A little follow up from yesterday....What I learned from my 18 year old daughter

I will not be blogging everyday...unless it is what God intends for me to do.  But the last few days so much has happened and I feel led to share.

The man that stole Peyton's wallet was caught today.  Since she is now considered an "adult" all contact from the Detective was made straight to her.  Any decisions made were to be made by her.  Today the Detective called and told her they had caught the man and wanted to know if she wanted to press charges.  I could see the uncertainty in her eyes as she struggled with her decision.  Her first question..."How much trouble will he be in?" (not much) second question...Does he have young children? (no).  Third question, can I talk to him? (no because we do not want any confrontation).  She said there would be no confrontation, she wanted the chance to share the gospel with this man.  Still the answer was no.  She did press charges because she felt since he would not do jail time and just a short time of probation, that maybe he would learn from this and think before he committed any larger crimes.  She asked if she could bring a letter for the detective to give to the man and the detective said He would love to give him the letter.  She stopped at the store, got the man a bible and stuck this letter in it.  I am not bragging or think I have perfect children...I think actions speak louder than words and nobody wants to hear me talk about how "great" I think they are.  But this had to be shared because it is the greatest example of what is truly important and what is not important.  To Peyton, his eternity was what was most important.  This is her letter....

First off I just wanted to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a young girl who is about to begin college in the fall. My dad has been out of work for the past 2 years due to foot surgeries from a previous car accident. My family has been struggling financially for the past two years. I worked all summer and was saving up to help buy the rest of my stuff for college. I have grown up in a small church my whole life and I depend on the Lord for everything. There isn’t a day that goes by that the Lord doesn’t bless me. I just want you to know that I am not angry at you, and I forgive you. You may not even be sorry or want my forgiveness, but I just feel like you should know that I do forgive you. I’m not sure about your spiritual beliefs or if you even have any. So I just want to take a minute and share with you the love of Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God sent his son to die on a cross so that my sin, your sin, and all of man’s sin can be forgiven. Because of His GREAT sacrifice that was made we are able to have a one on one relationship with God. Once we ask Jesus to come into our heart and be the master of our life our whole world will be turned around! We no longer have to face trials in life alone; we have a God that carries us through everything. When we have that relationship and pray and ask God for forgiveness the Bible says that He casts our sins “as far as the east is from the west”. The most rewarding part about the relationship with God is knowing that we get to spend an eternity in Heaven with our Savior. Three days after Jesus was crucified he ascended into Heaven and today he sits at the right hand of God. You may think it’s crazy that someone would write a letter saying they forgive you, but My God forgives me everyday for my sins. I don’t think you’re a bad person; I just think you made a bad choice. Next time you think about taking someone’s wallet, just remember it’s more than a wallet, there’s a person with a story behind the wallet. I wish you nothing but the best in life. God Bless!

I believe this says it all.....