Over the last month we’ve experienced the joy of having our kids visiting us. David Jr. has been home from college. Jonathan was with us for Christmas. Hannah is visiting now.
Dawn and I have entered the stage of being empty nesters. There are some things we like about it, but we really miss our kids.
A friend told us that we give our children roots, so we can give them wings. We do pray that they will soar! We just don’t want them to soar too far away. 😉
Our prayer is that our kids will walk with the Lord all the days of their life. That they will truly be in love with Jesus. If that is true of them then they will make the right choices as they grow in God’s rich grace.
We love all three of our now grown children so much. We are hoping that they will live closer to us. In the meantime, we trust in God’s goodness. We give thanks that they can visit. We praise the Lord that they are doing well, and that we have a strong relationship with them.
Part of the difficulty we face is that on the one hand we are to love our children, but we shouldn’t make an idol out of them. Only the Lord can fill the deep recesses of our heart. It’s so easy to look to things or people to do what only God can do.
I do thank the Lord for my children, and I give them to the Lord daily. I pray that they will walk with the Lord and love him more each day. “Lord, you know our heart. Work in our hearts as well that we will love you, and put you before all others.”
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.” (Psalm 127:3,4 ESV)
I suppose there are others of you that can identify with what we are going through. If you have children you may have already gone through it, or you may be in the process of going through it, like us, or it may still be ahead of you. Let me know what encouraging bits of wisdom you’ve learned along the way. We need all the insight we can get!
In His Grip, Dave
DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org
11 Comments
By Larry Who
If you study blessings and children in the Bible, you will discover that if you and your wife walk with God, your children will be blessed far beyond any prayers you can ever dream up. Not only that, but God will cause them to walk in His ways, too. It’s a win/win deal for us parents.
By diasolifeontheborder
Thanks for the good word!
By ddkaarre
We have four grown children (three of which are married) and one 12 year old still at home. She was the evidence of God’s sense of humor to us when we were 42 and 46! In early March it will be 30 years since our oldest daughter was born…I was a nervous worried mother and would pop out of bed to check on her at the slightest movement or sound. This of course would awaken my husband. Finally, he said, “Honey, get back into bed. God loves her more than you do!” That has been my comfort and motto for 30 years….at every step of their new lives, adventures, and journeys. We know our deep love for our children…how much more awesome it is to think that God could possibly love them more than we do. Blessings to you and your children.
By diasolifeontheborder
Yes – it’s something we know, but we don’t always at like we believe it’s true.
By theprodigalsaint
One thing I’m sure of is that parents are one of God’s many ways of revealing His love to His beloved. I cannot thank God enough for how much of His love is channeled through ny parents. Your kids are really blessed to have Gid-fearing, Jesus-loving parents — a kid can only ask for so much! Being a parent, I believe is a ministry. And like all ministries, it is simply the overflow of our love relationship with Christ. God bless your heart that you are careful in not letting your children be idols. And I’m sure God will be faithful to hear you out on that! You have a great heart, Dave, and that in itself is a huge blessing. God wants to love your children through you, and He wants to love you through them too! And you probably already know this, but I still wanna say it: children raised in the Love of Christ with parents who lead the way by example will NEVER be able to forget their parents! It’s a bond like no other — a bond of flesh and blood, and blood on the cross! God bless, Dave!
By diasolifeontheborder
Wow! Thanks for the great and encouraging words!
By Naphtali
We have a 24 year old daughter. She was mine by a previous marriage. When I married Mark almost 10 years ago she was 15 and wanted him to adopt her. Of course we couldn’t do that because even though her biological father was not in her life except to pay child support, we knew he wouldn’t allow someone else to adopt her. We told her that when she turned 18 if she still wanted Mark to adopt her we would make the arrangements. July 19, 6 years ago, she woke up that morning and asked Mark to adopt her.
Interestingly enough, the lawyer who had done my divorce from her biological father was only 1 of 5 in Buncombe CT. NC eligible to do adult adoptions. He told us when we first met with him, he hadn’t done an adult adoption in 20 years. He said is was highly unusual. It took a year, and $3, 500 later and she became a Neil.
My attempt to elaborate on the “Empty Nest Syndrome” is I was a single parent for 12 years. I love my daughter with all my heart but I I am enjoying my freedom!
By diasolifeontheborder
That’s a wonderful story of God’s grace – we like to call them grace renewal stories
By Debbie
God bless you and your beautiful children. I know you are doing all the right things and then some . ..it’s just still hard! I’m so glad that they come and visit you! That’s huge and helps! I have one 26 yr. old, married and about 3 hours away. Then . .I kind of get to cheat. I have a 21 yr. old with special needs, who will be with us always as a forever child. Trusting God to make a way for us as He has so far!
By diasolifeontheborder
Glad your family is close by – you must be a special parent!
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