Train up a child

Submitted by Lara Cook
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper;           The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Psalm 121

Mother’s Day is this Sunday.  I have been a mother for 23 years and a Christian for much longer.  I have always had faith and it has held me up during the hardest times in life.  But this past year my faith has had to work double time.  During the past year, two of my children have moved out and started their own lives.  One of them has been away at college and will be home for the summer but she will return to me a different person than she was when she left.  She has grown through her experiences this year and for most, once you leave you never return the same as you were.  That is good as it is the way God intended.  My other child moved out and began his journey in life out from under my protective wingspan.  My youngest started high school so (always on my mind) I have a limited amount of time left with him at home as well. 

It is easy to trust God with your children when you are so in control of their lives.  Peace comes easy when you are sitting on the park bench watching them play.  But then they grow up and grow away, busy and out of our sight.  The hardest thing I have ever had to do is to completely trust God with my “grown” children.  I have to remind myself daily that even though I can’t see them all the time, what they are doing, and where they are, God sees them.  He always has His eyes on them and never turns away.  He never falls asleep and quits watching them.  I have no choice but to trust His promises or drive myself crazy with worry.  I put them in His hands because He is so much more capable and powerful than I am.  Three things I try to remember when I start to worry:

• Train up a child… Proverbs 22:6 says Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.  I have to hold to this truth that I have done my job teaching them about God and instilling a love for Him and His word deep in their hearts.  Oh there may be (will be) times when they try to go a different way just because they can.  They get a taste of freedom and sometimes get lost in the many snares along the way but I have to trust that God has them.  I pray for them every day and that they will be drawn to Him.  I have to believe that what I desperately tried to instill in them will somehow override every enticing ploy of the enemy.
• Trust in God’s Promises – Like the verse above says, God never takes His eyes off of them.  What more could a mother want?  There is nothing better that I could do for them or want for them than to have God’s constant watch over them. 
• Trust He will Help Me – I will cling to Him and pray fervently for my children all my days.  I will believe that whatever comes, God will walk with me through it all and give me the strength, wisdom, and perseverance to get through the tough times that are a normal part of life. 

Yes, this past year I have prayed more and leaned on God much more than I did through the “park bench parenting years”.  I have grown too.  I have learned to trust and rest in Him.  I have found a peace that I have not known before (although it has often come after a storm of fear) and maybe for the first time ever in my life, I have learned to choose His promises over my fear and worry.   

Scripture to Claim:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27