As moms, we’re always trying to protect our children from harm, hurt, and disappointments. But we know that’s not the way life is. There will come trials and disappointments in life. How we respond to their trials while they are children will be key in how they handle trials as adults.
I have three sons, all now in their 30’s. This past week our middle son, Barry, had their third child, a son they named Gabriel, who was born with physical challenges.
After Gabriel’s birth, Barry came back to his home in the middle of the night and collapsed in my arms. All I wanted to do was to take him in my arms and kiss away his pain; however, he’s 6’2” so that’s physically impossible and he’s an adult, so it’s emotionally impossible as well.
Since that evening, Barry has looked to God and His Word for strength and encouragement,
leading his family to trust and believe in God’s perfect plans for Gabriel. It’s such a blessing as a mom to watch your children walk with the Lord and lean on Him as the source of all they need.
I want to encourage moms who are in the midst of your parenting years to not try to alleviate all the pain your child will encounter . . . and they surely will encounter it. But use each situation as a tool to teach them to rely on their Heavenly Father, who is always with them. You will be building a foundation for them that the storms of life cannot destroy.
I remember when our oldest son, Wes, was in sixth grade; and we had to move to a new town in the middle of the school year. After two months in his new school, Wes, who was normally a child who loved school and loved being with people, started not wanting to go to school. On school mornings he would wake up with a stomach ache, not want breakfast and then say his stomach hurt too much to go to school. Then on the weekends he would be fine. Wes didn’t want to tell us what was happening, but after a couple of weeks of this, we finally discovered the problem. A group of boys at school were picking on him. He felt so alone in school that his stress level was just too high for him, and caused him to get sick at his stomach at school.
So we had to take some action. We met with his teachers, just so they would be aware what was happening; and we also became very proactive with Wes. We talked and prayed every night with him, and read scriptures that reminded him that God was with him. After a couple of weeks, things got better; and he made a couple of good friends and finished the year well.
We believe that through that tough time in his life, Wes’ faith really developed and God became a very real to him. It was hard as a mom to drop him off at school, knowing how he felt. What I really wanted to do was to go and give those boys a piece of my mind!!! But what God wanted to do through this difficult time was for Wes to experience His presence and learn to rely on His Heavenly Father.
We must as parents be teaching our children how God is with them, that He loves them very much, and that He has a wonderful plan for their lives. Our goal as parents is to help our children learn to lean on the Lord, looking to Him to meet all their needs. We cannot always be with them, but God is always there . . . “God is our refuge and strength,a very present help in trouble.”
Though it’s so, so hard to do, we must “consider it all joy when our ‘children’ encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of their faith produces endurance, and that endurance will have its perfect result, in order for them to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 my paraphrase)
How are you trusting God right now with your children?
Grandchildren?
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