Parenting Trial and Prayer Request

The 365 Project has been good for me.  It forces me to remember my camera and to take pictures of the rapidly fleeting moments that make up our lives.  However, one thing I have noticed is that it takes away from the writing about our lives, which is also important.  With a focus on only the moments you photographed (ie: the highlights of life--because who photographs the hard times?), I find I don't get an accurate representation of the year going by.  So I thought I'd write a little about the challenges of parenting that we're presently facing in our lives, just to keep it real.

Take Noah for example.  (While I normally shy away from showing everyone's true colors, I think I would do myself a disservice if I look back on this time of our lives and think everything was rosy.  It's not.)  Here is a child who, once upon a time, was the happiest guy I knew.  He smiled at everybody, never met a stranger, and charmed everyone he met.  Fast forward 5 years, and we now have a moody, sullen, I'll-ignore-you-if-I-want-to kind of kid on our hands.  What. Happened?  We have also noticed a shift in disobedience from the black and white "he-touched-it-after-we-told-him-not-to" variety, to the gray "did-he-just-lie-to-get-out-of-doing-work?" kind.  The first kind is comparatively easy to correct.  The second is not.  And when we do discipline, there is zero brokenness of spirit over the wrong committed; only pride, excuses, and anger.  How this grieves our hearts!  And so on Sundays, when he quotes his Bible memory verse for the week, it rings very hollow to us who know those verses are having no impact on his life.  Noah claims to be saved, but we simply see no evidence of a heart that knows its own sinfulness, is repulsed by it, and clings to the grace of God for the righteousness that only Christ can give.  Josh and I have been driven to our knees, begging God for wisdom to get to Noah's heart.  Until we do, we are only poorly addressing the outward manifestations of a heart bent on going his own way.  Prayers for us would really be appreciated!  We were going to mention this at our Wednesday evening service at church, but this request seemed glaringly vulnerable and embarrassingly personal in the company of all the cancer and travel requests.  May God give us grace to handle this trial in a way that would bring glory to Him!



Comments

Carrie said…
I too have a child who makes us wonder if he is truly saved at times but yet knows what is right (head not heart affected). BUT it takes time and when I take the time in teaching him and showing him the sin, and how it affects God us and him he becomes broken (not always the first or second time). I also have had to check myself and make sure I am modeling a person who needs and asks for forgiveness when I have sinned. And then about asking prayer for it - church prayer time has often become physical need based but God is most concerned with hearts - salvation needs, bitterness, anger, worldliness, pride and they should be shared and encouraged and you may in your humble brokenness allow others to see they too need the body of Christ to lift them and their family needs up to the Lord. I'll be praying!
September 12, 2013 at 1:20 PM
Ruth said…
I'll be praying, Jo. I agree with what Carrie said about prayer requests shared in public settings. they're usually limited to jobs, physical illness, etc, but when we see Paul's prayers in the NT, his were almost exclusively about spiritual growth.
September 12, 2013 at 3:10 PM
Laura said…
Joanna,
I hesitate to make any comment since my parenting experience is years behind you. But when I read your post the Holy Spirit placed a thought in my head... don't underestimate the influence of peers at school (or even at church)on Noah's attitude. Little people are sponges. Kids will be like who they spend the most time with. This spring when Jeremy's family came to visit the transformation in the kids after a week was amazing. They arrived whining, hyper, disgruntled, blatantly disobedient, etc. but after spending a week one-on-one with their parents and *adults* they were pleasant, happy, helpful, calm, etc. They were like completely different children. Back to school and back to the old attitudes.

I will be diligently praying for you, Josh, and Noah!

Love & Blessings,
Laura
(P.S. Feel free not to post this... just wanted to put the thought out there to you.)
September 12, 2013 at 4:29 PM
Unknown said…
We had some kids that kept us praying too! That was good for us and for them! God answered many a prayer and we are thankful to Him for His working in our kids lives. Keep praying and teaching and we'll be doing the same for you.
September 23, 2013 at 3:36 PM
cj and family said…
Praying for you ♥ God DOES hear and DOES answer.
October 1, 2013 at 8:46 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resolving Everyday Conflict

Image
If you've ever been asked to lead a discussion or teach about a certain spiritual discipline, you can be sure that the Lord will lovingly bring just that exact topic to the forefront in your own life. He'll graciously put your ugly sinful tendencies "right on Front Street," as my good friend Dara likes to say. This is grace! This is God's kindness to reveal sinful tendencies in our own hearts so that we can repent, seek renewed relationship with God and others, and be used of Him. Here is a story about one such evidence of God's grace to me. Josh and I were late to our small group last night. Oh, we were there . We had technically arrived on time, but we remained in the parking lot of the neighborhood's clubhouse for over 45 minutes before we were able to walk in holding hands. Much later in the evening, on our way home from Grace Group, Eden begged to be the one to fill the boys in on why we were late (the boys had driven separately from a soccer practice
Read more

The Hand of God

Image
 I am in Scotland. S C O T L A N D. This is me; Joanna, the one whose comfort zone is within about one square mile, who said she never wanted to leave the USA, who hates to travel on anything public, who nearly hyperventilates at the mere mention of airplanes. How is this possible that I am here? Only by God's grace. Every step in front of the other, every long line, every minute on those airplanes was enabled by God's grace. On my end, it wasn't always pretty--usually it was very ugly--and I may have said, "I can't do this" more times than we could count (Josh had to tell me to quit saying that), but God was faithful to me and I have a really great story about one such miracle to share with you, but for perspective and contrast I have to share a really ugly story first. Here goes:  We dropped off our rental car in Dublin about 11am, and had to ride a shuttle bus back to the Dublin airport to catch our 1:10pm "quick" flight over to Edinburgh, Scotlan
Read more

The Whole Truth

Image
Our cat, Willow, has kittens periodically. By periodically I mean about 2-3 times a year, and we don't hate it. We actually enjoy guessing when her due date is, how many kittens there will be, what they will look like, etc. Then when she has them, well, is there anything cuter than kittens? But sooner or later, 8 weeks later to be exact, it's time for those kittens to go. At that time we will put an ad on Craigslist and find homes for each and every one. This brings the fun hassle of sending people additional pictures, telling them again how much we are charging (that was in the ad!), setting up potential meetings with people who will ghost at the last minute, after we've already given them our address. Everyone should put an ad on Craigslist at least once just for the experience. Should you finally get someone who likes the look of a kitten, wants to pay the price, can meet at an agreeable time, successfully finds your house, is okay with the fact that the kittens haven&#
Read more