When you think about your children’s future and all the experiences they will have, do you think on how they (and you) will walk through the inevitable valleys? We don’t want to see our children suffer, but we know struggles will come—they are part of life and necessary to growth. Still, how can parents possibly rejoice while their children hurt?
“…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope;”
Romans 5:3-4
This life is messy. People are sinners. And the children we are raising will not get out unscathed. But if we lead them well and they know God is sovereign, they can allow Him to do a beautiful work and deepen their trust in Him during the seasons of drought. We can’t help but hear the thunder crash, and lighting strikes our hearts during the storm, but we must steady our gaze and secure our steps in the sovereign God who is faithful to guide us through the darkness. In order for our children to know how to suffer well, they need to see us suffer well. Rather than getting stuck in the sink holes of the world, we can show our children what it looks like to walk through them with an eternal focus. The tunnels can often stretch on for longer than we like, and while it sounds cliche, there really is a light at the end of them. So how will your children (and you) handle it if the goal they so desperately desire is not reached? To go deeper—what if your child receives a diagnosis that no amount of modern medicine will change? Or what if your child marries one day and is abandoned by his or her spouse? All these situations really happen—we just like to think they will never happen to us or our children. But, what if …
I don’t know what God’s plan is for your children or mine, but I know He is their Creator and they ultimately belong to Him. While I pray my children never know the pain of a broken heart and God protects them from all disease, I also pray they would have a faith that leads others to Him and are a tool for His Kingdom. There is a deep peace when you truly believe God has a magnificent plan and is intimately involved in our lives. As Joni Eareckson Tada said at the Stonebriar Women’s Retreat, “This is a bad chapter in a good book.” I’m certain most of us have had a few bad chapters, but The Book is still good, and others will see our faith in action through our sufferings. Are you, as a parent, teaching your children to suffer well? Here is to allowing God to have His full work in us so that we may become more usable vessels for Him. We don’t want our children to suffer, but when they do, may we walk alongside them, pouring His truth into their circumstances.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4
Joyfully His,
Gabbie
