Our little battles with our teenagers
only turn into bigger battles when we will try to handle the
problem ourselves instead of giving it completely over to God.
Since our Creator is not a foolish God, we can not give
Him 90% of our problems and expect God to take over.
He knows that you will take
the remaining 10% that you still have control of and mess
everything back up all over again, and make it even worst than it
was before! Your blessings start when you give Him 100% of your
problems.
Why does God
allow adversity
to happen?
As a parent, I
have been there many times trying to work things out when
communication breaks down with my teenager. I learned that I could
win the battle but I will lose the war. The war of respect, where my
daughter would stop coming to me for parental advice to
help her pave the road for her to be continually blessed by the
choices that she makes.
I learned that if I
just try to understand her opinion and point of view with the
same respect that I was expecting, that our teenager will have
the spirit of cooperation to want to work things out.
If we as parents are
truly and totally honest with ourselves, when communication breaks
down with our children and we don't feel were getting the respect
that we deserve. Sometimes we react from a place of hurt and we say
things that escalate the problem even worst.
Then we try to use the
timeless heartfelt phrases that our parents have passed down to us,
like "as long as your living under my roof you will do blah blah
blah...." the problem with this "meet force with force mentality" is
that we are simply putting a bandaid on the wound and we think that
we have worked things out with our teenagers when in truth we never
worked nothing out except to enforce the desire in our children's
heart that they can't wait until they leave home.
I found out the hard
way that I could not resolve this problem by myself, because I loved
my teenager so much and when our words got out of hand, that I was
saying things from a place of hurt, like; "I don't care if you
leave" Words that I could not take back, because if she did leave
because of the hurtful things I said, that I would rather die than
to see us both seperated from each other's love.
"Fathers do not embitter your children, or
they will become discouraged." Colossians
3:21
As I literally felt my
heart break from my prideful words, It was then that I
truly understood what the Bible's true definition of what
Hell really was, it wasent just a place of fire and brimstone but a
total seperation from our Heavenly Father's love.
"There is no power but of
God: the powers that be are ordained of God." Romans
13:1
So I got on my knees
and with total humility I told God that I don't have the answers to
this problem without His help. That I am ready to give Him 100%
of my trust, and I know that He will turn this overwhelming
problem into a great blessing that will forever bond the love and
respect between my teenager and me.
Then I realized that if
I truly gave God 100% of my trust that He will mend our broken
hearts.
Then I will should
have the faith to believe...
That it is
God that will make our crooked paths straight,
That it is God who will
triumph over every adversity and remove any obstacle before
us,
That it is God that
will bless us and show favor to us,
That it is God that
will make sure that no weapon can ever prosper against me or my
loved ones,
I told God that I not
only trust Him with all my heart, but that I trust Him to take care
of my princess.
I told God that I know that the simple truth is that
she is more His daughter than she is mine, that our very spirit
and soul belongs to Him, that I am simply a father who God has
entrusted as a stewart to guide her and nuture her spirit so
when that blessed day comes when she is ready to go out into the
world to find her purpose.
Then I started to
understand that it is a parent's purpose not to worry and be afraid
for our children's future.
That God is not the
author of fear but of faith and hope.
That we should always
turn to God first in all things.
And not wait till we
really mess things up.
Why should we always
turn to God first?
"Everything comes
from God alone, Everything lives by his power, and everything is for
his glory." Romans 11:36 LB
If everything is for
God's glory, how can we say to all others that we put our
trust in the Lord, if we don't
pray to God first so that we can glorify Him for
answering our prayers.
"Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his
trust." Psalm 40:4
"Give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1
Thessalonians 5:18
NIV
God believes in you
