“Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 ESV

“I love you Lord!” my mother yelled out.  After a few times of realizing that she wasn’t speaking to me, I knew to ignore her.  These outbursts in my youth were constant and sometimes were followed by “You are a good God!”  

At least, I thought I was ignoring them.  What I did not know was that these verbal affirmations were a part of my training.  Now, don’t get me wrong, my mother was a devout Christian and I was her daughter in training not yet committed to a walk with the Lord.

Throughout my young adult years I wrestled with who the Lord was to me.  My mother prayed for me, about me, and to me for years.  Did she know that her prayers would be answered?  Did she know the many hours she cried over me in prayer would turn my heart towards God?  Did she know that her simple “one liners” would be buried deep within me?  

I would guess, she did not know. But her faith was insurmountable and unshaken.  She did what she knew to do and she trusted that God would do what she couldn’t.  

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4 NIV

Fast-forward to today…...

“Let me tell you how good God is!” my son said to me as he came home from school.  He was wide-eyed as he began his story, “I was walking home and I was SO cold!

I decided to pray to God and ask His help because I still had a way to go to get home. “God can you please make me warm?”  And all of a sudden I wasn’t cold anymore!!!!”  I smiled as he told me his story of how the Lord kept him.  

As a mother, we want more for our kids than we had growing up.  We pray for our kids, we cry with our kids, we laugh and learn with our kids.  We even grow with our kids.  

Nowadays, it is me shouting “Thank you Lord!” as I cook with my son looking on.  Not only has his “God stories” become more frequent, but I thank God for being faithful to me AND MY SON.  

They have a relationship.  I am thankful that at his young age he not only knows God but calls on Him in his time of need.  

But what if God took him from this earth?  Away from me?  Would I still be thankful then?  It is a tough question and a question that I don’t want to ever have to answer.  Would I still trust Him?  

Would I still trust that their relationship was enough to get him to heaven?  Would I still pray for him?  Would I still cry out to the Lord?  Would I still believe?  Would you?

“I trust God.”  “I believe His promises are true.”  “He will never leave me or forsake me.”  “Nothing can ever separate me from the love of God.”  These are all truths and my current beliefs but what happens when that foundation is tested?  

Do we stand on the word of God?  Do we truly believe that “in this world we will have trouble but to take heart because He has overcome the world when we lose our child?”  

Friends, a dear friend of mine just lost her daughter.  Please stand in agreement with me as I pray the Lord’s comfort engulfs her.  

Heavenly Father, I pray that You are near to my friend in her time of need and that You continue to carry her through these days and years until she can walk again on her own.  Meet her in the secret place of her heart and bring her through her mourning, giving her peace in her soul.  Remind her of Your promise to comfort her.  In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” Matthew 5:4 NIV

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18 NIV

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