The Foreword

Reading the foreword of this book was an eye-opener to the pain and hurt my daughter experienced and carried throughout the years of my fight with lupus. While reading, it brought me to tears; not only did I feel the pain in her words, but I was also surprised at the fact that even after I was healed, I never noticed how much pain and hurt this sickness brought her. I thank God for being with her throughout all of those years-covering her, protecting her mind, and making her into the wonderful young lady that she is today. In fact, for all of my children, in spite of it all, I thank God that they were able to focus on Him. As I read some of her words, I wish I could have done something to prevent the pain. However, in life there are situations that arise that are beyond our control. Unfortunately these situations can have the power to negatively affect our children, family, our loved ones and/or friends. While I reflected on this, the following questions raced through my mind: as parents, are there things within our control that we allow in our homes and in the lives of our children that negatively affect them; that inflicks hurt and pain? The friends/family members we allow in our homes; the materials we allow in our home (books, magazines, television shows, video games); the places we choose to live; the jobs we choose-are they hurting our children more than blessing them? Lastly, my words: are they abusive, negative, degrading or are they full of LOVE, LIFE and ENCOURAGEMENT? What am I confessing over my children? I pray that the Lord will open our eyes and show us if there is anything that we are allowing in our homes that are negatively affecting our children- things that are causing them pain or that they may be secretly living with. Help us Lord; help us as parents! Help us become aware of materials that need to be removed from our homes and individuals that need to kept away from our children. Keep us alert! Lord, make us good guards of our households.