Being a parent is truly a blessing. The fact that God created a life just for us to love and nurture and to train to honor and obey Him is one of the greatest callings on this earth. Parenting has many joys associated with it. All the "firsts", playing, laughter, snuggling, activities, relationships, the interesting conversations, all the questions and curiosity, exploring, and so many more. God truly knew exactly what he was doing when he designed the family. Children are a heritage of the Lord and we as parents have the great responsibility to shape and mold them to be arrows for the LORD!
We all must admit though, training our children up in the way they should go is hard. Yes we have our good days where life may seem perfect, our children seem perfect, and we really couldn't ask for more. This is certainly a good attitude of thankfulness to have, however what about those days where we just want to crawl under a rock and hide?
What about those days when we are so tired and we can't find rest? What about those days when our children try our last nerve? What about those days when we feel like everything we are doing to teach and train our children is in vain? What about those days where we just feel like nothing is going right? What about those days when you think "I must be the only one with these problems"? What about those days when you just feel like giving up? What do you do about those days? How do you approach the feelings of doubt, discouragement, frustration, and perhaps even loneliness? Have you ever had days like this? Well, believe it or not, we have and do! So we wanted to share what we do when faced with this type of adversity.
For us, we turn to God! I mean honestly, who or what else would one turn to? I know we have friends, family and even specialists, however they are people too with their own sets of problems. They have faults, failures, and make mistakes just like anyone else. Sure they could offer some good advice here and there, but they are still just people. They will fail us in some way whether intentional or not since they are human. But when we turn to God, we are turning to THE ONE that is prefect, all knowing, all powerful, and always there (no matter where "there" is)!
You see, as Christians we realize that we are going to have issues that arise in this life. Jesus actually tells us in John 16:33 - "...In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." So there is no way around not having bad days, tests, trials, times of discouragement, frustration, and even temptation. This is all because sin (disobedience to God) entered the world through Adam causing all people to sin and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). However if we repent of our sin through belief in Jesus Christ, he will wash away our sins and cast them as far as the east is to the west.
Once we become saved, we don't stop having problems. No on the contrary, I believe we actually have more since now we have declared war against Satan! He is going to try anything he can to make us stumble in our walk with the LORD! The great thing though is that if we draw close to God, he will draw close to us. If we resist the the devil, the devil has to flee (James 4:7-8)! We must remember this when we have the bad days. We must stay encouraged with the thought that God will never leave us or forsake us. We also must realize that problems will bring victory. Think about that for a moment! If we didn't have adversity, what joy would there be in victory! Would victory even exist?
You see, as we travel through this life, we will experience success and failure. We will experience good times and bad times. The Bible actually tells us that our very own faith will be tried. I Peter 1:7 says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." We are also told in I Peter 4:12, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you."
With these verses in mind, we are to understand that trials are a part of life and this even applies to our parenting and our children. There are going to be days where we just don't feel like all of the effort we are putting forth into raising our children is worth it. We have (and still do) go through seasons where the trial is so hard that we feel we can't make it. We sometimes wonder if God is even still there because the trial is so difficult. However then we remember God's Word when he said through Peter for us not to think it strange that we are going through this problem.
We are further reminded that the issues we are experiencing is like gold going through the fire. We are God's workmanship! He is shaping and molding us just the same as we are trying to shape and mold our children. Just as gold must go through the fire to become pure and valuable, so do we! Once we arise from the fire, we will be made pure and we will be in a more valuable state than we were before. That is if we endure the fire though. Jesus said those that endure unto the end shall be saved (Matthew 10:22). We can endure if we only would draw close to God through obedience to His Word. We can do it if we desire, we just need to have the faith to persevere.
So the next time you feel the way we have (and still do many times), TURN TO GOD! The next time you feel that you can't teach or train you children how to do anything, TURN TO GOD! The next time your children try your patience so thin, TURN TO GOD! Ask Him to help you endure the fire you are experiencing! Remember that He is working in you and through you so that you can be valuable for Him! Have confidence that you will claim the VICTORY through our LORD JESUS CHRIST!
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