ACCEPTING That My DAUGHTER Is GAY

  

    I remember holding her the day she was born and making a silent promise to her and to God that I would do everything in my power to protect and prepare her. Even though that day was over twenty years ago I still try to honor that promise. I will admit after her mother died I felt that I no longer had the support I needed to protect or prepare her but with the Lord's grace we were able to endure. As a parent you try to give your child everything you had growing up and everything you didn't. So I spoiled her with everything I could afford and I raised her according to the values and beliefs that helped mold my own childhood and guide me as an adult. I encouraged her to learn on her own so that she could apply her own wisdom to situations and not simply take my advice or others without question. She grew up to be a fiercely independent, bold, intelligent and beautiful young lady a mirror image of the woman her mother was. As she entered high school I made peace that she would start to get more attention from boys and probably give some to them herself. Because I didn't want to sugarcoat any situation we openly talked about love and sex so that she would be prepared. I was proud that she never succumbed to the pressures and consequences some of her friends had suffered like pregnancy or contracting a sexually transmitted disease. 
  
   Then one day as I was preparing to get into bed she knocked at my door and asked could she talk to me. Our one-on-ones were very common but from her tone I suddenly became uncomfortably about what she wanted to discuss with me. I got up and followed her to the dinning room where we sat down to talk. The first thing she said was "I prayed about this and I feel comfortable enough to share this with you. BUT please listen to everything I say BEFORE you respond." I assured her she had my attention and silence as she prepared to talk. I listened to her sometimes teary revelation for about thirty minutes as she told me that she was attracted to women and how she felt that I might shun and disown her because of it. As promised I waited until she was finished before I spoke. I sat staring at her for a couple of minutes gathering my thoughts. I began by telling her my feelings about homosexuality and her being gay. I explained to her why I didn't understand or believe in same sex attractions and that only men and woman can create and birth children. She explained to me her feelings about being gay and how she planned to deal with the drama that came with the lifestyle. We ended up talking for hours sharing our views, understandings and more importantly our expectations.

   Afterwards even though we were standing on opposite sides of the fence we accepted that were still standing on the same lawn. I told her that it would take time for me to accept her lifestyle and she told me she would continue to try to respect my positions about it. It took a couple of months for us to fully vibe again but we eventually humbled ourselves enough not to judge or be angry with each other. Because in the end I accepted that they were her decisions to make and her life to live. And she accepted that she would have to live her life with the consequences and benefits of her decisions. I learned a lot about our daughter and myself that day. I became even more confident that I had kept my promise to protect and prepare her and she found a source of support in her father. With her revelation and my response we realized that we could truly talk about anything and even if we didn't agree we would still respect each other. Regardless of her sexual orientations I am very proud of the young woman that I call my daughter and I pray she is proud of her father. She has done what her mother and I had always raised her to do, make the best decisions possible given the information she had available. She is living her life happily according to her own rules. I will admit that yes it sounds crazy but the hardest and easiest thing to do...was accepting that my daughter is gay.

Be GREAT TODAY, because you may not be given the time to be tomorrow.
TWIL