Personal Story For the last 5 to 6 years Carol and I have had the privilege of getting to know the couple about whom you will read in the following real life story. We’ve been honored to see them grow, to be blessed by their lives, and to watch God mightily love them, use them in his service, and bring glory to the name of Jesus, as they live out the truths of God’s word. Our heavenly father is still in the business of changing lives and legacies. Would you join many others in reading and appreciating their story.
My husband and I went through IE together 5 or 6 years ago but I remember the lesson in Chapter 11 like I did it yesterday. It was morning and I was sitting down to do my study before I left for work. I began to do the exercise on pages 129-131. And there, right in my living-room alone that morning I realized just how empty the little girl in me was. Not a single need, not even one, was met in me by my parents. I cried and grieved so hard that morning. I remember crying out to God, “I have to go to work! I have no time for this now!” But, that is the moment God wanted to reveal it to me.
I knew I didn’t have a great childhood. Most of it was pretty awful. But I didn’t realize how deeply my needs were left unmet. For the first time I think I grieved over the little girl in me. I grieved over the fact that even if my parents wanted to, they could never give to that little girl again. I began to see why I reacted to things as an adult because of the needs that were left unmet in my childhood. My heart was so broken and honestly I asked God why? Why did my parents not love their little girl? (They did and do. At the time they didn’t know how to show it.)
That is what God showed me. They didn’t know how. They didn’t have their own needs met by their own parents so how were they to know? My husband and I teach IE for this and other reasons. We all want to love our children and each other in a healthy way, sometimes we need tools. I am so thankful for the tools that IE has given to me and my family. They have changed my family legacy.
Our Family Verse: WE LOVE BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US (1 John 4:19)