Their Journey of Faith

I think most Christian parents hope that their children will follow in their footsteps and trust Jesus with their lives as they grow into adults. I know in raising my own children, I wanted them to share my faith in God, to learn to love Him, trust in Him, and know that He is for and not against them.  That seemed easy when they were little and they just went along with the program. We would read Bible stories and talk about Jesus and the kids nodded their heads and had a very simple faith. But as they got older, all of a sudden they had questions, hard questions - ones that I didn’t always have answers to. Why do bad things happen?

Why did that person die?

Why would God allow that to happen?

How do we know we are “right”, don’t people from all religions think they are “right”?

Why did God create me the way He did?

These questions can bring a mom to her knees.  There are no easy answers anyone could give their kids to questions like these. In fact, I wrote the Make it Count curriculum to help moms navigate this difficult transition period as their kids get older.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• We all have to make our own decision on whether we will follow the Lord or not. I cannot make my child love God or believe that God loves them.

• All I can do is guide my children.

• I can lead by example, and hopefully my children will see the fruits of the Spirit in my life.

• The best way for me to show my children God’s love is let them see it through me. And I can do that in my ordinary, everyday life.

• The best thing I can do is to pray that my children will find God and a faith of their own.

Remember when the tough questions come (and they will come moms) that God is not afraid of their questions and you don’t need to be either. You have a lot of influence in your child’s life, so listen well, ask questions to open a dialogue and then try to speak truth.

For more on faith and your child, listen in to this week's episode of Wire Talk.