Silas
Beloved of All
Your testimony is deeply encouraging and it is right to give thanks to Jesus for what He has already done. After twenty three months of such heavy struggle, to see your son leaving the house, walking each day, walking two miles on his own, learning to skateboard, driving again, stepping away from social media, talking about finding a church, going to the gym, staying close to you and speaking kindly, losing the desire to abuse drugs and making progress with caffeine, and even pushing through a panic attack instead of retreating, these are real answers to prayer. Healing is often gradual, and any true healing is from the Lord, whether it comes instantly or step by step. What you are describing is a gradual healing, and we thank God for every step.
There is much about healing and about God's work that we do not fully understand, and we cannot always explain why some burdens lift quickly and others linger. What we do know is that for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things together for good according to an eternal plan. He is not working for a momentary relief only, but to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. When we do not understand His purpose in a difficult season, we can cling to what we do understand, that He is faithful, that He loves your son, and that He will bring good out of this season as your son continues to trust Him. The Holy Spirit helps us in this, bearing witness that we are children of God and giving us confidence to keep praying.
Scripture speaks of a child who is an heir. While he is young he is under tutors and managers and differs little from a servant, even though all the inheritance belongs to him. The law was given as a tutor to bring us to Christ, and once we come to Christ we are no longer under that tutor but are received as adult sons who can cry Abba, Father and begin to enjoy the inheritance. Your son is an adult, and God desires to lead him into that maturity in Christ, where he knows he is a child of God, forgiven and set apart for God's exclusive use. To be sanctified means to be set apart for one purpose, as the vessels in the tabernacle were set apart for worship alone. Your son's life, his body and mind, belong to the Lord for His purpose and glory, and that is the reason to pray for every addiction to be broken, whether substances, caffeine, or the pull of artificial intelligence, so that he may run the race God has for him with a clear mind and a fully surrendered heart.
As a child of God, the Lord directs the heart like water channeled where He wills, and He expresses His will by shaping our desires. That is why we pray for motivation and guidance, that God would awaken in your son a desire to work and to use the gifts God has given him. Technical skill is a gift, and if the Lord wills for him to pursue training or certification, God can direct that desire and open the door. Work itself is part of God's purpose for us, to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all our days, and to know the dignity of being used by Him.
The word often translated train up a child means to catechize, to train systematically with a goal in view. It matters what goal we set. If the goal is only success or happiness, a person may gain those things and still be far from God. The goal God holds before us is that our children would walk in His way and not depart from it. You have shown great patience, much like a parent teaching a child to walk, expecting stumbles and falls, doing everything to protect from falling yet understanding that learning involves some falling. Your son's progress, and even his setbacks like mood swings, a difficult sleep pattern, sweating and fatigue from medication, and that panic attack in the store, are part of a longer learning to walk. The fact that he recognized the struggle, put on sunglasses and kept going to the gym and to skate, shows growth. We will keep praying for complete healing and restoration, and that side effects would lift, while thanking God for the medication that has helped these past months.
We also recognize that your son is loaned to you by the Lord. Like Hannah who prayed for years and then promised to give her child back to the Lord, we hold our children with open hands. He is God's child first, and God loves him more than we do. That helps us pray not only for comfort but for redemption, for that is why Christ came, to seek and to save the lost and to redeem His people. Your son's distrust of the world, his hurt from being fired and misunderstood, his feeling that he has no filter and cannot trust anyone, and his statement that he hates what the world stands for, all point to a deep need for peace that only Jesus can give, and for safe, faithful relationships.
So we join you in prayer. We ask the Lord to continue the good work He has begun, to bring full freedom from every addiction, to heal the effects of anxiety and depression, to regulate sleep and relieve side effects, to give peace to a troubled mind and calm to mood swings. We ask Him to direct your son's desires toward purposeful work, to give wisdom about employment and any future training, and to remove boredom by filling his days with meaningful purpose. We ask Him to guard the new hobby at the skate park, to surround him with wholesome influences and keep him far from those who would draw him back toward drugs. We ask Him to restore relationships with his sister and friends, to bring people who will reach out in love and patience and understand his unique way of thinking and speaking. And we ask Him to lead him to a faithful church where he will hear the gospel, be welcomed, and grow as a son of God who knows his Father's voice.
May the Lord who has kept you through these twenty three months keep you still, give you strength and wisdom as you stay close to your son and listen to him, and may He give your son a settled trust in Jesus, who took children into His arms and blessed them, and who alone can give rest to the weary soul.
There is much about healing and about God's work that we do not fully understand, and we cannot always explain why some burdens lift quickly and others linger. What we do know is that for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things together for good according to an eternal plan. He is not working for a momentary relief only, but to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. When we do not understand His purpose in a difficult season, we can cling to what we do understand, that He is faithful, that He loves your son, and that He will bring good out of this season as your son continues to trust Him. The Holy Spirit helps us in this, bearing witness that we are children of God and giving us confidence to keep praying.
Scripture speaks of a child who is an heir. While he is young he is under tutors and managers and differs little from a servant, even though all the inheritance belongs to him. The law was given as a tutor to bring us to Christ, and once we come to Christ we are no longer under that tutor but are received as adult sons who can cry Abba, Father and begin to enjoy the inheritance. Your son is an adult, and God desires to lead him into that maturity in Christ, where he knows he is a child of God, forgiven and set apart for God's exclusive use. To be sanctified means to be set apart for one purpose, as the vessels in the tabernacle were set apart for worship alone. Your son's life, his body and mind, belong to the Lord for His purpose and glory, and that is the reason to pray for every addiction to be broken, whether substances, caffeine, or the pull of artificial intelligence, so that he may run the race God has for him with a clear mind and a fully surrendered heart.
As a child of God, the Lord directs the heart like water channeled where He wills, and He expresses His will by shaping our desires. That is why we pray for motivation and guidance, that God would awaken in your son a desire to work and to use the gifts God has given him. Technical skill is a gift, and if the Lord wills for him to pursue training or certification, God can direct that desire and open the door. Work itself is part of God's purpose for us, to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all our days, and to know the dignity of being used by Him.
The word often translated train up a child means to catechize, to train systematically with a goal in view. It matters what goal we set. If the goal is only success or happiness, a person may gain those things and still be far from God. The goal God holds before us is that our children would walk in His way and not depart from it. You have shown great patience, much like a parent teaching a child to walk, expecting stumbles and falls, doing everything to protect from falling yet understanding that learning involves some falling. Your son's progress, and even his setbacks like mood swings, a difficult sleep pattern, sweating and fatigue from medication, and that panic attack in the store, are part of a longer learning to walk. The fact that he recognized the struggle, put on sunglasses and kept going to the gym and to skate, shows growth. We will keep praying for complete healing and restoration, and that side effects would lift, while thanking God for the medication that has helped these past months.
We also recognize that your son is loaned to you by the Lord. Like Hannah who prayed for years and then promised to give her child back to the Lord, we hold our children with open hands. He is God's child first, and God loves him more than we do. That helps us pray not only for comfort but for redemption, for that is why Christ came, to seek and to save the lost and to redeem His people. Your son's distrust of the world, his hurt from being fired and misunderstood, his feeling that he has no filter and cannot trust anyone, and his statement that he hates what the world stands for, all point to a deep need for peace that only Jesus can give, and for safe, faithful relationships.
So we join you in prayer. We ask the Lord to continue the good work He has begun, to bring full freedom from every addiction, to heal the effects of anxiety and depression, to regulate sleep and relieve side effects, to give peace to a troubled mind and calm to mood swings. We ask Him to direct your son's desires toward purposeful work, to give wisdom about employment and any future training, and to remove boredom by filling his days with meaningful purpose. We ask Him to guard the new hobby at the skate park, to surround him with wholesome influences and keep him far from those who would draw him back toward drugs. We ask Him to restore relationships with his sister and friends, to bring people who will reach out in love and patience and understand his unique way of thinking and speaking. And we ask Him to lead him to a faithful church where he will hear the gospel, be welcomed, and grow as a son of God who knows his Father's voice.
May the Lord who has kept you through these twenty three months keep you still, give you strength and wisdom as you stay close to your son and listen to him, and may He give your son a settled trust in Jesus, who took children into His arms and blessed them, and who alone can give rest to the weary soul.
