To The Mothers of Children Who Aren't Home: Grace In The Waiting

I'm praying for you mothers who have children who aren't home and you are torn up about it. To the mothers who love their children and who have tried so hard to do everything "right" and it still feels like it has all blown up in your faces.   I'm also praying for you mothers who have messed up, caused division and are now mourning the fact that you can't go back in time and change it.   

I pray you know it's not a reflection of you (or who you are now) but a reflection of what we are born into. Sin nature. A nature we all fight, and it's why we ALL need Jesus. It's why there is no room for lasting anger. 

I'm praying that if your heart is hardened, you can open your table back up and make a place for that child. 

I'm praying that if your table is open and your child is silent, you can let yourself be sustained. 

I'm praying that if you're angry, you let God put that fire out; that you let God replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh. 

I'm praying that you know that you are stronger than you think because in your weakness, HIS strength is perfected (so be weak). 

I'm praying for restored relationships. 

I'm praying that if you are the child that needs to go home to your earthly parents that you can forgive and forge new relationships in whatever safe way is right for you. 

If going home isn't possible, I pray that you find people on this earth who you can call family and who welcome you.  

I'm praying you see that God will do a new thing. 

I'm praying that if you need to go home to your Savior, that you run as hard and as fast as you can to His open arms and that you don't stop until you get there. 

I'm praying that pride and overthinking do not ruin opportunities for reconnection. I'm praying that pride is abolished and that God quiets everyone's minds. 

We're all lost or at least we were at one point. Our stories may be different but we're all born sinners trying to find our way home. 

Let's open up our tables. 

You may not want to listen to me because I'm not at a place yet where my children can willingly walk away from me; I'm not at a place where I'm dealing with the fact that my child refuses to talk to me or acknowledge my existence. But know this: I recognize and know that I'm capable of causing that and I also know that despite all of my good intentions and love, they can decide to runaway anyway. Sometimes it will never make sense. 

Free will and our relationshp with God feels so tricky. It's hard to understand why He lets us have it. Especially when you realize as a parent that free will is risky. They can CHOOSE separation, no matter what type of parent you have been. Children of God choose to turn away from Him even though He is the literal definition of good. Of love. Of perfection. 

I'm praying that you remember that the God who allows our children to have free will is also the God of perfect love. We parents do not have perfect love. Strong love? YES, but it's not a love capable of removing our own wants and needs from it.  So let us trust perfection.

Please Lord give us grace in the waiting. 

At The Table, by Josh Garrels