“I don’t want or need anything from you,” Cassie yelled, “You are pathetic to me!”

Beth realized with great heartache, her daughter Cassie had no idea who she really was. The anger and resentment that so easily spewed from her daughters mouth was all the confirmation Beth needed.

Cassie saw Beth as old, weak and out of touch with the real world. Beth feared for Cassie. Her greatest fear was that Cassie would make the same mistakes she had. Love blindly, believe without boundaries and then be abandoned and left to suffer the brutal consequences of her naive and foolish choices.

Beth’s words of warning and advice to Cassie were as futile as trying to drain water out of the pacific ocean one bucket at a time. Cassie had closed her mind and heart. She had decided she never wanted to be anything like her mother. She did not want or need her mother’s advice.

Cassie has no idea that the very things she despises her mother for believing in is what gave her the strength to survive. It doesn’t make Beth weak, but strong. Beth’s faith in God has carried her through more than loss love. It has sustained her through the death of her only sibling, her father, the terror of losing her own child, serious health issues and much, much more. She wishes Cassie could know how much she loves her.

The chapters of Beth’s life were not easy reading. How do you explain living in constant fear. How can your children understand how you really did do better for them? Why does it take so long for us to realize it?