FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

**NOTE: this was originally posted on BLOGGER.com**

Monday, January 8, 2007
FIRST SUNDAY OF THE NEW YEAR

well, as par for the course, daniel is still struggling with his desire to go to church.

we remind him on saturdays he has to go. while still a minor and under my roof, if i go, he goes. hes not on that plan yet.

i understand his lack of enthusiasm. i have been a lazy christian with him thru his life and now, all of a sudden, im in high gear. hes gotten lazy too. and has little to no desires to attend church.

this distresses me, because hes still so young to make the choice to NOT belive in God, or His son Jesus Christ. and its my duty, to help foster his spirit to realize that God DOES in fact exist. in the end, it is really up to daniel to choose the truth...but my obligation and responsibility to
at least give him the footing to do so in that area.

shy of some miracle at this point i see my son lingering on the edge of a relationship with God. alot of it, i feel may have to do with the loss of his NANNA, my mother. at the tender age of 8, my mother passed away and daniel really didnt have any coping skills for such a tragic event in his life, and it reflected in his school work.
were in the pre-teen stage of life now. one of the most crucial times to get grounded with a sense of a HIGHER-POWER (God) so that the universe at least makes some kind of sense to you, and your placement in it.
he knows i believe in God, and perhaps this phase is simply pushing the bounderies he knows im familiar with.

whatever it is, he'll be attending more than hed like.
hopefully to instill in him a truth of God and in His son, our savior Jesus Christ.

when we were there a member of the congregation invited the ward (congregational name based on number of members in an area) to come to his apartments clubhouse to watch the bowl game on tv tomarrow. hes our HOME TEACHER. ( a male member of the church assigned to a family that visits the family each month, to deliver a message, and assist in any manner needed.) and i had expressed to him, to try to get to know daniel better. hes too young to expect that he can swim about alone in the tossing and turnings of the world and what life has to offer.
daniel needs to know hes not UNIMPORTANT, and hes been getting a sense of that for 10 of his 12 years.
craigs made excellent strides in making a bonds with daniel, but daniel still lacks the esteem to know hes loved not only by his family, but by Gods family as well as God and His son too.

this is the time to get the learning curve done. with enough male INTEREST in him, perhaps daniels heart could see that God is in fact alive and well, and DOES exist...we can see it in the hearts and eyes of those around us.
this will also, help daniel as he becomes a grown man, to know how to share the light he has within him, with others, either by serving a mission or simply being an example to others also struggling with the truth.

they say family prayer is a great tool to help these young ones along. we dont have a family prayer. perhaps we need to start.

THE WILLIAMSON/CARMICHAEL FAMILY

Posted by MICHELLE WILLIAMSON at 7:36 AM

Posted: Apr 30, 2007