MEET JENNIFER AND ASHE SLATTERY
This year our daughter starts high school. This is the age when kids either flop or flourish. They either self-destruct or blossom. Quite honestly, a great deal of the parenting’s already been done. More and more, I spend less time telling my daughter how to view the world. Most often, I listen as she tries to figure out how her views fit in with the world. Basically, her core values are set, although luckily, she’s turned into a very strong and committed Christian.
I say luckily, yet luck had nothing to do with it. When she was young, I dreaded the teen years. We’ve all seen teens raised by wonderful parent spiral into self-destruction. We’ve watched relationships shatter and once sweet and cooperative children turn into angry, rebellious teens. But one thing I learned very early on—whatever battle we faced, whatever discipline problem we wanted to curb, whatever fear we felt, God had a solution. The trick, then, was to take the time to listen for His guidance.
One verse brought me great comfort then and has proven true now. Isaiah 40:11 says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young.”
I realized, if I wanted to be a successful parent, I needed to learn to pray—frequently, fervently and diligently. Only God truly knows the heart of my child. Only God knows His plans for her future. My job, then, is to figure out what He’s doing and cooperate!
After a recent interview on young adult author, K Dawn’s blog, many said, “You must be proud!” I’m not sure if proud is quite the term. I think what we feel most is grateful. Over a decade ago, as I knelt by her bed in prayer, I clung to those words in Isaiah and let God take the lead. Over the years, He’s proven faithful to His promise and I’ve learned, a moment is never lost when spent on your knees. Quite the opposite, really!
Comments
God bless,
Mildred Colvin
And thanks, Linda, although I still worry, because I know she's got a long road ahead of her and God's got great plans for her. My daily prayer for her remains the same: that she loves God even more, that she's drawn to His Word, that He uses His Word to guide, encourage and teach her, that He gives her the courage to obey with radical, unhindered faith, that He surrounds her in His protective embrace and that He removes everything in her that gets in His way. :-)
Gail, thanks for having me! And I'll have to stop by another time to share some stories of mom's releasing their kids into God's hands and the awesome steps their kids are taking. I spent the day yesterday with kids from Global Encounter and man, those teens were on fire! Parents, if you want to see you kids step it up and live in radical obedience to Christ, I highly suggest you get them involved in a Global Encounter event. Phenomenal!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful devotional. I'd love to have you come by any time, and Global Encounter sounds like a great topic.