Having a Lion King moment here...

Can you hear me singing "The circle of life....and it moves us all..."?  I'm having on of those Lion King moments this morning!  I had one of those yesterday too when I put my two sons on the middle school bus and high school bus...they are growing up so very quickly.  But today I'm having one of those moments as I work on women's ministry "stuff"!

I had the joy this summer of getting to know three girls who just graduated from high school!  Taylor D., Taylor E., and Caycee H. were sweet enough to include this old 40 something in their "girl talks" on our youth mission trip.  I was hooked!  Girls never really outgrow that need to belong, and that they included me endeared me so much to them that I've prayed for them every day since.  They've changed my ministry dramatically and helped God renew my calling to women's ministry and girl's ministry!  All three are in the process of moving away to college today.  I'll miss them terribly and can now think of a million things I wish I'd said to them.  Of course, I really only had the privilege of being close to them for about a month and a half, but I wanted to look them all the eyes and say things!  I want them to know that they are beautiful, inside and out.  I want them to know they are brilliant and talented...all different from each other and everyone else in the world because He planned it that way!  I want them to know that college will be the best time of their lives, and the best opportunity to see Him work miracles in their lives!  I should have looked them straight in the eyes and made them look at me while I said, "Don't stray from Jesus and church!  Find a church that teaches scripture and go...every chance you get!  Read and study scripture every single day, preferably before you do anything else!  Find someone who is a believer and hold each other accountable for being in His Word! And be involved in mentoring younger girls to trust, love, and live for God every minute!  Make your family, your church family, me, but most importantly Jesus proud of your desire to live for Him!" I should have done that, but then again I would have most certainly bawled like a baby and made a fool of both me and them so much so that they would have run so far from church and Jesus that they'd never come back.  God is merciful to have kept me from this opportunity!  Maybe they will read this and know how much I want and pray for them!

Ironically, today I'm madly working on some writing for our newest girl's Bible study that starts this Sunday!  I'm also finishing up some things for a trip to Nashville to lead a women's seminar on prayer at Lifeway.  It's the circle of life!  Women and girls sail into and out of our lives on a constant basis, providing beautiful opportunities to say those things you should have said to a new "generation".  I'm even balancing playing with my own 4 year old daughter as I work on these things, realizing that she is perhaps the most important ministry to a female I'll ever have.  I'm newly committed to telling her and any other females I have a audience with these things, the things I should have said to Taylor, Taylor, and Caycee:

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, INSIDE AND OUT!  YOU ARE BRILLIANT AND TALENTED IN DIFFERENT WAYS FROM ANYONE ELSE, AND HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE!  HE WILL USE YOUR UNIQUENESS! DON'T STRAY FROM JESUS, EVEN IF YOU'RE HOLDING ON BY A THREAD.  GET INTO HIS WORD EVERY MORNING BEFORE THE CRAZY DAY BEGINS AND LET HIM BE YOUR SANITY AND STRENGTH! GO TO CHURCH EVERY CHANCE YOU GET, AND DO LIFE WITH A FRIEND WHO WILL PRAY FOR YOU, STUDY WITH YOU, AND KEEP YOU ACCOUNTABLE FOR IT!

So there it is!  That's why I'm singing that catchy and poignant Lion King song!  It's true, and actually biblical I think.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."  Revelation 1:8