What is our job as moms? It’s not our job to make our kids love Jesus. That’s impossible because love can’t be forced. But there are ways in which we can encourage our kids to love Christ. And when we do this, we are heeding the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta, who said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” We are also following in the footsteps of Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, whose genuine example of love for Christ compelled their five daughters — including St. Thérèse — to love him with their whole hearts.
I have studied this next generation. I’ve spent countless hours with them, listening, learning and discovering the ways in which their hearts get unlocked and open up to God. And I want to share these things with you.
This is why I have developed a new curriculum for high-school girls called “Sisters of Strength.” It’s going to be available to you this spring, and there will be a book the girls can read themselves, a curriculum you can lead one-on-one or with a group of girls, and an accompanying journal. It is all tested and approved by 70 young women at our local Catholic high school (the OG Sisters of Strength).
But that’s not all, moms of girls in high school and college: I hope you’ll share this blog post with any mom you know with girls that age.
I want to not just offer you these materials, I want to give you a once-in-a-lifetime, in-person opportunity to transform your relationship with your daughter and introduce her to Jesus in a way that she has never experienced before. I’m being joined by an incredible team: Heather Khym, Franciscan Father Dave Pivonka, Debbie Herbeck, Rachel Herbeck and Sarah Kroger. Together, we are welcoming mothers and daughters to the Sisters of Strength Gathering, April 5-7, 2024, at the Lansdowne Resort in northern Virginia.
I know there are barriers to coming to something like this. I know it costs money to go to this event, and I know how expensive school, sports and all the things are. I get it. I also think there is absolutely no better place to invest your money. This is an investment in the most important relationship your daughter will ever have.
I know you all are busy. Is what is on your schedule more important than your relationship with your daughter or her relationship with the Lord?
Isn’t this the sort of experience that you wish you had had when you were your daughter’s age? Some of you may have had a wonderful relationship with your mom and with Our Lord. But all too often, moms and daughters clash, and a relationship with God is placed on the back burner. If this is the case for you, what would have been different in your life if your mother and Jesus had impacted you in such a way that everything changed — that your identity became rooted in something other than your achievements, relationships or looks? What might have been different if you had discovered at an early age that you had a God-given purpose, that you were here for a reason? What if you had found God earlier? What might be different today?
There is no one like you in your daughter’s life. No one more qualified, no one more concerned, no one better equipped than you to point her to the King of Kings.
Point to Christ. And tell your daughter to get ready for a wonderful weekend together.
Lisa Brenninkmeyer is the founder of Walking With Purpose. This post was adapted from Walking With Purpose.