Jesus told this story: Luke 15
The Story of the Lost Son
11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
12-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
The prodigal child *sigh*… No one, in all creation, can keep a mother or father on their knees more than this wayward child.
I want to begin this segment about our prodigals with the following scripture:
Proverbs 22:6 (New International Version)
6 Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
A very godly woman told me the story of her wayward son. As a young mother, she did her best to instill Godly principals in her child. Yet, she made many mistakes and her son fell away from faith in his teen years. Still at age of 40, he has not turned back to Christ of his childhood.
My friend went on to smile at me with a peaceful assurance in her eyes. She said, “I cling to Proverbs 22:6 for my son. I KNOW when he is old, he will return to his faith.” She went on to say, “and I mean old.” We both laughed yet knew she rested in this truth.
There is hope for us parents of prodigals. I myself returned to my childhood faith in my adult years. We must continue to pray for our wayward kids just as we pray for our unbelieving spouse. Our prayers are the covering over our children that will sustain them and protect them while they are lost in the world.
So what do we do during the waiting years? We love. Carol, another deeply committed Christian woman, shared her story. Her daughter became lost in the world of drugs, boyfriends and wild living, just like the prodigal of the Bible. After many years her daughter came to her senses and returned home. Why?
Carol never stopped loving her daughter unconditionally. Any interaction she shared with her daughter in the dark years, she loved. Her daughter could not believe after all she had done and the pain she brought to her parents, they still loved her. Their unconditional love brought deliverance. Carol’s daughter is back on the path toward home.
Remember our spouses redemption is in the hand of God, so too, are our children. It is not up to us to save our kids!
Even in the most devout Christian homes, kids stray. My pastor says, “Think of the most perfect parent ever- God the Father- and then look at the way His kids turned our (meaning us).” That should give us all hope.
As for advice… pray hard. Parenting is difficult, but God’s grace covers us all. The bottom line is, God is God. Salvation is His and He calls the shots. He uses everything we go through for His glory and our ultimate good.
Amen, Be blessed, Lynn
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