To my Children... A series of blogs for Parents - #1

This series of   blogs- maybe two or even more   is long over due.  I know the Lord commissioned me several weeks ago to write these and I have been in prayer and thinking but I have also been avoiding.  I used the moving into our home as my first excuse.  That event did take up a lot of time and work, but we are in and settled.  

Well, maybe not settled -- it is difficult and just a little frustrating to reteach yourself a new routine and to remember exactly where the  t-shirts are  as compared to where I actually put them.  You would think that one would place them in a  new dresser, but other stuff took "that" drawer.     But that is for another blog.  

This series may be  written for children -- adult children.  This is series is not necessarily written for my children and yet it may be. And it is being written for the parents of these adult children.   I am praying and believing that this blog series will be shared and be a hope for some parents, be a reality check for others, and maybe it will even give some  the courage to have a conversation with that adult child that they have been avoiding.  

I think one of the reasons why I have been avoiding this,  is because I don't want to bring my own children into this. 

 I blog.  

I share my heart --  in and throughout that you learn about my children but in no way do I want the enemy to use ANY part of these blogs to hurt them.  I do have two grown children and their lives and their experiences will probably be woven into these blogs, but this is NOT about them.  Honestly, most of my circle of friends have teens or soon to be adult children and their lives, their heartaches, prayers, and my prayers for them could  also be woven into this series and inspire me to write but then again I truly only write when the Holy Spirit is writing for me.  I trust God.

 Again, I pray this will help - not hurt but there are a few truths, that I will be sharing to all but also to my own children  and nothing I write or say on here, is nothing that I have not already stated or said to each of my children at one time or another -- it is what it is.  So with that -- I begin.....




To be a Prodigal ....

In doing some research and  in thinking about where I should start  this blog, the story of the Prodigal Son would pop up.  And then I think,  but what about this scenario?

What if I don't really have a prodigal kid?

What if I really do have that prodigal kid?  


What if I only have a kid that just seems to 'sin' occasionally?

What if I have an adult child that does goes to church and loves God but I know there is some deep stuff that the Lord wants to work up and out and I see so much MORE potential in them?

What about those parents that are dealing with sons and daughter into heavy addiction?

What about those people around me that love their children dearly and the choices their child is making is so totally against God's Word?

What about those parents around me that are heartbroken because they continue to see defeat in their child?

What about that one set of parents too scared to let their adult child know -- they are 'cruzin for a bruizen?'    Did your mom ever say that to you?

What about that parent that is just not happy with their child's choices?

What about that parent who had to tell their adult child they would no longer bail them out of jail?

What about that parent who has to visit their child in jail or a program of sort?

And what about the parent(s)  who watch their grown children parent their own children and know that their adult children still have not experienced the true freedom of living for and with Christ ?

And what about the parents who even have great grandchildren who still see their own grown adult children living in defeat and frustration simply because they don't allow the Lord to be Lord of their lives?   

Questions -- so many questions.   Where do I begin?

This may be another reason why I have avoided blogging - where do I begin? 


I asked God ......


And the Holy Spirit clearly brought me to the first commandment. 

Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT)

³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”


Basically -- You shall love NO other gods before me.  God has to be first.  God has to be first with ALL of my soul.  God has to be first with my mind.    And then...love others.

It is because of my love of others and especially because of my own  children that these blogs will begin.  I will boldly share and declare that these adult children around me and these lost ones not only in my close and immediate family but in extended family and friends will....come into agreement with me and their parents and God will win!   IN Jesus's strong and perfected name, AMEN! 

And even as I type this and read it - the enemy reminds me, "they are only teens -- think about when you were 19 and 20?".  "How can you write and share about prayers for adult children when you were such a hypocrite?"

 So, I did think.  And I praise God that I never met my maker at that age.   Or for that matter, I am thankful I did not meet my maker in my late 20's or even 30's as I am unsure if I would of heard, " welcome child" or if I would of heard, "be gone, I do not know you!"
 
Scary??   Or just reality? 

 Growing up in  a home where church was a part of each Sunday does not guarantee heaven.  Growing up in a home where  love and explanation of how important that relationship  with Jesus  is -- does not guarantee heaven.

 I  may of just  explained the two extremes between my husband and I.

At 16 he would say, " I am going to heaven".
At 16 I would say, "I hope to go to heaven".
Thus began our courtship and many years of thinking and searching.  I do believe, when I was 19,  I walked an  aisle and raised my hand when the speaker said, "do you want Jesus in your heart?  Do you know he died for your sins?".  I did know that -- I knew that since I was in 2nd grade.  I had heard all the stories, etc. etc.  And when I got married, pre-marital counsel asked tough questions.

"Do you believe in God?".  "How do you know you are saved?".  "How will you raise your children, Catholic or Pentecostal?"

But when did I truly know God was my Lord and Savior -- when  He loved me enough to allow EVERYTHING to be pulled from me...that I truly needed Him.  God became my Savior when I was a kid.  But I did not GET WHAT that meant until I was in my 20's.  Then God became someone I needed in my 20's and 30's and so I looked to Him - prayed to Him and began to study Him, but HE did not  become LORD of my life until I was broken -- about  38 years of age.    And I fell in LOVE with God when I was 45... broken, about to be separated again from my husband and THEN....I surrendered.  Finally - everything to God.  He became LORD. 

So why do I think some prayers for some ADULT kids will HELP those kids and parents now??  
I don't in my human flesh -- but GOD is commissioning these blogs and I am being obedient.  So with that - I will pray.   

 

• Lord, for those  parents that have children where they  can see and know YOU are NOT number one -yet.   Lord, I pray for them -- that they would declare their kids WILL call You Lord! 

• Lord, for those of us parents that have adult children who have placed other gods before you -- we pray and agree that indeed YOU will win and they will see in us a hope of their calling -- what YOU have planned for them -- good plans.    Lord, that we are parents- check ourselves and our hearts and make sure we are being  Christlike -- so us our own sin - may we empty ourselves of us and have more room to allow YOU to fill us as parents.   

• Lord, for those  parents struggling because their children are SO FAR gone and there does not seem to be HOPE -- we claim there still is HOPE.  
•  Lord, as I conclude this first blog, I pray it will be USED by you and this simple prayer that simply says: 
•  
• My children WILL have no other gods but YOU Lord -- and I will declare that my children  ( place their names here ) will call upon YOU and LOVE you  and they will in turn be more Christlike and they will love their neighbors as themselves.  Lord, we declare this, In YOUR precious and perfect name - a name above NO other names, we will see the fruition of this prayer in our lifetimes, IN JESUS name, AMEN.   

For my own children - HP and TP and JP -- we pray EACH day that God is #1 in your life.  I pray HE is revealing to each of you, individually, daily, what must be removed so that MORE of HIM can be in each of you.  Love you dearly - "Mumzie, Ma, and Chelly"