Letters to My Son: Spiritual Thoughts from a Godly Mother

By Tracy Lane

Children are a gift from God to parents. We hold the precious memories of the earliest days of their lives and have prayed over them, hoped good things for them from the womb. We teach them all we can and pray they turn out to be God-fearing, good people. This book shares the memories, hopes, dreams and prayers of a Christian mother over her son to inspire parents to share similar stories with their children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781973684015

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Copyright © 2021 Tracy Lane.

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except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher

make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book

and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8402-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8401-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020901463

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/21/2021

DEDICATIONS

This book is dedicated to my handsome, intelligent son, Timothy Allen. My son, raising you was some of the most challenging work I’ve ever done in my life but absolutely the most rewarding. You are the very best thing about my life. I am so grateful to God to have been the person blessed to give birth to you and nurture you to become the wonderful, kind, generous, amazing man you are. You are the joy of my life and always my greatest inspiration. Although you are my son, you are also my role model because you are the person I imitate as I seek to be childlike before our heavenly Father.

Timothy, I have prayed many prayers for you. Some of my prayers have already been answered by God, and others will be answered later in your life. Several will undoubtedly be answered decades from now, long after I’m gone from the earth. So, I wrote these written words as a memento and also, to reveal to you my heartfelt love and appreciation to God for having you in my life. The words recorded in this book speak directly from my heart of how I feel about you, your impact on my life, and the hopes and dreams I have for you to be the awesome man of God that I know you already are in God’s eyes but will be someday become to the rest of the world. Son, be blessed by the reading as you have always been an extraordinary and beautiful blessing to me.

I also dedicate this book to my former husband, the father of my son, who is still one of my closest friends, Command Sergeant Terrence Allen. Thank you for being a good father and a fine example of what a man should be for our son.

Next, I dedicate this book to all mothers who have sons. I pray that the Lord will help you to be the godly role models your sons will always look up to and help you raise amazing men who live lives with honor to the Lord and to others.

In addition, I dedicate this book to all women who have daughters. I pray God will teach you how to be godly mothers that may someday also raise warriors (both male and female) for the army of the Lord that will utterly destroy the kingdom of this world and relentlessly advance the kingdom of our God.

Finally, this book is dedicated to the fathers who will read it and will undoubtedly be encouraged to walk before their child(ren) as loving fathers, noble princes, valiant warriors, and most especially, childlike sons of the Father who have passionate hearts for God and all His beloved children.

I pray that every reader will be the godly mothers and fathers that spread love and the glorious light of God that reflects our heavenly Father to the entire world.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1    Our Beginnings

Chapter 2    Football

Chapter 3    Saturdays at the Museums

Chapter 4    Nap Time

Chapter 5    The Fighter in You

Chapter 6    Summer Fridays

Chapter 7    A Praying Mom

Chapter 8    The Chickenpox

Chapter 9    A Biblical Foundation

Chapter 10    Extracurricular Activities

Chapter 11    Making Memories

Chapter 12    Mother versus Son

Chapter 13    When a Mother Loses a Child

Chapter 14    When Trouble Comes

Chapter 15    Family Matters Much

Chapter 16    A Child in Jail

Chapter 17    Things You Should Know about Me

Chapter 18    The Conclusion

FOREWORD

The words contained in this book are my thoughts, hopes, and prayers for my son. They include my spiritual beliefs, many of which some readers may disagree with, especially those who are not Christians. Nevertheless, I ask that you continue to read even if your beliefs differ from mine. It is not my intention to mislead anyone or convert anyone to my way of thinking. (I could be right, but I could also be wrong.) Rather, I hope to give you food for thought that will help you should you decide to write a similar book for your own child(ren). My goal is to inspire ideas for your own letters and/or book in which you can divulge your own spiritual beliefs to your own children. I pray, however, that as you read with an open mind, God may reveal truth to you. It doesn’t matter if the truth He reveals is the same as the beliefs I have written. Let God reveal something to you that blesses you. Keep an open mind and heart. I pray you’ll be blessed.

With love,

Tracy

INTRODUCTION

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

—King Solomon, Proverbs 22:6

Children are incredible gifts from God. In particular, sons are amazing gifts to mothers. It is almost beyond logic how a mother can feel such love for a person who is so very different from herself yet in other ways is so like her. Although sons can look like their mothers and have similar traits, sons truly are an entirely different animal from the women who gave birth to them. I happen to believe that there is a divine connection between any mother and child but particularly for a mother and son, two entirely different beings but with similar characteristics. The love between a mother and son reflects God’s relationship to women as He loves a being so entirely different from Himself but who He created to possess so many of His characteristics.

Mothers have a unique ability to relate to their sons in spite of their very marked differences. If they can relate to their sons successfully, the bond that is forged between them is a wonderfully unique one that transcends so many obstacles and endures many challenges. Raising a son can be quite complex for a woman. To understand their ways, endure their boundless energy and answer their endless questions can be a tough challenge. Nevertheless, to love a little boy, to receive his chubby hug, to hear his energetic laughter and to see his cherubic sleeping face is a blessing that every mother holds close to her heart.

I feel incredibly blessed by God to have a son for many reasons. Mostly, I am thankful to God for giving me someone to love—someone who has some of my looks and personality but is uniquely as individual from me as anyone else in the world. The love I have for my son makes me a better person. It humbles me, challenges me, strengthens me, upholds me, uplifts me and encourages me. The love I have for my son has on many occasions been my only reason to keep living. His love for me makes me happy and gives me a passion for life. The love we share makes me strong, gives me courage and comforts my soul. Yet the love I feel for my son is only surpassed by my love for my heavenly Father as His love for me exceeds any love I have ever known.

Through my relationship with my son, God has taught me many lessons about His love for me. From the love I have for my son, I see how very much God loves all of His sons and daughters, regardless of their personalities and even their faults and flaws. God loves me more than I love my son (and He certainly loves my son more than I do), and that love is so extraordinary, so powerful, so all-consuming that I can never fully understand it with my natural mind (so I seek the Holy Spirit to reveal this wonderful love to me). The love God has for me is evident in every situation I have experienced with my son, from tucking my son safely into bed each night, to playing silly games with him, to reading his bedtime story, to speaking words of wisdom to him, to healing his boo-boos and so much more. The love of God is as clearly visible to me as my love is so obviously apparent to my own son.

With this amazing love in mind, I wrote these letters to my son because I want to impart to him my thoughts, feelings, dreams, prayers and desires, so I put them into letter form and bound it within the pages of this book. I believe that as you read my heartfelt expressions of love to my son, you will be motivated to pour into the life/lives of your own child(ren) all of your love, hopes, dreams and prayers for them. I pray that you will be inspired to pray over your child(ren) and build them up in their most holy faith, while also leaving your child(ren) with a legacy of your love that will endure long past the time when you have departed this earth for your heavenly home with the Lord.

Be blessed by the reading!

Tracy Lane

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CHAPTER 1

Our Beginnings

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

—John the Apostle, 3 John 1:2

My son,

There are many things I want to share with you because you are absolutely the most important person in the world to me. The love I feel for you holds the biggest place in my heart of anyone I’ve ever known. The love I have for you has seen me through many of my life’s tragedies, trials and tribulations. It has endured challenges and has only grown stronger with time.

Although I’ve always loved you, I have recently come to learn just how much the love I have for you means and what it represents. I have learned that the love I have for you is an extension of God’s love for me and also, His love for you. God’s love makes the love I have for you (and your love for me) possible.

I want to share my thoughts, my dreams, my love and my hopes for you. I pray you will take