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         Your service and your love and your care for this one has been great. You were chosen by My hand by divine appointment to care for this child in his tender years, to ease him into manhood. His love for you is steadfast, though he knows it not. For as he goes the way of youth, the way of young men, the way of idealism, the way of independence, the way of feelings over faith, he does not recognize or value this love.
         He reaches for the unknown, for adventure, for freedom, for experience--not because he does not love you, but because he must try life for himself. He feels he must not be led around by the hand of others, but by his own hand. I have put this yearning into the hearts of youth, and it is not a bad thing. It is a force which compels them to leave the loves of home to strike out on their own. It is the force of nature that I use within youth that makes them want to leave their loved ones and to find their calling, to experiment, to search the unknown.
         It has been this way since the beginning of time. I do this. I place this compulsion within their hearts and spirits so they will branch out, pioneer, conquer, change the world, marry, go new places, spread My Word and grow up.
         Many times this will become their school of experience that they otherwise would not go through, from which they learn important lessons which fashion them from teenhood into adulthood. As they change and grow, they suffer many hard things and heartbreaks--not only them, but their loved ones as well, their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. So it is a time of change and transition, not only for the youth, but for the parents as well, for all are passing into a new phase of life and growth.
         You parents and loved ones must learn to let them go, to trust Me and to trust them. You must realize that your duty has changed from teaching to trusting and praying. Your job has changed from teaching your children to praying your children through the transition of youth and into adulthood. You can teach them just as much by showing them that you trust them and are willing to let them go, and that you'll be there when they come back; that your love is unconditional.
         This teaches them the greatest lesson in life, that of true love--love enough to let them go; love enough to just watch and say nothing when they blunder; love enough to be patient and wait until they ask for help or seek your counsel. They know that you're trusting Me and that you trust them, and that you are not trying to force them or legislate righteousness or legislate counsel.
         Your boy will return a man--a needy man, an understanding man, a thankful man, a grateful man who has learned to appreciate your love. By letting him go, you will win him. He will feel your love through your prayers. He will know that you have been praying for him. This is love unshakable. This is faithful love. This is real love, true love that he will come to value.
         Through your heartbreaks you can release great power in prayer in crying out to Me for him. In doing this you will have helped him more than all of your human love put together, for I am the greatest teacher and parent.
         So continue to serve My son in your new ministry of prayer. For as time goes on we all change. We grow into new lessons, new stages in our lives, new relationships. You both pass into a new phase--his of adulthood, seeking freedom as a son that goes off to war and to see the world; yours as a mother who has done her best to teach and train and love her son, and has now entered this new ministry of praying and yielding her son to My service and to My care, and being there whenever he needs you and needs home and love again. This is truly a lasting and eternal love bond.



Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family