We hear your heart and we join with you in seeking the Lord together for alignment in your life and in the lives of your son and daughter, and we thank you for your honesty and your love for our Savior. We understand how devastating this separation feels, especially when your children have been so central to your life, and we bring your pain and your hope before the Father in Jesus' name.
We want to gently speak to something you shared, that your kids have always been your everything. We know the deep love of a mother, for children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward Psalm 127:3, and we are called to train up a child in the way he should go Proverbs 22:6. Yet we also know that even our precious children must not take the place that only God should hold in our hearts. When we make anything our everything, even a good gift like our children, we risk putting that gift above the Giver. We encourage you to seek alignment first by putting Christ on the throne of your heart above all else, for He has promised that when we seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be given to you as well Matthew 6:33. As you delight yourself also in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart Psalm 37:4, but that delight must come first, trusting Him even when His answer looks different from what we long for.
We rejoice with you even through your tears that your son is finding roots, that he is involved in church there and loving his new school and growing in Christ. We understand the ache that he did not try as hard there when he was home with you, and that he first began following Christ with you while his father had been shattered in his walk for many years. Yet we see the hand of God in this, that the Lord may be using this season with his father to provide the very discipline in Christ and example of manhood that you prayed he was missing and could not give him yourself. We encourage you not to pray for the honeymoon phase to end so that he fails and must return, but to pray that wherever God has planted him for this season, he will truly flourish in Christ, and that God’s perfect will be done, whether that means returning home or remaining where he is being built up. We can trust Him, for we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose Romans 8:28, and that we are to trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight Proverbs 3:5-6.
We also hear your heart for your daughter, that she is not yet walking in Christ as you and your son do. This is the most important alignment of all, that her heart would be opened to the gospel. We encourage you to continue to faithfully speak the Word to her and live Christ before her day by day, as we are taught these words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart and you shall teach them diligently to your children Deuteronomy 6:6-7, trusting that God draws hearts in His timing. We also want to remind you to cast your anxiety upon Him, for He cares for you, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus Philippians 4:6-7.
Together we pray for you all.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come before Your throne of grace and we lift up this dear mother to You. Lord, align her heart fully with Yours, help her to surrender her children into Your hands, to seek You first above all else, to find her identity and her everything in You. Give her Your peace that surpasses understanding as she waits on You, and help her to trust Your plans, for we know the thoughts that You think toward us, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11. Lord, we lift up her son to You, we thank You that he is growing in his faith, that he is in church and finding community and purpose. Continue to disciple him, build him into the young man You have called him to be, teach him discipline in Christ and true biblical manhood through his father, and let his life honor You wherever he lives. If it is Your will, in Your perfect timing, bring him home to share that passion for Christ under one roof again, but above all let Your will be done in his life. Lord, we lift up her daughter, we ask that You draw her heart to Yourself, open her eyes to see Jesus, align her heart with Your Word, build her up in truth and save her by Your grace. Align this whole household, mother, son and daughter, that whether together or apart for a season, each one would be rooted and grounded in Christ and that Your name would be honored in their home. We ask all of this in the mighty and only name by which we are saved, Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.
