My storage closet was the unlikely location for God to offer grace for the current growing pains of parenting. But there among the Christmas décor and old high school yearbooks, God whispered to my aching heart, “I got you, I see you, and I love you.”
This weekend while organizing the storage closet, I found a “Little Book of Devotions.” My husband and I read this to our kids where in elementary school. When my son was older, he used it as part of his own daily devotions.
Grace Hidden in a Storage Closet
Hidden in a stack of children’s books, I wondered if I should donate it. When I flipped through the pages, I noticed dozens of pages dog-eared, verses underlined, and prayers from my twelve-year-old scribbled in the margins. My heart lurched in my chest as I read the prayers penned by my son before the turbulent teen years:
10/24/15 “Lord, get the dirty things out of my head. Replace it with your kinda thoughts, guard our hearts. Amen.”
11/13/15: “Dear Lord, help me listen to Your voice and do what You want me to do. Thank you for all our blessings. Help us not to ever give up hope. You can always fix/heal us. Amen.”
When I read these prayers, God gently reminded me of a quote I read in Mark Batterson’s book The Circle Maker, “Prayers do not have an expiration date.” This boy, whom I bang the throne of heaven daily, prayed the simplest and truest prayers for himself. What my twelve-year-old son did not know, was that his prayers would continue to work on his behalf even during the turbulent teen years.
With each stage of parenting, there are new growing pains to endure. Now our son is seventeen and as parents, we find ourselves questioning how we raised our son and every decision. My husband and I wonder if we have ruined our son for life. However, finding this devotion book with my son’s handwritten prayers has greatly encouraged this praying mama’s heart.
Grace for the Growing Pains of Parenting
Proverbs 22:6 reminds us if we, “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” We trained our children to know the Lord, to seek His face, and to listen to His voice. Those prayers and seeds of faith in Jesus Christ will be fruitful again (even though right now it appears that plant went dormant). Finding this old devotion book was a gentle reminder for God to tell me, “Hey, I got you, I see you, and I love you. It’s going to be okay.”
Friend, I pray that God will encouragement to your weary heart, with a gentle reminder for God to tell you, “Hey, I got you, I see you, and I love you. It’s going to be okay.”
©2020 April Dawn White
Photo Credit Ben White & Dawid Zawila Unsplash
“Little Book of Devotions”©2007 by Freeman-Smith, LLC Publishers.
