This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis [ts@godspeak.net]

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                            Be Like Me

Child of Mine, I want the very best for you, and that includes seeing 
you grow up to be strong, capable, happy and mature. I want to see My 
character reflected in you. Yes, I want to see you grow up to be like 
your Father, and I want people to recognize My family traits in you 
when they look at you. 

That means I must take you through seasons of growth. While growth does
not always have to be difficult, there will be short seasons where it 
is. When I allow you to go through difficult seasons, it is not because 
I am mad at you. It is not because I have stopped loving you. It is not 
because I am turning a deaf ear to your cries and pleas before Me. It is 
because I have to let you go through this in order for you to grow and 
mature. 

I don't leave you alone in this, I am right there with you. I am rooting
for you. I want you to become more like Me. I am proud of you with each 
step you take along the growth path that I have prepared for you. Have 
you seen, in the natural, now excited new parents get when their toddler
takes their first steps? I feel the same way about you when you start to
grow and mature, when you start making decisions that are the ones I 
would make. I feel such pleasure and Father's pride in you with each 
milestone that moves you closer to thinking like I think, valuing what I 
value and reflecting My character in your life.

Little one, I will bring you to maturity. But do not be in such a hurry
to reach a goal that you try to skip steps in the development process 
that I have so carefully planned for you. Do not try to run before you 
have learned to crawl...you might succeed for a few steps, but you will 
eventually fall and hurt yourself. Trust My Holy Spirit to lead and 
direct you, to help you grow and to teach you all that you need to learn 
in each stage that I have for you.

Learn to embrace My ways. Learn to walk in holiness and in intimacy 
with Myself. Learn to forgive, and learn to let go of the things that 
hold you back. Learn what it is to be in deep and intimate fellowship 
and communion with Me. Learn what it is to be led by My Spirit, step 
by step, so that you might walk into the fullness of the destiny that 
I have for you. Learn how to move in My power and anointing that you 
might accomplish the tasks that I have for you. Learn how to hear My 
voice and to see what it is that I am doing, so that you might do it 
with Me. All living things grow and mature, or they become stagnant and 
die.  Your spiritual life is no exception...I expect you to keep growing 
and maturing in Me, and I will help you to accomplish that as you look 
to Me.

Little one, I don't expect you to get it all at once. I expect you to
grow and develop and mature, and I have set a course for you that will
bring you to right place at precisely the right time. Learn to trust
My plan for you and learn to trust My ability to move you along that
plan as you learn to yield to Me and obey what I ask you to do. You will
be amazed at how good My plan is for you--it has been customized precisely
to you. The path I have for you may not look like the path that another
is on, so don't compare and critique. Instead, look to Me and follow
Me as I lead you in the way that you should go. Walk with Me, child,
step by step and let Me form My character in you, so that you might
become more like Me.