Silas
Beloved of All
The frustration in your request is real, and I have brought it before the Lord. You are trying to give your son the things of God, and that is a good desire. Do not let a camera being turned off or an adult being absent convince you the effort is wasted. Training a child is like teaching him to walk. You expect stumbles. You stay near. The stumble here is not your son's; it belongs to the circumstances around him, but the patience required from you is the same. Keep putting the Word before him even in small moments. A seed planted is not wasted, and the Lord can cause it to bear fruit later.
The deeper wound is that you were told one thing and the very next day the opposite happened. That is a fresh wound, and you are right to be alert to the danger of bitterness. Bitterness does not stay contained. It defiles the one who carries it, and it can spread to those around you. So guard your own heart. You are asking for help to forgive, and that is the only safe place to stand. You cannot control her choices, but you can refuse to let resentment become a second master in your home. Your assurance of salvation is a weapon against the voice that says you are failing or that your weaknesses disqualify you. That assurance rests on what Jesus has done, not on how well you manage a phone call.
Keep praying for her conviction and for her salvation. Ask the Lord to bring godly sorrow that leads to repentance rather than a worldly sorrow that only regrets being caught. There is a difference between the two. Godly sorrow leads to life. The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Today is the day of salvation, and that is a promise you can carry into your prayers for her. Yet even in a difficult atmosphere, the Lord can grow a child in favor with Him. We have a scriptural picture of a boy serving the Lord while the sons of the priest went their own way and would not listen to their father. That boy grew strong in spirit. The Lord can do that for your son, and He can do it even when you cannot see the screen to know whether your son is watching.
Honor your son's mother in the way you speak of her, even when she is in the wrong, because you want your son to learn to honor both father and mother. That teaching is caught as well as taught. You do not have to pretend the neglect is good. You can speak truth, but speak it with the goal of restoration and peace rather than payback. Overcome the evil with good, as you said. Keep praying for protection for your son from deception, from temptation, from sin, and from the evil one. Put on the helmet of salvation for your own mind, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and keep bringing that Word into your son's life in simple ways. The Lord's purposes for that child are not frustrated by a camera being turned off or an adult going missing.
Do not despise the smallness of the effort. You were trying to show him Jesus and the twelve disciples, and you could not tell if he was watching. The Lord sees what is done in secret, and He sees what is done in your heart. When you are weak, then you are strong, because the power of Christ rests upon you. Let that strength carry you as you pray for godly communication, for her conviction and salvation, for your son's early salvation and protection, and for your own faithfulness to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That is a glorious privilege, and it remains yours. I will pray with you toward all of these things in Jesus' name.
The deeper wound is that you were told one thing and the very next day the opposite happened. That is a fresh wound, and you are right to be alert to the danger of bitterness. Bitterness does not stay contained. It defiles the one who carries it, and it can spread to those around you. So guard your own heart. You are asking for help to forgive, and that is the only safe place to stand. You cannot control her choices, but you can refuse to let resentment become a second master in your home. Your assurance of salvation is a weapon against the voice that says you are failing or that your weaknesses disqualify you. That assurance rests on what Jesus has done, not on how well you manage a phone call.
Keep praying for her conviction and for her salvation. Ask the Lord to bring godly sorrow that leads to repentance rather than a worldly sorrow that only regrets being caught. There is a difference between the two. Godly sorrow leads to life. The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Today is the day of salvation, and that is a promise you can carry into your prayers for her. Yet even in a difficult atmosphere, the Lord can grow a child in favor with Him. We have a scriptural picture of a boy serving the Lord while the sons of the priest went their own way and would not listen to their father. That boy grew strong in spirit. The Lord can do that for your son, and He can do it even when you cannot see the screen to know whether your son is watching.
Honor your son's mother in the way you speak of her, even when she is in the wrong, because you want your son to learn to honor both father and mother. That teaching is caught as well as taught. You do not have to pretend the neglect is good. You can speak truth, but speak it with the goal of restoration and peace rather than payback. Overcome the evil with good, as you said. Keep praying for protection for your son from deception, from temptation, from sin, and from the evil one. Put on the helmet of salvation for your own mind, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and keep bringing that Word into your son's life in simple ways. The Lord's purposes for that child are not frustrated by a camera being turned off or an adult going missing.
Do not despise the smallness of the effort. You were trying to show him Jesus and the twelve disciples, and you could not tell if he was watching. The Lord sees what is done in secret, and He sees what is done in your heart. When you are weak, then you are strong, because the power of Christ rests upon you. Let that strength carry you as you pray for godly communication, for her conviction and salvation, for your son's early salvation and protection, and for your own faithfulness to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That is a glorious privilege, and it remains yours. I will pray with you toward all of these things in Jesus' name.
