"In spite of my imperfect, broken places, gradually I faced the reality that God did not evaluate my mothering by how perfectly or imperfectly my children developed. Rather, he expected me to address how I influenced my children by how I yielded to his love for me and then acted it out in life. Period. He did not ask me to control their responses, their choices, or their consequences. I could throw my body over potholes in their path, and they might or might not heed my warnings. I could not fix my family anymore than I could fix myself. I was broken. They were broken. ............By His wounds we are healed." (The Beauty of the Broken by Morgan)
I think the biggest challenge in parenting today is we take too much credit AND too much blame for the choices our children make.
And we falsely assume that when someone else's child has made choices we don't approve of, that they weren't parented well.
Mama Warriors, I challenge you to love others and assume they are doing their best.
Prodigal children walk away.
Decide to believe that their parent prayed for them, taught them right from wrong, provided boundaries and grace.
Their parent did the best they could at the time with the knowledge they had.
And love them well.
No one needs more prayers than the parent whose child has wandered into the wilderness and hasn't come back.
They don't need judgement or criticism, advice or wisdom from someone who has not walked in their shoes.
What they need is a listening ear and a lot of prayer.
I believe we can be the people who love like Jesus.
I believe we can be the village that lifts each other up.
There is NO such thing as a perfect family. An allusion perhaps on social media, but not in reality.
We are all broken in some way.
Instead of judging each other's brokenness, let's be His family.
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