.

I named her “Bria” because it means “strong” and I felt certain strength would be a necessary part of her character.  She grew into her name very well.

The tiniest remnants of childhood are giving way to a woman…a remarkable woman.

I never imagined that she would be one of my greatest influences.  My own daughter, still very much learning and growing, nevertheless makes me want to be a better woman, a woman more fully devoted to pursing Christ, a woman striving to serve harder and love deeper.

She is more capable than I am, and yet more feminine.  It’s a blessed combination of personality–hardy and delicate, always at the appropriate times.

She dons her work boots, her jeans and scarf, and out she goes with a bucket.  She man-handles the cow, comes back with the goodness of warm, raw milk, and disappears, returning with her flowing skirt and hair tied up, ready to help where it is needed.  I would find out later that she had to repair the fence too.

She believes that life is not worth living without a hearty day’s work and some days she works circles around me.

“I think the downstairs living room needs painted.” One fleeting thought and she’s off to paint it–tape it, move the furniture, climb the ladder to trim, and back down again.  Her Daddy said she couldn’t do it in one night, but she did.

If the horses are out while Dad is away, she puts them up.  “Let me try, Bria”, I say, not sure how I’m going to fulfill the offer.  Her look says it all.  It’s not demeaning, but just a protective kind of “I’ve got it, Mom”, glance, full-well knowing she is better than me at that sort of thing.

(She knew from a very young age that her mother was broken.  She felt an innate need to protect me then.  And though my Father has done tremendous healing, she still tries.)

She gets things done.  In an amazing kind of way–one of the many things I love about her.  It’s just part of who she is.  I call her the “Tasmanian House Cleaner”.

Don’t pity her; she hates that.

She wants to be her siblings’ best friend, though we struggle just like any family who lives inside flesh-covered houses.  She takes them for walks,tries to interest them in the Greek period she’s studying, and usually resists tattling.

“Whose plates do I need to get?” I ask after church.  “Yours.  I’ve already got the kids’.”

She washes all our clothes.

She is still catching up to her womanhood, but she’s not far behind.

She loves walking in the woods, reading, nestled between hay, taking pictures, researching interesting subjects, playing music, watching movies, making things beautiful, planting vegetables, blogging, sewing.

She handles a gun with the same precision as her knitting needles.

There’s a beautiful dress hanging on the form in her room that she sewed.  I break out in hives if I have to sew anything beyond a hem.

When she was younger, she got upset because a boy flipped her pony tail; she thought her purity may have been compromised

She prays for a husband that loves to work.  She prays for a husband that loves the Lord.  And contrary to critics’ assumptions, she prays for a husband that loves children–house fulls.

She cries.  She gets frustrated.  She wrestles with wrong attitudes.

(She just walked up modeling her new “invention”…a split skirt especially tailored for horse-back riding.  It’s actually really cool!)

She’s of the romantic variety…flowing things are her thing.

She is a sinner saved by grace, with the same struggles as anyone.  And at the same time, the Lord has seen fit to make her a vessel of grace poured out on my life and I am daily humbled by this gift.

She is my best friend and I am hers.

We threw the biggest humdinger of a surprise 60th birthday party for my Dad last weekend!  With months of planning, we managed to contact and invite people from my Dad’s life that he hasn’t seen in over 30 years!  Keeping it a secret was a miracle.  The surprise element was priceless.  He had suspected we were planning something for him on his actual birthday (Friday), but when we got a little snow, we canceled our plans to go out (you know a half inch of snow and the South shuts down).  So he thought his surprises were canceled and on Saturday we convinced him he was going out to eat with my brother and his wife and that we had a wedding at our house (we run a wedding business at our residence).  He was helping my brother bring in his children to “stay with us while they went out”.

He was so shocked that the “SURPRISE” we all yelled when he walked in the door didn’t even register.  It took him many seconds after that before it hit him, as he just stood in the doorway staring blankly at a hundred people gathered to celebrate.

We (his children) wanted to really honor him and the sacrifices he has made throughout his life.  The video is divided into phases of his life.  He took a job when he was 24 years old as a camp director at a Christian youth camp and we spent 12 years growing up there; some of the long-lost friends from that phase got to come to the party.

The “Alpha Ranch” phase came after that and my parents continue to operate it here near us.  They have been mom and dad to over 35 children–many pictured here–mostly long-term, and two of them became my sisters.

The legacy phase is his children and grandchildren, and then the dramatic ending was my clever brother’s idea–I loved it!

We invited people to speak a word of gratefulness to my Dad and there were lots of tears, laughter and a really great time!

It truly is an honor to have grown up with parents who were, and are, so selfless and so willing to give up their lives in service to others.

I’m posting one of 6 clips…I highly recommend listening to the whole message–so very powerful.

I’ll preface this clip with the gist of Dr. Baucham’s message, so in need of hearing today…warning, it’s counter-”Christian”-culture:

He says in the first clip:

“There is a great tragedy afoot in our culture, and the great tragedy is this: we believe that all discomfort is problematic; that there is no room for it in our culture….we avoid brokenness, but it’s not just out there, it’s also in the church…there’s a new movement that says ‘When you come to Christ, there is no need for brokenness…in fact, there’s no need for brokenness before you come to Christ’.”

He reveals that the “new brand” of Christianity tells people that God doesn’t want them to feel bad (after all, “there is therefore now no condemnation to him who is in Christ Jesus”) over their sin. However, the Bible speaks volumes about the “appropriateness” of brokenness over our sin.  It is both needful and right for us to recognize how depraved we are without Christ (and no, we are now no longer condemned eternally), and to remember the stain that sin leaves.  God allows the scars of our sins to remain to cause us to continue to hate it and strive to avoid it.

David cried out, a whole year after his affair with Bathsheba,

“Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.”

“God breaks us in order to remake us“, Baucham said.  And when we buy this gospel of “God doesn’t want me to feel bad about my sin” we buy a word that is not of God.

Jesus Christ came to forgive sins; but He leaves their memory with us so that we never want to go back.

(Celine is my fave

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
‘Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

(Chorus)

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger’s view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

(Chorus)

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
What we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away
And if that’s the case . . .

(Chorus)

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .