Parenting in His Strength
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” -- Luke 11:13
As the mother of twins, people often asked me if parenting them got easier over time. My answer was always, no. It just gets hard in news ways. My children are grown now with children of their own, and guess what?
It’s still just hard in new ways.
Through parenting my children, I gained a deeper understanding of God’s love for His children. Every trial, misstep, victory and sorrow my children went through taught me how my Father feels about me as His beloved child. And if I could want to meet their needs in my own imperfect human heart, how much more does God want to meet our needs as parents in His glorious perfection?
When we’re running on what seems like a negative amount of sleep, when we don’t remember the last time we felt anything close to being energized, when our playbook of man-made solutions isn’t working . . . we can still rest in knowing we have a Father who understands. His children are wayward, demanding, often whiny, and stubbornly independent to their own detriment.
Knowing we have been created in the image of a good Father, we can trust we’ve been made to parent well.
Parent well, but not alone.
Perhaps in no other area of our life does God want us to depend on Him as much as in how we parent our children.
And He’s given us His word to remind us.
Here are three truths to hold onto as we face the challenge of raising godly children in a sinful world:
1.) God knows . . . what you’re going through and how you feel.
. . . for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. -- Matthew 6:8 (ESV)
God knows exactly what you need and when you need it. His timing is always perfect, though not always convenient.
2.) God establishes . . . in you the good work of parenting.
. . . and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. -- 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
The word established means strengthens.
3.) God equips . . . us to meet the needs of others, especially those of our children.
. . .the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. -- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
The next time parenting seems to push you to your limits remind yourself of these three truths. God knows what you’re going through. He has strengthened you to do the job, and He is continually equipping you.
Questions for Reflection:
1. What challenges do you face as a parent that tempt you to feel alone in the struggle?
2. In what way was this feeling based on emotion, instead of truth? What Does God's Word say is true?
