How to Reach the Hearts of our Children

I watched through the window, heart breaking, as my little girl wheeled her suitcase down the icy cold driveway. All I could do was pray as my heart melted into a puddle like the frost on the window had earlier that morning. It was a cold wintry evening, & she had no shoes or coat on. All that she brought with her were a couple favorite outfits, a camera, a little blanket & a few books she had packed neatly into the little red suitcase that rolled along behind her.

The beautiful frost was gone & so was my baby girl. For she had decided she needed to leave & find a family that loved her. Although she never made it past the end of the driveway (& I watched her the whole time), in those moments that seemed to last forever, my heart grew so sad. Sad because we all love her more than we could ever express- sad because we’ve tried so hard to show her & all of our children how much we love them- sad because maybe we aren’t so good at showing our kids how much we love them after all-  sad because of the selfishness & manipulation oozing from her- & sad because we want so badly to reach the hearts of our children… to have them love God & to walk in His ways, & well, this was just another reminder that I/we had failed.

I wish there was some special formula for how to parent in a godly way… especially in these gut-wrenching situations. Oh, how I long to know how to reach the hearts of our children for Christ, so that they would love & obey God.

But the TRUTH is… I can’t!!! and You can’t!!!

There is no special formula for reaching the hearts of our children for Christ.

No x + y + z!! No prayer + family time + discipline = godly children!!

The countless hours we spend in prayer, pouring through the Bible, teaching & training & nurturing, & even loving our children cannot and will not save them! There is no guarantee that, even with the love & sacrifices we make for our children, they will, in fact, grow up to be men & women of God! For we cannot be saved by works! It is only by God’s GRACE!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10

Just like we are not able to save ourselves, we are not able to save our children. God does not need our help in saving our children. If He did, it wouldn’t be grace, & there would have been no point in Him sending His Son to die for us so many years ago.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12

And this, although it may at times seem otherwise, is GOOD NEWS for all of us… for my little girl full of sin & for this mommy full of sin! For remember, none of us can ever, will ever, be good enough on our own! And it is GOOD NEWS when we realize that along with all of our love & sacrifices, all of our mistakes & every little {& big} failure, also cannot keep any of us from the love of God & His saving grace through Christ Jesus!

So, what CAN we do??? We can have FAITH!! We can let go of the firm grasp we think we have on the hearts of our children, & we can place them in the hands of the One who made the stars, the One who works all things together for good, the One who loves & cares for each one of us more than we could even imagine!

Don’t have enough faith!? Cry out to God… “I do believe; Help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) For we need HIS grace even to have faith!!

And by HIS grace through faith, we can seek to raise our children for Him… spending countless hours praying for, reading Scripture to, teaching, training, nurturing & loving our children… all for HIS glory!

{{Why have I been talking so much about grace!? Well, I know that we as parents really desire to reach the hearts of our children! We want what is best for them! Most of us also desire to be godly parents that seek to love, nurture, train, pray for, teach, etc. our children as the Bible calls us to. In the next few weeks I will be sharing about some of the ways that we plant seeds of faith into the hearts of our children. But, I want to remind myself & everyone else, that although we can plant the seeds, water the seeds, & provide the “perfect” environment for them to grow… it is ONLY GOD that can make them grow! On the flip side, we fail every day- well, I know I do!- sometimes we forget to water “our little seeds”, or we don’t do battle against the weeds… amazingly GOD can still make those little hearts grow into beautiful lives for HIM! Praise God!}}