Ephesians 6:1, Colossians 3:20

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 

Ephesians 6:1 (ESV)

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 

Colossians 3:20 (ESV)

Growing up I wouldn't say I was a difficult child to raise. I wouldn't even say I was a difficult teenager. I was a difficult "adult." Yes, there are quotation marks around adult for a reason. When I turned eighteen, I was tired of following the rules. In elementary school, junior high, and high school I was that girl that got teased because I just could never let loose and have some "fun" as they called it. My own dad told me he would give me five bucks if I would just get in trouble once during class. Anyway, this all came to a screeching halt when I turned eighteen. Okay, not a screeching halt, but I got to the point where I decided I would push the envelope a little bit.
I began arguing with my parents, especially my mom, more and more than I ever had before. I was in a weird phase in my life where I felt like turning eighteen was some magic pass to entitlement. I didn't think it mattered that I lived under my parents roof still, I should be able to live by my own rules. I was late for dinner, begged for a later curfew, wore immodest clothing, etc, etc. Crazily enough, none of these things I fought for ever gave me any fulfillment anyway. The more I pushed, the more I pulled, the more I yelled, the more discontent I made myself. I woke up one day to realize I was straining my relationship with my parents and even worse than that, was farther away from God than I had ever been.
The lesson I learned from this season I went through was that when God commands something, He commands it for a reason. It took me two years to recover from this year that I spent disobeying my parents and disobeying God. Praise Jesus He uses our mess ups to make masterpieces. He brought me back to Him and healed the relationship between me and my parents, despite the consequences I also had to endure. As my personal application, I am going to write a letter to my parents thanking them for how they brought me up and how it made me the person I am today.