A few weeks ago I was sitting with my small group and we were talking about how difficult it is to live out our faith in this culture. What struck me was how nervous my girls were about what God may or may not be doing in them. They were focusing on the places they were failing to live up to God's standards and how often they were sucked into the world's way of doing things.
My first emotion was excitement. It was encouraging to see them making the distinction between God's way of doing things and the world's way of doing things. I was glad that they could see the difference and that they were recognizing the places in their lives where they were falling short.
Now, in teenage world, the difficult thing is that although they recognize there is a distinction between the two worlds, and they even notice the tension that exists, it doesn't mean that they are going to immediately make the changes they know they "should" make. It means that they will live within that contradiction for quite some time before they figure out that they must make a choice between the two worlds. That thought moved me from excitement to a bit of discouragement because I know that they will make many mistakes before they figure out the benefits and beauty of living in the truth of God's Word. I know many of you parents are in this discouragement stage. I know many of you feel this tension for them and feel like there is little that you can do about it.
But from discouragement my mood went straight to hope. I read this passage to the girls, and then have been praying on it ever since. Philippians 1:4-6 says...In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I love the word "confident". I love that we can be confident of this in our own lives, but also in the lives of our teenagers. Yes, this stage is difficult...yes, it is frustrating...and yes, God will finish what he has started in the lives of our kids. And that is enough to give me tremendous hope. Today my prayer is for you, their parents, that you carry that hope with you as well!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, it is so often discouraging. But like you, I hold onto hope and prayer! I often recall a lesson from a Thursday morning women's study I attended where Jesus told Satan to get behind him! Jesus recognized Satan as a force that needs to be told to get out of the way! I have since then, told Satan the same thing: Get out of MY kid's life!!!!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't still be hanging in here with hope if not for prayer, Bible study, AMY RUDGE, and other Christian parents!