Most specifically when you as a parent are training them to follow hard after God...
Especially when what you are teaching them and training them goes completely against the grain of culture or normalcy (in peers and adults alike)...
You think things are going relatively smooth and then tough questions begin emerging...
Questions you never dreamed were floating through their mind...
Questions you didn't figure would ever be a part of your child's thinking...
Questions you were sure were answered because of how they have been raised and as a result of what they have been taught...
And then one day...
God is very vividly showing me that following hard after Him isn't easy. It isn't easy for me as an adult therefore it most certainly isn't easy for my child as a teenager...
He is showing me that I should NEVER take for granted that our children believe as truth what they have been taught...even when we as a family live it...day in and day out...
At some point they have to discover what that truth is for themselves...
He is showing me more and more the truth of: "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13~14
Jesus commands us to enter through the narrow gate...
I'm thankful that these questions come when those God has entrusted us to raise, nurture, teach and love are still under the umbrella of our protection. I'm thankful that I have a God who fills my heart with compassion for this one that I love beyond words. I'm thankful that although I don't have all the answers, He does. I'm thankful that He promises that His Word will not return void. I'm thankful that I am here at home and she is here at home where we can visit openly about these things. I'm thankful that I have been enlightened of these questions and concerns so that together Kyle and I can address them and nurture her through them.
It's hard being a teenager...
It's hard when you feel like a loner...
It's hard when you are seen as an outcast...
*in what you wear...
*in what you watch...
*in what you listen to...
*in what your future plans look like...
*in your moral choices...
*in your convictions...
The gate is small...
The gate is narrow...
We have to chose whether we will follow man or follow God...
Jesus doesn't promises us in His Word that following Him would be easy...
Yet He promises that His grace is sufficient...
He understands that following Him comes at a great cost...
Yet He says that His way is the only fruitful, fulfilling and satisfying way...
We press on...
You put words to my thoughts. I remember a professor in college who would frequently say, "While others may, I cannot." While others may have Friday nights dates - I cannot because I'm saving myself for someone very special. While others may watch the current movies and know the current hit songs - I cannot because I've committed to keep my thoughts pure for Him.
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