“We can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors. We can take our parenting fears to Christ. In fact, if we don’t, we’ll take our fears out on our kids. Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute, check the background of every friend. They stifle growth and communicate distrust. A family with not breathing room suffocates a child.
Bring your children to me. Raise them in a greenhouse of prayer.
Parents, we can’t protect children from every threat in life, but we can take them to the Source of life. We can entrust our kids to Christ. Even then, however, our shorelines appeals may be followed by a difficult choice.”
from the book Fearless by Max Lucado
I really, really needed this reminder. God is the author and perfecter of my faith, and that of my children. I am not sovereign over my kids, their faith, their growth, their choices.
If I live out a life of fear, especially fear regarding my children, I will suffocate them.
I have to admit that I have struggled with fear over the last year or so. I fear that I have failed them, I fear their failure, I fear that my bad choices will lead to their bad choices. It’s a vicious cycle, really. And it does absolutely not one bit of good.
A wise friend once told me that the salvation of my kids was not dependent upon me.
Ahem.
Do I trust God to be God for my children? Or do I not?
Another friend recently reminded me of this verse that I needed to read and preach to myself!
“No weapon formed against me will prevail, and I will refute every tongue that accuses me. This is my heritage as a servant of the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17
NO WEAPON, friends. None at all. Not one weapon formed against me will ever prevail. I can REFUTE the lies of the enemy with the TRUTH of God’s Word. I can and I must.
I must choose faith over fear.
More from Fearless
What if Faith Was Your Default?
I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for your wonderful emails and devotions. I have subscribed to a lot of different sites to receive devotions in my email. I would read the devotions and be done with it. They never really touched me. I have unsubscribed from all of the other websites now that I am getting yours. Reading your devotions, I feel like you are talking to me. They touch me in a way that none of the other ever have. Thank you for all you do. May God continue to bless you in all that you do, and please don’t ever stop.
Dianne — THANK YOU for these words today. You don’t know what a GIFT these words are to me! I’m so thankful that God can use a broken vessel like myself to encourage others. We must keep encouraging one another daily!! Thanks for being a reader and for this comment. Blessings!!