God's Mirror’s

1 Corinthians 13:11-13
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
God loves us the way a good mother loves, totally, unconditionally: with a nurturing and ever present care. In fact, as mothers, our love for our children is only a dim reflection of the love God has for us.
Isaiah 66:13
Alone whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.Our desires, as Christian Mothers, for our children, should be, that they will come to know the Lord as their personal Saviour. Our children as they grow, come to us for comfort, to kiss all the boo boo’s, to love them and forgive them, no matter what they did, and they rely on us to care for their every need. As they grow they will look toward God as they did toward us for these things, We as Mothers want to show Christ in all we do, so that our love will be mirroring God‘s love. We can do this by doing all we do as we would to the Lord.

Colossians 3:17-24
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.Remember, “The Mirror”. As we look toward Christ for our comfort, so will our children, where do you think they will learn how this feels? By remembering how we loved and protected them. Then they will look toward God for protection.

Psalms 17:8-9
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.We want God’s love to reflect in our love for our children (young or grown) We need to live in such a way they see what it means to be a Christian. In this reflection, they will understand about a God who always hears, because we reflected this in how we responded to their cries, and to a God who will meet their needs, because we saw that they were not hungry. God’s strength and tenderness will be real to them, because they caught a glimpse of it in our love from the time they were born. A child that knows love will find it easier to come to know a loving God, and they will not seem it strange when they do wrong and God chastises them, because we loved them unconditionally, from colic all the way through adolescent rebellion, when they tried to use their wings, before they were ready to fly.
When our children do wrong we in love have to correct them, this is not always pleasant and sometimes it may drive them away until they search their heart and see that they were wrong. Our daughter Nicole did this one thing, even though we tried to treat each of our children the same and tried to be consistent in their correction, it was a little more difficult with Nicole. She had numerous medical problems, dwarfism, compressed spine, breathing problems, partial deafness to name a few and we had found ourselves being more lenient on her than we were the other two children. When she became a teenager, she tried to spread her wings to fly and flew into the wrong crowd. She moved out of our home knowing we would not allow her to live the way she was heading and found herself in the middle of drugs and alcohol. She became a DJ for a local bar and thought she was living the life. She didn’t come around much or even call us, for fear that we would not condone her lifestyle. I worked in the same plaza that she worked in as DJ, and this made it really hard to witness to my co-workers who saw and knew Nicole. And it really made it hard for me knowing she was two doors down and I hadn’t seen her in weeks. But I just continued praying for her and prayed that God would work in her life and bring her back to Him. God did and it was an eye opener for Nicole. One evening, after Nicole moved back home, Her and one of her friends Whitney was at our home, in the middle of the night they snuck out without Preacher and I knowing it. In the middle of the night around 2 am I got a knock on my bedroom door. It was Whitney, she ask if she could talk to me for a minute. When I went out into the living room, trying not to wake Preacher. She informed me that she could not wake Nicole. I went into the bedroom, finding her laying on the bed and she was blue. I tried to wake her with no success, while calling to Preacher and waking the rest of the house hold. Preacher came in and told me to push her up, Nicole had a severe case of obstructive sleep apnea and she was cutting off her own air. I pushed her up and fell in behind her and finally heard a gasp of air. I started questioning the children to find out what brought her to this state. I smelt alcohol on Nicole and questioned this, Whitney finally told me that she talked Nicole into going to the dance hall, they drank until she noticed Nicole was having a hard time staying awake, she carried her out to her car and drove home where our son Codey was awakened to carry Nicole into the house. When they got her into the room, they tried to make Nicole drink some water, where she through up and fell off the bed. After they placed her back on the bed and she stopped breathing Whitney felt it was time to come clean and save her life. When the ambulance arrived Nicole only had a heart rate of 8 times per minute and they could not get a blood pressure and her pupils were dilated. We had a house full of paramedics police and others I did not know, they all had a look on their faces that this call was not going to turn out good. When we all got into our vehicles to go to the hospital, I knew in my heart we were going to have to start planning a funeral this morning. The ambulance was in no hurry, they didn’t even run the lights and stopped at the red lights, I was very scared and could only pray for God’s strength and grace. When we arrived at the hospital, they would not let us back into the room with Nicole and would not give us any information on her because they were classifying this as a overdose. After 3 hours of not knowing if she was dead or alive, they finally allowed Preacher and I to go into the room. We found Nicole in Coma and found out her blood alcohol level was over 300. The doctors started informing us that if she did live, which they still was not certain, that she would be a vegetable and we needed to prepare for this fact. Needless to say we had a lot of people going to the throne of grace on Nicole’s behalf. After 6 hours, I was left in the room and Preacher had taken everyone back to our house, we had 2 children spending the night with us. Nicole finally opened her eyes and asked where she was. I started crying and informed her that she was in coma and we didn’t even think she was going to live, WOW how God answers prayers, even when we don’t deserve it!!!!! She didn’t believe me until I showed her pictures of herself before she woke up and the nurse came in and confirmed what I had told her was true. This was a real eye opener for Nicole. After this she started getting her life back on track, she got saved, she had made a profession when she was younger, but she said she just went through the motions. This really pushed me to Thank the Lord even more for waking her up and giving her another chance, if she would have died she would have woke up in Hell!!!
After she got saved she came to Preacher and I and thanked us for not giving up on her, for praying for her and living a life that showed Christ. She commented that she was sorry for what she put us through and that she knew she could come home, because through it all we still showed her forgiveness and love.
Don’t ever think that your living your life in vain and it’s not being seen, Believe me our children watch and learn!!!
A letter from Nicole
Dear Momma,
I just wanted to tell you some things that I couldn't put into words on the spot without crying.
I just wanted to thank you so much for caring for me like you do.
I always took it for granite your time you spent taking me to doctors, & therapy, & surgeries & so much more. But I now know that you didn't have to do that!
Alot of children now these days are so mistreated & not taught correctly. I thank God everyday for letting me have Christian parents who don't stray from the truth. You've always pushed me to strive better & helped me in bad times & taught me the ways God would have a Christian lady should act. You're my role model. I hope one day that I'll have a good Godly husband & family & be able to be like you, a Virtuous Women!
I've also realized I was so nieve to think you didn't know what I went through! Now I realize you know & have went through more than I with al of my trials. You see, I couldn't watch my girl go through 2 codes & not ask why. I would have freaked out & you, well, the Lord worked through you to be there for me when I coded. Dr. Lewis is not my hero, you are! I just want to tell you I love you so much & I thank you for all the efforts in raising me. You see if I were to stray or not live as God would have me, you wouldn't have to say I wish we would have taught her, because you have! You've taught me everything I know about life & taught me how to act, talk & how to be a good Godly lady. Even though I don't do as I should all the time, you taught me well! Thank you for 17 1/2 years of trials & putting up with me, not giving up. I Love you more than you know.
Love Always,
Nicole xoxoxoxoA letter from Nishoni
Daddy,
I praise God for a Father so loving & understanding. I thank Him continually for a father who loves me enough to beat the "living daylights" out of me & allow me to live to tell about it. I guess, I just thank God for you, & everything you are.
It's your courage that brings us through rough circumstances, & your strength that brings us through trials & tribulations. It's your love that showed me the way to Jesus Christ. You're the reason for my existence, my well-being, my proud heritage, & what I turned out to be upon this day. Well, Mommy had alot to do with it to, but still, it was you! I love you more than your'll ever know, & I am only, to proud, to be part of you, to be your daughter.
Thank you for loving me when I am unlovable, unbearable. I'll love you forever.
Proud to be the offspring
of someone so wonderful
& caring,
Nishoni Lynn Burkhart  As mothers, we can be comforted that not only does God love our children far more than we will ever be able, but He loves us in the same way. We should also be challenged to commit our love for our children to God, to be used by Him to be a reflection that will touch our child’s lives. This sort of committed love is like a mirror that will catch God’s light and magnify it into our children’s lives. One lady said this sort of holy love can “split the sky in two” allowing our children to catch a glimpse of God’s shining face.
There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candles or the mirror that reflects it.
Are we shining for God as we should toward our children? Are we a clean mirror that is sending out His light to reflect Him or are we smudged with the fingerprints of this world. Let’s clean our mirror daily to reveal Him clearly in our lives, showing forth godly women.

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