My friend Rob Parsons tells the story of a couple whose daughter disappeared from home in a fit of rebellion on her 18th birthday. Her parents were devastated. For years, they didn’t know if she was alive or dead.
Early on, her mother made a simple decision. Every night she would turn on the porch light and leave it on all night. It was an unspoken message to her daughter: “You’re always welcome home.”
Many nights, tears streamed down the mother’s face as she locked the front door, switched on the light, and prayed for her daughter.
What the mother didn’t know was that her daughter often parked down the street for hours, staring at the porch light. She desperately wanted to come home but feared she had caused her family too much pain. Finally, six years after she’d walked out of her parents’ lives, she walked back in.
Reconciliation started at that moment, but the healing began years before when the mother’s prayers and loving acceptance became a beacon of light that cut through the darkness and offered her daughter hope.
When your children are young, you can wrap them in your arms. When they’re older, sometimes all you can do is wrap them in your prayers.
Your adult children might be physically out of your reach, but they’re never out of God’s reach. He invites you to partner with Him in their lives through prayer.
On Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, I’m talking with author Jodie Berndt about how God responds when we pray for our kids. She’s written about her journey of learning to entrust her children to God in a book called Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children: Trusting God with the Ones You Love.
She shares simple prayers that changed her perspective on parenting and explains the impact God has made in her kids’ lives as a result. Jodie says, “When I wasn’t getting the outcomes I desired and my child’s choices weren’t what I’d prayed for, God reminded me, ‘You’re trusting in an outcome. Trust in Me.’”
Hear how to deepen your trust in God with your adult children on your local radio station, online, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or listen on our free phone app.
For more direction on this topic, you’ll enjoy Jodie’s book Praying the Scriptures for Your Adult Children: Trusting God with the Ones You Love. It’s available for a gift of any amount. Click here for more information.
If you have a wayward child and need someone to talk to, we have caring Christian counselors who will listen, pray with you, and get you on a path toward healing and hope. They’ll also direct you to additional resources in your area if necessary. Call us, leave your name and number, and we’ll get back with you as soon as possible. Our number during business hours is 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
