Anna and Jane pictured below from our time at our unicycle club at UPC last night
I read this article this morning from Sissy Goff (a fabulous counselor from Nashville at Daystar)
Trusting God with Your Children
God provides for our children’s needs just as he does our own.
If your son doesn’t have all the friends you wish he did, if your daughter isn’t
being pursued by boys, if he’s not elected or she’s not chosen, God is still
sovereign. And he still loves them deeply.
Larry Crabb in his book 66 Love Letters,
says, “Love seeks the deepest well-being of another.” That’s the kind of love
God has for your son or for your daughter. He seeks and will achieve their
deepest well-being. It may be through their happiness . . . or it may not. It
may be through lots of friends . . . or struggles with friends. It may be
through success . . . or failure.
Romans 5:3–5 in The Message paraphrases
our verse another way:
There’s more to come: We continue to shout our
praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles
can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the
tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In
alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the
contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously
pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
You are not being shortchanged—and neither is your child. God is
using all things for his glory and their good. He redeems all things. He is
forging virtue, character, perseverance, and hope in your son’s or daughter’s
life right this minute.
Changing Our Prayers
So maybe our prayers can look a little different.
Instead of praying for happiness, pray for the joy that comes in
knowing your children are loved deeply by their heavenly Father.
Instead of praying for success, pray they will know, in the
midst of the failures everyone experiences, that Jesus meets them and
strengthens them in their weakness.
Instead of praying they will never face pain, pray that whatever
pain they experience will drive them into a deeper knowledge of our God, who
will never leave them or forsake them.
Instead of praying they’ll never experience worry, pray that
they’ll see past their worry to trust in a Father who knows them better than
they know themselves and has plans for a great hope and future.
Instead of praying they won’t face temptation, pray that they’ll
be made stronger in it, will develop wisdom and discernment, and will lean into
Jesus who gives them strength to stand firm.
Instead of praying for confidence in how they look, pray for
contentment in who they are.
Instead of praying for popularity, pray for purpose so that your
children will know that God can use them and every hurt, pain, and struggle for
their good and for his glory.
Your children’s voice will be stronger because of the struggle.
Their impact will be deeper. And their hope will be much richer for having been
hemmed in by the difficulties they experience today. Trust God. He holds your
children in his huge heart. –Sissy
Goff
Anna on a borrowed miniature unicycle from Mr. Roberts :)
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