Family Influence - My Parents

I would never, ever trade my family, my life, for anyone else's.  Why?  Because I would then be a different person with different values, different qualities, different strengths, different weaknesses.  The greatest gift from God to me as an individual is my parents.  They have raised me up founded in the Bible, in Christ's love for me, in their love for me, and in an immediate level of base respect for every other human being in this world, not for who they are or aren't or what they've done or haven't done, but simply because their Souls were made in the likeness of the God whom I serve.  Without the dedication and loyalty of my devoted parents, I would not be the person that I am, where I am.  All the little things have added up, yes - but each of them has had a life-altering (for me) conversation with me, just me.
  For my Mom, it happened when I was twelve.  I wasn't caring at that point that I was messing up constantly, and therefore was an overly strong-willed, stubborn, disobedient child to my poor parents.  They each tried to correct me in their own way, and through the course of time, Mommy finally did it.  She heard a teaching on the radio and altered and added to it with Bible verses and other such encouragements.  When I brought up the following speech she gave me to her the other day, she couldn't even recall it.  She wasn't especially pleased with me that day, but what she said to me was one of the most inspiring things I've ever heard.
  She said, "Mikayla, every persons life is shaped by their teenage years; it's so difficult to flip it all around after you hit twenty.  You are mostly set in your ways by then, and all of your basic foundations have been set.  Think of your life as a house being constructed from bricks.  Some bricks are made out of stone, and some out of sawdust.  If the bottom layer has sawdust bricks in it, then all of the structure is insecure; on the layer, even, where there are faulty bricks, every layer above the unstable one is useless, not because of themselves, but because of what it has been built upon.  But even still, sometimes when we let our layers of strength fall down, we can rebuild, and better ourselves.  It hurts, yes; but no matter how small your building is, if it's built on the right stuff, if you have a firm foundation, when the storm comes by you, you will be found standing when it blows over."
  Boy, did I ever get my act together.  Being a firstborn, the worst punishment you could ever give me is to tell me I'm wrong, to criticize me, to tell me I'm messing up - but it's also the most affective.  Sure, I felt bad when I used to get spanked or get some hot sauce, and I feel and I feel bad when I get my Mac taken away, but those things take a lot longer to get through, you know?
  What my Dad said to me changed my worldview, not my attitude, thought it was no less profound.  I went in to work with him a few months ago at 11pm at night - we were up till nearly 3am.  On the hour long drive to the site needing serviced, we talked about how life is supposed to be - the way God planned it.   We got on the topic of teenagers - and I warn you, if you're a teenager, either quit reading or prepare to be challenged to the core.  Teenagers, high schoolers, they think, many times, that they know everything, can make their own decisions and choices, all the time, rule the world.  So, so not true.  Here's what my very wise Father has to say on the subject -
  "People, especially teens, don't seem to understand that you don't learn so that you can make your own decisions, so that you can know best, so that you can lead your own life; you learn so that you can best aline yourself with the will of God."  He went on to say that he wished people would realize, "I'm tired of fighting against God - it would be a lot easier to just take that energy and put it towards His good works."  That touches on two things - (a) struggling with guilt is a choice, and (b) God is never on our side - for He is not a respecter of persons - but, we can be on His side.
  My parents are two of the most amazing, godly people I know.  And I'll say it again.  I would not be the person I am today were it not for them.

  Ohh, and by the way - if you ever feel like giving me, or one of my siblings, a compliment on character, don't do it.  Give it to my parents.