Embrace God’s Strength in Parenting
By: Kristi Woods
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18 WEB)
Have you ever felt like the worst parent in the world? If so, you’re not alone.
None of us are perfect, only Jesus is. But when we believe our shortcomings and messy situations label us as parenting failures, condemnation, often based on fear, infiltrates our minds.
Lean in close and listen to the internal chatter. Does fear chime, “not good enough,” “you’ll damage your kids,” “I just can’t do it,” or some other bit of banter? If so, there’s good news. Perfect love casts out all fear.
Forget being the worst parent in the world. Turn a deaf ear toward fear. God turns mistakes and weaknesses into beautiful stories of His glory with a four-letter word: love.
We may struggle in our parenting skills, but we have a Father who leads us daily with love. And with Him, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) Our involvement includes simply offering ourselves to Him through prayer, forgiveness, with humility, and a need for wisdom. God hears our cry for help.
Think of Hannah, offering her child for God’s service, Moses’ mom, setting him in a basket, or Mary, mother of a child at whom many cast stones and the spittle of their mouth. All showed evidence of caring, and you do too.
Circumstances may or may not have helped wave the “good parent flag” over these ladies—at least not at the time. But if we look down history’s road, we see women with hearts turned toward God, mothers walking in faith, and women who appear to have tried their best at parenting.
And so that’s what we do: we try our best, and our best comes with God.
Replace the words of condemnation or fear with truth-filled words of love. Gather three or four verses now in preparation for times when condemnation or fear hit.
Our struggles offer opportunities to lean on God. May parenting be our reminder of our intense need for the love, grace, and forgiveness of Jesus.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10 WEB)
May you and I be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might as we parent today, tomorrow, and beyond. Be encouraged, friend, as you sow seeds of faith in your children that will bear fruit in due time.
Editor’s Note: Part of this devotional was taken from When You Feel Like the Worst Parent in the World by Kristi Woods. You can read the full blog post here.
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