BARNABY THE DOG.
Well-known member
Hello JG, if I may stick my nose in, keep in mind the biblical statement, that offspring follow the natural course in life, reiterated at Genesis 2:23,24. That children have their own lives and follow their own path is small reward in many ways, for the parent whom brought them up. Yet their independence is also a good and happy value of your parenting that has given them this independence. It is a bitter pill to swallow when children grow well in the soil that we ourselves planted them in and then abruptly leave and make their own life for themselves just as we did. The happier they are, the less we see of them, even though it is us that planted the seed from which their happiness grows….independence, self reliance, confidence, education, example, faithfulness, love, generosity, appreciation and of which, love always is the foundation, but unfortunately, of their lives now, not ours. We just provided the cement from which the bricks in their lives are welded together. It is their building though. We measure our success by the grandeur of their ‘home’. As my mother said to me, of parenting…”It’s hell when they go, but it’s worse if they stay.” (Though I’m sure I was just hell for her either way).Asadour my daughter is 37 years old and she’s also married to an elder, he’s 43 years old. Anyway, over the years he’s been so possessive of her, not even wanting her to have very much to do with her family and we use to be so close. The pandemic was just a reason for him to reinforce their isolation from us. They have an 8 year old son, and as far as I know she told me a while back she was going to get him vaxxed. Even though she felt very much against all vaccines until this push by the GB.
She always had a great love for Jehovah, from childhood…now it’s all about the GB.
That’s all I can do is hang in there and trust in my God Jehovah, have faith and not give up! Thank you for all your encouragement and prayers. I‘ll pray for you too. We’re all lost in the wilderness, waiting for the day for Jehovah to rescue us.
That your daughter‘s pathway is affected by the GB influence is something we must expect. After all, we ourselves put it there. If we were still snoozing our lives away in the watchtower, we may well have encouraged others to get the vaccine. After all, it was wrapped up in the enticing parcel of ‘insight’ from Jehovah. I know, because I did the same type of things to my children without regard for my own common sense, or that of my mother. Discipline being one of them. It stains my conscience to this day to have been influenced by man. Nevertheless, our gift of love to our children is what sustains them in their own pathway and it is thus so, that by our maintaining our own loving pathway, it will be there still when they find the inevitable dead end that is before everyone in this world. The greatest resource we can have for our children is to be there, and to be their ready with love and insight, resilience and resourcefulness in faith. Our love for our children does not change - they know that, it is just the need the Child has is allotted a different way.
The primary example of course is Christ, in that he ‘left‘ his mother and fulfilled his destiny and even showed his independence of her at the age of twelve, going missing and about his father‘s business for three days. Poor Jospeh, relegated to step parent in quite a straightforward manner and his mother to three days of panic looking for her son. What is of note is what Jesus said and did afterwards. So it is that we fulfil our role, and release our fledgling with an open hand to fly away, but you can be assured that they know where the parental nest is, and importantly how to get back there. That is our reward and sometimes it is just not enough for the love and labour we sacrificed of ourselves to achieve it. Fortunately, Jehovah is the one steering the hearts of the faithful to reason on life, and I’m sure of that. There is one tactic that you can use to strengthen the bond, and that is that if your daughter’s husband is possessive of her as you say, (and all men are possessive), then posses the husband. If he feels welcome, then there is everything to gain.