Not Alone: Trusting God to Help You Raise Godly Kids in a Spiritually Mismatched Home (21 page)

Romans 8:24-25:

2. What have been the most challenging questions that your children have asked you? Are you grappling to answer such a question right now? Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, for guidance from key Scriptures and for a friend or mentor at church who can help you.

3. Are you trying to handle everything on your own? Write down everything that you’re dealing with. How about joining a women’s group for Bible study and prayer support to keep you from getting isolated? I know that’s hard to do, especially when you feel that you’re barely keeping your head above water, but trust me, it’s the best thing for you. Let some ladies love on you and support you with prayer.

4. Think of several ways that you and your kids can have some fun, even if it’s in your own back yard. Make a list. Enter your child’s world with the goal to play and laugh together. No agenda, no lectures, no worrying. Ask God to bless this time and to give you more opportunities to do this.

5. Are you in tune with those precious moments that make all the difference in our lives? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you be more aware so that you don’t miss out on them. More moments to add to your journal!

Prayer

Abba, You know the condition of my heart better than anyone does. Some days I wonder how I’m going to take one more step. Show me, Lord, how to depend on Your strength and not on my own. Lord Jesus, forgive me for doubting You and for doubting Your presence with me. Holy Spirit, flood me with new strength, new belief, new ways to pray for my children and their special needs, and when the doubting darkness threatens again, remind me that You are right there, renewing my strength and my mind. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.

Holy Spirit, I give You complete reign over my thoughts, because Romans 8:6 says that a mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. I want life, Lord! I want peace! Help me to walk through each day with complete and total trust in You. In Your holy name, Jesus. Amen!

Respecting Dad

My dear reader, I have one more story for you. One day when my family was in the early stages of our daughter’s cancer ordeal, my husband and I stood in the kitchen, our hearts heavy with what lay before our daughter. I shared with my husband that God had told me she would be okay. I wanted to offer my husband the same comfort and reassurance that God had given me. I wish I could tell you that it meant something to him. He simply smiled and said, “That’s fine for you.” I gave him a hug and prayed that the physical contact would give him comfort instead.

How we walk through a trial will look very different from how your children’s father will walk through this challenge. You and I have a mighty God to lean on. Their dad, most likely, only has you. I know that your hands are already full with whatever situation you are dealing with, but try to find ways to keep unity between you and their father. Adversity has a nasty way of pulling people apart. Stay alert and find ways to include Dad in whatever process or treatment or life adjustment your child is going through. You are a team, and your child needs your solidarity now more than ever. When life is no longer normal, moments of normalcy can be a great gift and comfort.

Legacy Kids

Jesus for the Generations

Lynn

Know therefore that the L
ORD
your God is God; he is the faithful
God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of
those who love him and keep his commands.

DEUTERONOMY 7:9

When I speak at events, I often bring my Daily Bible with me. I share with the audience how this single book has changed my entire life. I’ve read through this Bible every year for more than 14 years. You may yawn and think how boring it would be to read the same thing over and over, and you might be right. However, it never ceases to amaze me how God consistently reveals new understanding through His Word. I can’t wait to open it up every morning and allow God to lead me to something new.

I want to share with you a recent encounter I had with a Scripture passage. It’s a passage with which I am familiar, but God spoke its value and meaning into my life in a brand-new way. Would you please join me in the garden?

As I write this final chapter, it’s a beautiful summer morning. Earlier this morning, I went outside to sit in my backyard garden and to read my Daily Bible. The New Testament passage for today’s portion was in Acts 16. Let’s read it together:

Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek (Acts 16:1,
NLT).

I read this single sentence and felt as if God were gripping my spirit. He held my full attention, because for the first time I realized that Timothy’s parents were spiritually mismatched. His mother was a Jewish believer, and his father a Gentile, an unbeliever. Could it be that there were parents just like you and me mentioned in the Bible?

I read the verse again and thought about how the people of Greece in biblical time were considered studied and cerebral. Yep, that would describe my husband. And Timothy’s mother, she was a believer. The narrative of Timothy’s mom and dad was nearly a description of my marriage. I read the verse again, and it was as if God spoke to my heart, “See, Lynn, being spiritually mismatched is nothing new.”

Whoa. Why hadn’t I fully comprehended this passage of Scripture before now? By this point, I was completely intrigued, and I continued to read. The passage describes this young man, Timothy:

Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:2,
NLT).

Wow
, I thought to myself,
Timothy must have been raised right.
And then it hit me. I had a vague recollection of a passage of Scripture somewhere in the Bible that described Timothy’s mother. So I looked it up. It’s in 2 Timothy, where Paul writes a letter to Timothy. Listen in:

I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you (2 Tim. 1:5,
NLT).

My heart soared as the meaning of these words landed on my soul. Timothy had been raised in a spiritually mismatched home. His genuine faith was born out of his mother’s and his grandmother’s faith. Neat.

I used to think that being spiritually mismatched was a rare condition for married believers. For years I was of the opinion that the Bible only focused on married couples as two believers. In fact, for years I think I’ve been hung up on 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked …” (ESV).

The enemy had me completely duped, convinced that my marriage to my unbelieving spouse was a sin of insurmountable consequence and because of my disobedience, I must bear this cross until the day I die. I allowed that single verse to overshadow every other passage that is written for people living in relationships just like yours and mine. And as a side note, I completely understand God’s reason for 2 Corinthians 6:14, because a spiritually mismatched marriage is a very difficult road to travel. Yet now, after more than 20 years walking in my unique marriage and walking with God, I can say with utter confidence, “God knows what He is doing, even in a spiritual mismatch.”

From the days of antiquity until the end of the age, there have been and will always be marriages between believers and unbelievers. Regardless of how we arrived in our unequally yoked marriage, we are part of God’s plans and our spiritually mismatched homes are vital to His purposes. These matches are not our misfortune. Our wise King works through us, the believers, in these unique relationships with absolute intention. There are eternities at stake, and God is relentless in His desire to reveal Himself to the unsaved.

Now think about Timothy’s mother, Eunice. Her personal name when translated from the Greek actually means “victorious.”

Did you get that, my friends? Victorious! Oh, how like God to encourage us further by shouting that this believing mom is victorious.

I think this passage especially speaks to us mothers who are raising boys. As our boys grow older, they tend to be more and more like their father. Their dad’s ideas, opinions and beliefs gain prominence in our boys’ minds as they grow into young men. But take courage, faithful mom, because God placed this passage in His holy Word to show you that the intentional love and teaching that you pour into your young men and women make every bit of difference.

We are victorious through the power of Jesus Christ.

Pondering this passage, I marveled that God had chosen to speak to me and to all of us who are walking this path of unique motherhood. He recognizes how utterly important our calling is to our kids and even to our grandkids. God knows that it’s the believing moms who instruct and love the next generation into the saving truth of Jesus Christ. Doing this is scary at times, yet it’s the greatest honor of our entire life and the most fantastic adventure we will ever live.

I can tell you that I have read this passage of Scripture over and over in the many years of my study of God’s Word. But it wasn’t until now that the Holy Spirit truly brought about its full meaning and its implication for my life. Tears sprang to my eyes as I pondered the depths of God’s love for me and for each of my children. His faithfulness is unrelenting, year after year.