What a whirlwind adventure we’ve had traveling to and fro to conferences! So here I sit, finally landed back in my nest and out of breath, wondering how I’ll ever share with you all the wisdom I’ve been gleaning.

First of all, God has been so good in keeping us safe. With two trips down to Georgia and two to Indy, our car has run smoothly, and no one became terribly ill. We’ve met so many like-minded families, and enjoyed many hours of beautiful fellowship.

Our first trip to GA was for the Crossroads conference with the Botkins (I’ve already posted a few conference notes). Three weeks after that, Dad attended the Men’s Leadership Summit in Indy. All of the messages were excellent, and I’m so glad we have the recordings (I plan on listening to them again and taking lots of notes). Then just two weeks ago we headed back down to the Callaway Gardens in GA for the Father Daughter Retreat, and last weekend was spent at the IAHE convention!

So in the past two months we’ve heard from the whole Botkin family, Doug Phillips, Voddie Baucham, Kevin Swanson, Ken Ham, Chris Klicka, Scott Brown, Dr. Brian Ray, and a few others. The Father Daughter Retreat was the most applicable at this point in my life, so I’ll share the bits of wisdom I’ve gleaned that may encourage you as well.

“Be hardy girls and live a full life for Jesus,” Doug Phillips said. “Devote your life to the cultivation of your love for Jesus and your family. Your spiritual legacy will initially manifest itself in those relationships, especially in that of honoring and serving your father as you are training to be help-meets and raise godly children. Faithful, well-trained daughters are ornaments of glory to Christian fathers.”

Have you noticed that when God speaks of young women, they are not autonomous “girls” independent of legacy and history? They are “daughters” of fathers, families and heritage, instrumental and vital persons of great potential and worth in their families and the Kingdom of God. We are the daughters of Zion!

“No matter our age, Gods commands that we have godly relationships, not emancipation to autonomy.” Mr. Phillips listed five commitments a father needs to make to his daughter, and three points for the daughter in response to his leadership.

The Father’s commitments to his daughter: I will faithfully pray for you and your future. I will walk beside you. I will provide you with godly opportunities to encourage your success as a virtuous woman of God. I will relentlessly protect you, provide for you and prophesy before you, and I will offer my blessing to you.

The Daughter’s commitments to her father: I will give you my heart and trust you with it until you entrust it to another. I will serve you as unto the Lord, recognizing that I have a high calling to ultimately do the will of our Heavenly Father, and I will honor and reverence you as my head.

So what is honor, anyway? A good description is “a deep-seated and abiding reverence.” Also, the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary states it is, “to revere; to respect; to treat with deference and submission, and perform relative duties to. . . to manifest the highest veneration for, in words and actions; to entertain the the most exalted thoughts of. . . to adore” (emphasis mine).

As I listened to all of the talks that weekend, conviction was an understatement, as I am definitely still a work in progress. I would encourage all of you daughters to examine your hearts as well – have you found your heart irreverent or let your thoughts wander away from home? Have you avoided talking with your father and sharing your heart with him? Correcting these issues will be hard, but as we seek the Lord and our fathers’ council, we will see the furtherance of God’s Kingdom as He turns the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children’s hearts to their fathers.