Silas
Beloved of All
You carry a heavy weight, and your heart is crying out for a bubble of safety around you and your daughter. That longing is real, and God sees it. But consider the story of Joseph and Mary, up in Nazareth, with a decree from a distant emperor forcing them to travel. God had promised the child would be born in Bethlehem. From a human standpoint, the timing was terrible, the journey was a hardship, and they must have felt completely out of control. But from above, Caesar’s decree was serving God’s perfect plan. When you cry out, “Jesus, take the wheel,” you are asking not for a smooth road without turns, but for the assurance that He knows the destination even when the route looks frightening and chaotic to you.
You plead that no weapon formed against you will prosper. Often, we want that to mean God will give us a divine immunity from the attack itself, that He will keep us from all distress. That is not the promise. A child of God is not given protection from problems, from battles, or from the painful schemes of others. The deliverance comes through the trouble. He delivers us out of our distresses, not by keeping us from ever entering them. The distressing situation with your ex, the CPS, the fear of false statements, the Lord will see you through this itself, not necessarily around it. The way up is down, and the way down is up. This path of humble dependence you are walking is the very road where His strength is perfected.
Your deepest prayer is that your daughter is saved, kept safe, and feels your love and the love of Jesus everywhere. You want to be the best mother you can be. There is a beautiful, natural faith in a child that the Lord honors. Jesus put a little child in the midst of the disciples and warned them not to despise these little ones. The most vital task you have right now, even as you answer questions and fill out documents, is to train up your child in the way she should go. What is the goal? Not just survival or success, but that she knows the Holy Scriptures, which from a child are able to make her wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. Teach her to talk to God from her heart, not just in rote panic, but in simple trust. Your love for her, even in a storm, is the little coat you are sewing year by year for her soul.
You ask God to melt the hearts of your enemies and turn their evil deeds into blessings. Remember David, a man after God’s own heart, who in a moment of terrible sin tried to arrange his own covering for his evil with Bathsheba. The consequences were devastating and the sword never left his house. His own child from that union died. Yet even there, in the deepest sorrow, David showed a startling confidence, a trust that his child was with the Lord and that he would one day go to him. The pain did not vanish, but God’s ultimate justice and mercy swallowed up the despair. Pray for your enemies, yes, but know that the truth of manipulation is already laid bare before the Judge of all the earth. You do not need to fear the weapons they are forging; you need only to trust the One who holds the truth.
That education you are taking and all the new steps before you can feel overwhelming. It is easy to fear being put to shame. But a child learning to walk stumbles, and a loving parent expects those falls. The key is not a flawless performance, but continuing in the things you have learned and been assured of. Lean not on your own understanding, because your understanding is currently clouded with fear of what might happen. Guide your heart back to the simple, childlike faith that says, “I shall go to be where He is.” Let that settle the ultimate question. When the ultimate safety of your daughter’s soul and your own soul is held firmly in the hand of Jesus, you can navigate the court documents, the CPS conversations, and the daily tasks with a steadier hand, because the eternal outcome is already sealed. Let His presence be the bubble, not of escape, but of a deep interior peace that no slander can touch.
You plead that no weapon formed against you will prosper. Often, we want that to mean God will give us a divine immunity from the attack itself, that He will keep us from all distress. That is not the promise. A child of God is not given protection from problems, from battles, or from the painful schemes of others. The deliverance comes through the trouble. He delivers us out of our distresses, not by keeping us from ever entering them. The distressing situation with your ex, the CPS, the fear of false statements, the Lord will see you through this itself, not necessarily around it. The way up is down, and the way down is up. This path of humble dependence you are walking is the very road where His strength is perfected.
Your deepest prayer is that your daughter is saved, kept safe, and feels your love and the love of Jesus everywhere. You want to be the best mother you can be. There is a beautiful, natural faith in a child that the Lord honors. Jesus put a little child in the midst of the disciples and warned them not to despise these little ones. The most vital task you have right now, even as you answer questions and fill out documents, is to train up your child in the way she should go. What is the goal? Not just survival or success, but that she knows the Holy Scriptures, which from a child are able to make her wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. Teach her to talk to God from her heart, not just in rote panic, but in simple trust. Your love for her, even in a storm, is the little coat you are sewing year by year for her soul.
You ask God to melt the hearts of your enemies and turn their evil deeds into blessings. Remember David, a man after God’s own heart, who in a moment of terrible sin tried to arrange his own covering for his evil with Bathsheba. The consequences were devastating and the sword never left his house. His own child from that union died. Yet even there, in the deepest sorrow, David showed a startling confidence, a trust that his child was with the Lord and that he would one day go to him. The pain did not vanish, but God’s ultimate justice and mercy swallowed up the despair. Pray for your enemies, yes, but know that the truth of manipulation is already laid bare before the Judge of all the earth. You do not need to fear the weapons they are forging; you need only to trust the One who holds the truth.
That education you are taking and all the new steps before you can feel overwhelming. It is easy to fear being put to shame. But a child learning to walk stumbles, and a loving parent expects those falls. The key is not a flawless performance, but continuing in the things you have learned and been assured of. Lean not on your own understanding, because your understanding is currently clouded with fear of what might happen. Guide your heart back to the simple, childlike faith that says, “I shall go to be where He is.” Let that settle the ultimate question. When the ultimate safety of your daughter’s soul and your own soul is held firmly in the hand of Jesus, you can navigate the court documents, the CPS conversations, and the daily tasks with a steadier hand, because the eternal outcome is already sealed. Let His presence be the bubble, not of escape, but of a deep interior peace that no slander can touch.
