Psalm 34:18 – “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”
When you understand and experience God’s immense love when you hurt, you can care about what concerns your child, even if it seems insignificant to you.
Being close to your broken-hearted child means entering his world, acknowledging his pain without trivializing it and being present with him in it. Sometimes this looks like holding your sobbing child while he mourns the loss of his favorite hornworm caterpillar. (The same hornworm caterpillar you wanted dead from the get go after it sabotaged your almost fully ripened peppers – true story!)
5. God reaches out to you and helps you. He doesn’t wait for you.
God never quits pursuing you. He never quits drawing alongside and helping you. Think of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The father shows us a picture of God – watching, running, accepting, welcoming, helping.
You don’t have to try harder, confess one more time to clear the air, take the initiative. God does these things. He will never quit doing them. He has been doing them since before the foundation of the world.
Romans 5:8 ,“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
When you live in this place of accepting God’s initiative, knowing He will never stop helping you, you can then take the initiative to reach out and help your child.
Think about the sense of relief you feel when someone steps in to help you. Children need this same relief – maybe even more than adults. Navigating toddlerhood or the teenage years can be overwhelming. There are myriads of emotions, responsibilities, desires and physical changes bombarding children throughout every day.
You can be their breath of fresh air! They can learn to depend on your help knowing you will never quit reaching out to them.
Receive In Order to Give
Creating a positive atmosphere for your children depends less on you trying to do so and more on you receiving God’s character into your heart and soul first.
