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Do you worry about your kids having freak accidents or getting in with the wrong crowd?
When illness creeps up, do you conjure up worse case scenarios?
Of course, you do – you’re a mom. The first time you snuggle a newborn to your breast, the weight of responsibility wraps around your shoulders like a heavy cloak. Your child becomes the last thought on your mind at night and the first thought when you rise.
Last Christmas season I sat next to the tree writing out my dream list of goals for the coming year.
At the top?
Weight loss.
(Big surprise.)
At the bottom?
Banish fear of the future.
With the entrance of the empty nesting years, fear has full-on threatened to strangle me in its clutches nearly every sleepless night.
For this reason, I claimed Proverbs 31:25b as my blog foundation verse.
“She laughs at the future”
Truly, I was hoping if I said it enough, it would stick.
Only a mother experiences the irrational fear of an adult child’s home going up in flames due to a carelessly microwaved fork.
Will he remember to lock his doors? Does she carry mace in her purse? Are they cracking their windows when using the gas fireplace?
All manner of fear drives a mama to the brink of insanity. And, if you’re reading this, you know what it means to worry about your kids.
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After I jotted down that fear, (almost as an afterthought, probably because I act like it’s a normal setting on my dryer), I picked up my devotional tools.
And here is what I read:
1.) God is love, and perfect love casts out fear
Those were the first words I read in The Attributes of God, Vol. 2, by A.W. Tozer
Honestly, I sat stunned, knowing God designed and foreordained this passage for this morning and this day down to my writing out that wish.
Indeed, God reveals to me more and more how personal He is when I pay attention!
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. I John 4:18
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2.) God pursues those He loves
Jonah, 1-4.
This Jonah man was selfish. He did not want to do what God asked. He ran the complete opposite way and God pursued him with a vengeance.
Even into the sea
Even in the belly of the whale
And, even after Jonah said yes, went to Ninevah and got mad because God forgave the people
Even after Jonah made a shelter just outside the city so he could sit and mope
Even after Jonah got mad at God because of a worm at his shade tree
God still does this for us. He’s done it for me when I’ve strayed, thinking I knew best.
3.) God loves each of us personally
It was no coincidence that my rustling pages fell to Psalm 144, my Scripture reading for December 18.
Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?
Man is like a breath
His days are like a passing shadow. Psalm 144:3-4
Truly, I think if we’re honest, all of us wonder deep down at times.
Years ago, when Joni Erikson recorded her first album, her song, Journey’s End, stopped me in my tracks with this line:
And for the faith to doubt, and yet believe.
That line followed me for years.
So if I’m being honest, yes, I doubt sometimes.
And yet, I always come back to my faith in Christ, because He proves Himself faithful time and time again.
4.) God loves every prayer of His saints
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne.
God hears every prayer of every person on this earth that believes in Him.
That means every prayer I’ve ever prayed, He has heard. Every prayer you’ve ever prayed, he heard.
Every.prayer.everwhere.
5.) God loves the lowly
Because it was Christmastime, I read through The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs.
Jesus was born homeless
Jesus was homeless during His ministry
Indeed, Jesus was born into poverty
“His earthly parents had nothing the world counts as valuable. Had they been rich, room would have been made for them. Instead, they were poor, yet they made room in their hearts for God.”
Shepherds were lowly, despised, and often regarded as thieves. And yet, Christ called Himself a Shepherd. The Bible refers to David as a shepherd.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
Peace for worry about your kids is a daily growth process
Halfway through this year, I’ve not completely succeeded at either of my main goals. But the good news? God is not done with me yet. He will teach me, lead me, and encourage me in His time. It has been said that time heals all wounds. But time also grows maturity.
Next time you sense that familiar icy fear prick up the back of your neck, remember, we serve a personal God. He pursues and loves us beyond comprehension. He cares not about stature or status; our neediness brings His presence nearer.
He hears every prayer we breathe – however brief or harried. And if you are struggling to believe God cares that you worry about your kids, I’ve written a parenting post over at Arabah Joy called, To the mom who feels invisible. Pop on over and read how Christ reached out to a desperate woman who thought she was invisible.
You’ll be encouraged – I was!
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